BY NATHAN SEMMEL AND LEONARDO ANGUIANO | Since the day Canada Goose opened its Wooster St. store three months ago, a growing number of animal activists continue to protest this new outlet’s existence. Like many protesters, we are labeled and stereotyped. We are told to “get a job,” “get a life” and to “find something better to do.”
But who are we really? We are dedicated city workers, doctors and health professionals, lawyers, educators, social workers, artists, inventors, business owners, students, retirees, sons and daughters, fathers and mothers…human beings. Not one of us has ever received a dime for these protests. Ever.
What once started with a syncopated rhythm of whistles, drums and cowbells has been reduced to sustained chants. The reason: a police crackdown due to growing tension between protesters and residents who have the misfortune of living in the immediate vicinity of the Canada Goose store.
Although the prevailing sentiment, according to published reports, is that residents and activists alike are appalled by the barbaric methods used by Canada Goose — trapping, incapacitating, skinning and slaughtering coyotes to make fur-trim collars, and torturing geese for down feathers — the noise is simply too much for the residents to bear. A second grievance: protesters aggressively chastising customers or passersby wearing fur.
We write here on behalf of the activists to tell the residents: We hear you and we respect you. But we hope that Canada Goose’s appalling acts provide a basis to work together to reach a diplomatic solution. We already stopped using instruments and learned to monitor ourselves not to use profanity — even when provoked. We never initiate a physical altercation and not once has a protester been arrested for such. Nevertheless, we are seeing increased police presence and random enforcement of noise statutes and disorderly-conduct laws. The reason we are told: pressure from the community.
We are now warned that summonses will be issued for simply chanting. That is chilling. We are living in a time when the threat of being silenced is real. New Yorkers, particularly within this Downtown Manhattan district, fear the threat to First Amendment rights as much as anyone. It is also for that reason that we believe there must be common ground.
So, to the residents of Wooster St.: Please consider your role in silencing not only us but the voices of those for whom we speak. So long as oppression and the subjective enforcement of the law exist, so too shall resistance. There is a likelihood that if this is not applicable to you now, it may someday find you or come knocking at your children’s doorstep. How will you respond? Will you still be able to respond? Will you or someone before you have forfeited that right in the name of comfort? It is inevitable that the day will come when someone near and dear to you will need help from their fellow human beings. With absolute certainty, we assure you that the compassionate men and women speaking on behalf of these beings will be there to aid you in any way possible. When you call the police rather than peacefully engage us, please be mindful of your actions, for they may directly result in our inability to someday speak on your behalf.
Two weeks ago, a large number of us attended the Community Board 2 monthly full-board meeting and made a polite but passionate overture to the board and residents in attendance. We asked to begin a much-needed conversation between the activists, residents and New York Police Department in order to work toward a reasonable and democratic solution. Activism is a hallmark of New York City. In describing its district, the C.B. 2 Web page lists activism at the very top. (“The district is defined by its history of political activism…. .”) To summons or arrest peaceful protesters for simply using our voices not only runs afoul of the First Amendment but it is completely contrary to the spirit of the history of which the district prides itself.
Let there be no doubt that we believe residents have a right to feel comfortable in their homes. But we, too, have a constitutional right to be free of unreasonable police intrusion as we continue our necessary activism.
We implore residents to consider who, unfortunately, has no entrance point into this conversation and is, therefore, left out: the suffering animals. But contrary to popular belief, animals most definitely do have a voice. And so we — who defend them — also raise our voices in an effort to amplify their unheard cries. We do not gather on Wooster St. to make enemies of the community, to wake your young children and pets, or to take away from your peace for three hours during daylight time on weekends. We show up to defend innocent canines and geese because they have the right to exist free from torture. We lend our collective voice in the hope of translating their cries for help; they are sentient beings who feel pain just as all of our children and pets do.
We truly wish the focus of residents was on shutting down Canada Goose. To silence the effect rather than the cause is a travesty. Let us remember, it is solely the vile ethics of the Canada Goose corporation that brought about our presence.
Semmel and Anguiano write on behalf of the protesters of Canada Goose
