On December 28, 2018, Black South African protesters gathered on Clifton Beach to slaughter a sheep in ritual sacrifice, with white animal activists descending in counterprotest. At the heart of the conflict was the alleged ousting of Black beachgoers two nights before, prompting cries to symbolically cleanse the site of racism. In its reporting, the media seized upon the racialization of the ‘white sheep,’ herself transformed into a symbol-cum-warning sign, as evinced by the note staged by her lifeless body that read: “Run Racist Run!!” Offering much to unpack, what the sign attested to was more than a concern for the sheep’s life by the white animal activists. Indeed, what it revealed was their identification with her victimization at the hands of Black protesters.
Notably, what has gone overlooked in this black-and-white coverage of the Clifton Beach conflict, is the role the media itself has historically played in nurturing the kind of identification with animal suffering that precipitated the event. Against this backdrop, this talk establishes how coverage of minority animal-use practices by both the media and animal advocates must be ‘color corrected’ to help prevent future violence.
