Eva Hughes is a former carriage horse driver, and her husband is a carriage horse driver – it is her great wish for this work to remain in her family. Hughes – she is a valued friend of mine – has spent some good years of her life fighting for the carriage horses and their drivers to keep their jobs and stay in New York City. The struggle and it’s ugliness have weakened her and taken some of her health.
The other day, a supporter of the carriage horses named Randie Blumhagen forwarded a message to Eva that came to her personal message box on Facebook. The message was from a well-known animal rights activist named David Sobel who is working to ban the carriage horses in New York City.
It said: “Say goodbye to your days of exploiting animals for profit, asshole. You’ll be working at McDonalds again before u know it.”
Eva, who gets messages like this almost daily and has for years, checked to see where the message came from and found that Sobel had posted the messaged and then had blocked any reply. Eva posted the message on one of her Facebook pages and asked if anyone knew who Sobel was, and there was an almost ho-hum and very familar ritual: people checked Sobel out quickly, found out who he was, saw the kinds of profane and ugly messages he sends, and sort of yawned. Another day in the life of the carriage horse story, where the abuse of people in the name of loving animals is the ideology and practice of many of those who want them gone.
The message, said everyone, almost bemused, was not unusual, it was not a big deal, Eva sees worse on most days, and has for years. It was emblematic of the continuing and worsening cruelty that has marked the assault on the carriage trade for some years, and which has disgraced the mayor and his campaign to ban the horses and put their people out of work. To our shame, we have come to accept this level of cruelty, especially in the world of the New York carriage drivers, and we turn a blind eye to it even amidst all of this talk of cruelty and abuse to animals.
I have also received messages from David Sobel since I began writing about the horses, I told Eva I thought it was best not to reply, but Eva is a fierce warrior for her clan, I imagine she found a way to get a message to him, she has a fiery temper, I fear the damage confronting so much anger can do.
People of good will can disagree about the horses, I have good friends who do not believe they should be hauling carriages in New York and while I don’t see it their way, I respect them and the way they present and discuss their ideas. They are often open to a different truth, as I hope I am. Some change their minds. I thought about Sobel’s message, both it’s cruelty and blatant elitism – another hallmark of this issue in New York. The carriage drivers, who have been called thieves, murderers, cheats, abusers and “random people” by the head of NYClass, the group spearheading the carriage ban, can go cook burgers when they are driven from their lives and their work.
Small wonder the mayor cannot find the heart or time to speak with them. “Random people” do not often get a mayor’s time, or his ear. The mayor’s spokespeople say they are seeking to find jobs for the carriage drivers, but they won’t deign to speak to them about what those jobs might be or whether they might want to do them.
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And that is the ultimate tragedy of the New York Carriage Horses, the very thing they are calling to me – to us – to see and understand. It is the real significance of this story, beyond the horses, beyond the drivers, behind the David Sobel’s of the world who are a tragedy unto themselves. There is a civic tragedy here as well, these are the people the mayor of New York has chosen to believe and align himself with, so publicly and completely. That is a profoundly sad thing.