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Please donate your unwanted fur coats, stoles and trim to PETA, which uses them for educational displays, anti-fur fashion shows, bedding for needy animals and coats for homeless people:

Jabari Brisport, a 32-year old Brooklyn native, has spent his entire life in New York City, but now he’s setting his sights on Albany, the state capital. The Caribbean American public school teacher, who identifies as a Democratic Socialist, is running for State Senate to help make New York City a more humane home for all of its residents – human and non-human.

During an interview with TheirTurn, Brisport describes his progressive platform, which includes reforming New York City’s housing, education, health care and criminal justice systems. He has an equally ambitious agenda for the animals, including a statewide ban on the sale of fur and ending dairy subsidies.

Jabari Brisport’s campaign is featured in the New York Post

As a college freshman at NYU, Brisport was the victim of a racist, homophobic attack while walking in Greenwich Village with his black boyfriend. During the interview, he explains why this traumatic experience compelled him to become an advocate not only for minorities but also for animals.

Jabari Brisport, candidate for New York State Senate in 2020, protests at the opening of the Canada Goose store in 2019.

Brisport is running in the 25th State Senate district, which includes Fort Greene, Boerum Hill, Red Hook, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Sunset Park, Gowanus, and Park Slope and other neighborhoods in Brooklyn. The primary election takes place on June 23, 2020.

For more information to find out how you can help his campaign, please visit Jabari for State Senate.

On Saturday, December 7th, several dozen animal rights activists with Caring Activists Against Fur (CAAF) and The Animals Battalion staged an anti-fur protest at Bergdorf Goodman, a luxury department store in Manhattan. In spite of pending legislation that would ban the sale of fur in NYC and the decision by Macy’s & Bloomingdales to close their fur departments, Bergdorf’s refuses to take fur off of its racks. The protest attracted the attention of thousands of pedestrians on 57th Street and Fifth Ave, the epicenter of Manhattan’s holiday shopping district.

In March, 2019, the Speaker of the New York City Council, Corey Johnson, introduced legislation to ban the sale of new fur products. In spite of widespread support among New Yorkers for a fur ban, the bill stalled after a prominent black preacher in Harlem, Reverend Johnnie Green, decried it as racist.

In op-eds published in New York City newspapers, African American animal rights activists criticized Reverend Green, who was hired by the fur lobby, for using racism to oppose a fur ban. In a Daily News opinion piece Jabari Brisport, a public school teacher running for New York State Senate, wrote “I found it insulting that the fur trade would use my community as a smokescreen. . . I’ve marched with Black Lives Matter in Charlottesville and gotten hit with tear gas by white supremacists.  I’ve been arrested while protesting a luxury housing development in Crown Heights. I know what a threat to the black community looks like. This fur ban ain’t it.”

Energized by the recent passage of a fur ban in the state of California, Voters for Animal Rights, a NYC-based advocacy group, has vowed to continue lobbying NYC lawmakers in support of the Council Speaker Johnson’s legislation.  At the same time, animal rights groups, including CAAF, Animals Battalion, Total Liberation New York and PETA, continue to target prominent retailers selling fur, including Canada Goose,  Nordstrom, Woolrich, Fendi, the Fur Source and Paragon Sports.

Animal rights activists with the group “Protest Canada Goose NYC” staged their first demonstration at the home Zach Blank, the Chief Operating Officer of his family’s company Paragon Sports. Paragon, which is located in the Flatiron district of Manhattan, sells several brands of clothing that contain fur, including Canada Goose. Activists have demonstrated at Paragon for the past several years, but, after their protests and letters were ignored, they decided to take their message to Blank’s home in Brooklyn.

The protest was held just days after both New York City and New York State lawmakers introduced bills to ban the sale of fur.

Animal rights activists protest the sale of Canada Goose fur coats at Paragon Sports in New York City.

On March 19th, NY State Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal introduced a bill to ban the manufacture and sale of fur at the state level.  “Increasingly, consumers are looking to make ethical and sustainable purchases — fur is neither of those,” Rosenthal said. “The fur trade has at its core a violence toward animals that is antithetical with our modern views on animals as human companions and sentient beings.”

On March 19, 2019, NY State Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal introduced a statewide bill to ban the production and sale of fur products.

Just one week later, Council Speaker Corey Johnson, the most powerful lawmaker in New York City, introduced the bill to ban the sale of fur at the city level. “I believe it is cruel to kill an animal just for the purpose of people buying and wearing a fur coat. There is really no need for this,” said Johnson.”In a progressive and modern city like New York, banning the sale of fur clothing and accessories is long overdue.”

Both anti-fur activists and fur industry supporters descended on City Hall to show their support for or opposition to the bill, an indication of the battle of that lies ahead as the legislation works its way through public hearings and onto the City Council floor for a vote. If the bill passes, New York City will join San Francisco and Los Angeles in outlawing the sale of fur. 

On March 28th, 2019, NYC Council Speaker Corey Johnson introduced a bill to ban the sale of fur.

In 2015, fashion designer Anna Tagliabue integrated her passion for fashion and protecting animals by launching a company called Pelush that designs luxury faux fur coats and accessories. During 2019 Fashion Week, Ms. Tagliabue debuted her newest designs during a cruelty-free fashion show in Manhattan:

“We don’t have to harm animals to wear fur because new technology enables us to reproduce it perfectly, often with recycled materials,” said Tagliabue.”Our fabrics are virtually indistinguishable from chinchilla, mink, fox and even Broadtail Astrakhan, which is the most difficult fur to reproduce.”

Pelush Faux-Fur Runway Show During 2019 Fashion Week in NYC

As wearing fur becomes less socially acceptable, many of the world’s top luxury fashion houses, including Gucci, Chanel and Burberry, have committed to eliminating it from their collections. Several companies, however, have dug in their heels. Canada Goose, which defends its use of fur by claiming that it’s “ethically sourced,” has been a target of animal rights activists in recent years because it has normalized the use of fur trim hoods, which are pervasive in big cities during the winter months.

Animal rights activists in New York City protest at the Canada Goose store in Soho

In 2018, two California cities, Berkeley and San Francisco, banned the sale of fur. In January, 2019, Los Angeles followed suit. Animal rights activists in California are now working to achieve a statewide ban. In 2019, London Fashion Week became the first to go fur-free.