Vakiya Courtney is a vegetarian. But when she saw the PETA display, she gasped. Courtney was quoted as saying, “How can you possibly compare the brutality that our ancestors experienced here…to animal cruelty?”

In an article in the New Haven Register newspaper, Michael Perkins put it even more bluntly: “I am a black man! I can’t compare the suffering of these black human beings to the suffering of this cow.”

PETA’s Carr responded in published reports, “Obviously, the circumstances are different, but the lack of compassion that allowed humans to be enslaved and lynched and for women and children to be mistreated is similar to the lack of compassion that makes it possible for animals to suffer cruelty today.”

What about the lack of compassion for innocent human babies who fall victim to abortion? Apparently, that’s not on PETA’s radar screen.

Also, where are the calls from the major news media for PETA to discontinue its outrageous, publicity-seeking tactics? After all, PETA had to apologize earlier this year when it compared mistreated animals to Holocaust victims. What does PETA have to do to attract the ire of Katie Couric, Diane Sawyer, and the rest of the stars in the media universe?

No pet-lover wants to see a beloved dog or cat brutalized—and there are laws to punish those who engage in such conduct. And, in America, we’re perfectly free to choose whether or not to be a vegetarian.