With a wave of graduates leaving in December, Capital will lose one of its most passionate activists: Sirrus Lawson, co-founder and current president of Capital for Animal Liberation.
Finding suitable leadership for his organization is a project Lawson has undertaken in the waning days of his college career. In his mind, the organization shows no signs of slowing down in his absence.
“I’m basically trying to find people who are willing to … take over, keep the organization running, keep momentum,” Lawson said. Lawson knows what he wants, but has revealed that he does not quite know who he wants and is not ready to name any names.
“We’ve got a lot of good members this year,” Lawson said. “We haven’t had anyone really step forward in terms of … a leadership role but I’m going to be talking to them about that soon.”
Lawson is certain that turnover of leadership will not see any decline in the group’s activity or activism. Growing pains are to be expected, but Capital For Animal Liberation shows no signs of slowing down in the coming years.
“The members are definitely committed, wonderful people, I’m happy to have had the opportunity to work with them,” Lawson said about the group he helped create and bring to success over the past few years.
While the organization formed in the fall 0f 2013, Lawson plans to see Capital For Animal Liberation rise along with the national and international topic of animal rights.
“Ever since [the group’s foundation] … it’s been growing at a pretty good clip,” Lawson said. “We’ve managed to maintain a pretty consistent member base … who end up showing up regularly to meetings and help out at events.”
Since the issue of animal rights is a consistently hot topic in today’s political discourse, the activism platform of Capital For Animal Liberation is inclusive of many sub-plots to the animal rights story. Lawson said that the group campaigns against the use of animals for experimentation at college research centers, vivisection (dissecting or operating on an animal while it is still alive and conscious), and testing products meant for human consumption on animals.
In addition to lobbying against these practices, the group also volunteers at Franklin county dog shelters and raises funds for Sunrise Sanctuary, a haven for abused or neglected animals. Lawson said that he was certainly not alone in decisions regarding platform choice.
“It’s definitely member-centered … it’s what members want to see.” Lawson was also quick to mention the group’s zeal to make people aware of the benefits of vegetarianism.
Lawson completed his Capstone project on the environmental effects of factory farming.
“Cutting down and cutting out meat and dairy from your diet can stop the abuses of animals in factory farming … [and] can help clean up the environment because … the institution of factory farming in the United States is the number one cause of greenhouse gasses,” Lawson said.
However persistent Capital For Animal Liberation is with its activism, there is no denying that not everyone shares its points of view.
When asked about opposition to his cause, Lawson simply replied, “There’s definitely a lot of propaganda out there stating quite the opposite [about the benefits of a meat and dairy-free diet] and it’s important that people know about this kind of thing … In one way or another, it affects the rights of not only non-human animals but human animals as well … It affects literally the air we breathe and the world we have to live in.”
