Black History Month is a Call to Action: Why Wildlife Advocacy Must Include Justice for Black Communities

Black History Month is a Call to Action

Why Wildlife Advocacy Must Include Justice for Black Communities

 

February is Black History Month—a time to celebrate the achievements, contributions, and resilience of Black communities. But it must also be a call to action. Recognizing Black history means reckoning with the systemic injustices that Black people have faced and continue to face in every aspect of society. For those of us in the wildlife advocacy space, it is not enough to focus solely on protecting animals while ignoring the struggles of marginalized people. Our movement must be intersectional, because justice for wildlife is inseparable from justice for people.

If we won every victory for wildlife—ended trophy hunting, reformed state wildlife agencies, banned cruel trapping, and restored habitats—but Black people in this country were still being disproportionately subjected to police violence, denied access to safe housing and healthcare, and never paid reparations for the fact that enslaved Africans built the United States into a global superpower, would that be a true victory?

Would we call it progress if wolves, grizzlies, and bison thrived, yet Black communities remained locked out of land ownership, environmental decision-making, and access to the outdoors due to structural racism? If state wildlife commissions reformed but continued to reflect the same privileged, exclusionary power structures that have historically silenced Black voices?

No. That would be a hollow, unacceptable victory.

Some people in animal and wildlife advocacy say, “We have to focus on the animals.” But focusing on wildlife does not mean ignoring people. If we want lasting conservation victories, we must fight for a world where all people—especially those who have been systemically oppressed—have safety, security, and access to resources. The same structures that allow the destruction of ecosystems, the poisoning of water, and the decimation of wildlife populations also uphold racial and economic injustices. The forces that prioritize profit over protection harm both animals and people, particularly Black, Indigenous, and other marginalized communities.

Ethical treatment of animals and the natural world is deeply intertwined with justice, compassion, and respect for all people. The concept of intersectionality—the idea that systems of oppression are interconnected, and the exploitation of animals, the destruction of nature, and the marginalization of people all stem from the same root causes of power imbalance, dominance, and exclusion—is a vital one to adopt in your advocacy.

You want to protect wolves, mountain lions, and other persecuted wildlife? Then you must also stand against the systems that treat Black people as expendable and deny them justice. Conservation cannot succeed in an unjust society.

Some in our movement say, “I just like animals more than people.” But we need you to care. We need you to recognize that the suffering of people and the suffering of animals are interconnected. The very policies that allow for the brutal slaughter of wolves, the destruction of forests, and the pollution of rivers are the same policies that exploit Black, Indigenous, and low-income communities.

Wildlife advocacy must be rooted in justice for all—because the same systems that exploit and harm people also destroy nature. When we say we “just care about animals,” we ignore the reality that people’s struggles are intertwined with the fight for a better world for all beings. You want to protect wolves, grizzlies, and wild places? That means fighting for policies where everyone—especially Black, Indigenous, and marginalized communities— can live safety, and access housing, food, education, and political power.

If you have room in your heart to fight for the lives of nonhuman animals, then you have room in your heart to acknowledge that justice for people matters just as much.

Black History Month isn’t just about remembrance—it’s about action. It’s about ensuring that the fight for justice is ongoing, that we don’t relegate Black history to the past while ignoring Black struggles in the present.

Wildlife advocates must ask:

• Who has access to outdoor spaces, and who has historically been excluded?
• Who benefits from conservation policies, and who is pushed out of decision-making?
• How do we ensure that our fight for justice includes justice for Black communities?

We must uplift Black voices in conservation, support policies that protect both people and wildlife, and actively work to dismantle the systems that oppress both. This means advocating for environmental justice, supporting reparations for Black communities, and fighting for policies that ensure equitable access to nature and decision-making power.

You want to protect wolves, mountain lions, and other persecuted wildlife? Then you must also stand against the systems that treat Black people as expendable and deny them justice. True wildlife protection and conservation is about more than just saving species—it’s about transforming systems. It’s about ensuring that both human and nonhuman communities can thrive together. If we ignore racial and social justice in our work, we will fail in our mission to protect the natural world.

This Black History Month, let’s move beyond performative allyship and commit to real, lasting action. Justice for wildlife requires justice for people. And that starts with showing up, speaking out, and making space for those who have been historically excluded from the fight.

A just future for wildlife requires a just future for people. Black History Month reminds us: our fight must be intersectional, or it isn’t justice at all.