NYC Fur Ban An Attack On Black Culture, Advocates Say

NEW YORK — Jackie Rowe-Adams's second son, Tyrone, often said how good she looked in furs. He told her he would save up to buy her one, she said, but he never got the chance — he was shot to death.

After Tyrone's death, Rowe-Adams bought a fur in his memory. "When I put on my fur, I feel like my son is near," she said.

That's just one example of the powerful symbolism fur garments have among African-Americans in New York City, according to clergy and other advocates who argue a City Council proposal to ban fur sales threatens that tradition.

"People feel complete when they put on something that they worked hard for, they have sacrificed for," said the Rev. Phil Craig, who was among about 75 clergy and other advocates who rallied against the ban Wednesday at City Hall. Several wore fur hats despite temperatures near 70 degrees.

Council Speaker Corey Johnson's bill would bar city merchants from selling brand-new fur apparel and fine those who do. Used fur garments could still be sold, as could other items made from them.

But advocates say the measure is insensitive to the important cultural role that furs play in the city's black communities, particularly black churches.

Buying furs became a way for African-Americans to show they had achieved a degree of economic success, advocates said. They grew to be deeply personal items — "I thought my mother loved her coat more than she loved me almost," Craig said.

The proposed ban is also discriminatory because it does nothing to stop people in the affluent suburbs from buying fur but instead targets majority-minority New York City, Rowe-Adams argued.

"Why should we be excluded from purchasing furs when other neighborhoods and communities are not?" Rowe-Adams said. "That is definitely discrimination."

Some African-American advocates expressed concern that the ban would lead down a slippery slope toward bans on other items, such as leather coats or alligator shoes. Several argued that the city should take aim at the scourge of guns rather than icons of black fashion.

The legislation is slated for a May 15 hearing before the Council's Consumer Affairs Committee. Two Council members spoke out against it Wednesday: Chaim Deutsch and Robert Cornegy, who said he worries about the bill's impact on fur businesses.

"This is not the correct direction to go," said Cornegy, a Brooklyn Democrat.

Animal-rights activists and the fur industry are already making their respective cases for and against the bill. The Fur Information Council of America, a trade group, has spent $105,000 on lobbying related to a proposed ban since last year, city records show.

And People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has gotten support from celebrities in its fight for the ban, including the actress Anjelica Huston and the singer Morrissey. "Project Runway" star Tim Gunn penned an op-ed in favor of the bill on Wednesday.

Asked about resistance to the ban, Johnson said high-profile African-Americans such as the football player Colin Kaepernick and the TV personality Wendy Williams have spoken out against fur.

"There are people in every community who are against the bill and some who support it," Johnson said. "… We’re not going to tell people they can’t wear fur in public. We’re not taking anyone’s fur away. We’re saying that you should transition to a more ethical and humane product."

Omowale Adewale, the founder of Brooklyn's Black VegFest, said more people have come to see an ugly side of a tradition that started as a way for black people to show that "we've kind of made it."

"Once they understand at least what animals have to go through to get through that process, no community that has been oppressed would want to have any group of anyone to be oppressed," Adewale said.