National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman is facing heat for a very unexpected reason. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals — PETA is reportedly taking aim at the young poet and activist for.... supporting milk drinking.
Let’s back up a second and explain. Gorman, 25, recently did an advertisement for the inaugural Woman’s Marathon, a marathon for and by women. “We know that to be a woman means to be everything for everyone all at once,” said Gorman in her characteristic lilting voice as images of women running flash in the background. “But when we run, that’s for us.”
The problem, at least according to PETA, is that one of the partners for the race is MilkPEP — an organization that promotes drinking cow’s milk. (They’re behind the “Got Milk?” Ads).
“I’m writing on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals—PETA entities have more than 9 million members and supporters globally—regarding your puzzling support of the Every Woman’s Marathon,” wrote PETA’s Vice President of Communications in a letter obtained by TMZ, adding “I am a distance runner who competes in several marathons and 50ks a year, and I would no more drink cow’s milk at the end of a race than I would smoke a cigarette.”
The letter continued to list the alleged harms committed by the dairy industry, including “the metaphorical rape of the environment and the actual rape of cows.”
PETA also appeared to be making a point about the dairy industry being racist — by pointing out that the dairy industry continues to market to African and Latin American people despite large portions of those populations being lactose intolerant.
So far, it doesn’t seem as if Gorman has responded publicly.
Coming for the young Black poet — whose speech at Biden’s inauguration brought countless people to tears, probably isn’t going to win the animal rights organization any converts. It also doesn’t help that they have a less-than-stellar reputation when it comes to talking about race. (Remember: the campaign comparing saying “bring home the bacon” to a racist slur.)
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with encouraging people to question the practices of the dairy industry, but ultimately, this seems unlikely to move the needle in either direction.