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Kevin inducted into Animal Rights Hall of fame!

Congratulations to Kevin. Read his acceptance speech below:

Hello everyone. Thank you very much for this. While I am deeply touched by this recognition, I'd like to think this honor is a tad premature. I am only 29 years old and believe the best I have to offer is yet to come. For me, SHAC was just a warm-up.

Tonight's award is a bright spot in what has otherwise been a troubled period in my activist career. As you sit comfortably tonight, here in this luxury hotel, I am well into the eighth month of my possible six year prison sentence for a leadership role in the Stop Huntington Animal Cruelty campaign.

Without sugar-coating it, this has been admittedly a very jarring experience and it has produced in me a deep reluctance to continue to speak out and participate in the public dialogue on our shared political principles. It's not because I've been afraid of suffering yet further legal repercussions for my quote-unquote free speech, but because here in my darkest hours, what I've had to say whilst in the grips of real emotional and existential despair isn't the reasoned voice of hope, unity and courage I've always sought to put forward. And I haven't wanted to mar this otherwise audacious record of public appearances and actions I am so proud, defiantly proud, to stand by.

Staring down the barrel of the power of the U.S. Government is a life-changing experience. I say this both literally and metaphorically as the guns carried are very real - especially when pointed in your face - and the violence we stand to suffer at the misuse and abuse of this power can be soul-crushing. Last year, for me, in the boozy-haze of post-conviction shifting through the debris of what had been my life and awaiting incarceration, I embarked on a dark search for meaning and it led me to some temporary but troubling conclusions.

Feeling misanthropic and hopeless I thought the best I'd accomplished or ever could achieve in the face of such an overwhelming opposition would be a cynical form of accountability. That failing all else, at the end of the day, and if for only a few minutes I would know that some of those who have inflicted so much harm, on so many, with no regard for life, and no respect for justice were at least called out by name, and in the dark corners of their crimes the light of public scrutiny briefly shined.

The consolation I gave to my conscience was that these morally-repugnant people didn't get away with it - completely.

That at least I said something. At least they were confronted.

It's only been over the course of these last few months that I have ascended from this bleak assessment. If nothing else can be said for prison, it does at least offer the requisite space and time for deep reflection.

I came to see this poisonous form of pessimism as little more than a cop-out, a white flag of surrender unbefitting a movement defined by it's perseverance in the face of extreme opposition.

I now see that the opposite of this Quixotic scenario is what is true. It is not me, not any of us, who are hopelessly tilting at the windmills of social change, trying to be a hindrance to what is an otherwise unstoppable condition. NO - it is the pharmaceuticals, the agribusinesses, and their governmental pawns who are desperately trying to slow us down, and to impede what is fast becoming a wide-spread recognition that the way we humans treat our environment and the other animal kingdoms we share it with is unsustainable, inhumane, and must be subject to serious and immediate change.

Because profit and power stand to be lost, many obstacles will be thrown in our way. How we meet these challenges will determine the pace of our progress.

This has been a lesson, and a test I've had to learn the hard way. But it's helped me come to embody that saying by Wendell Berry, that:
"Protest that endures is moved by a hope far more modest than that of public success. Namely, the hope of preserving qualities in one's own heart and spirit that would be destroyed by acquiescence."

I know now, that no matter what the government throws at me, no matter what the setback, as long as I still believe and I can stave off the dangers of despair and apathy - that this fight is far from over. It may come in different forms and different actions, but the passion and persistence will be the same.

As a student of political history I know that the long road to liberation is paved with strife and sacrifice. The lost liberty and lives of historical figures from Mandela to Bobby Kennedy tell this tale. The battle-tested stories from 25 year careers of my own heroes like Ingrid Newkirk, Chris DeRose, Captain Watson, and tonight's host the remarkable Mr. Hershaft - are also proud testimony to this.

If I can be just one step in this journey forward, one brick in the path, then I'll gladly swallow the bitter pill of incarceration and I'll survive these daily little battles with the demons of depression.

Every night here at FCI Sandstone, as I lie in my bunk, I dream of the day I will walk out through those prison gates to see not only my best friend - a sensitive, pudgy little beagle named Willy - but also all of you who have helped to shoulder some of this burden with your support. You are a brave people who have opened up your hearts to aches and anguish by daily looking into the eyes of those who will suffer unspeakable, nightmarish fates. This is no small emotional, intellectual and existential feat.

And it may explain why so many of you are crazy!

Regardless, you are an inspiration.

It's an honor to have been chosen for this recognition tonight by all of you. An honor made all that much more special because it's shared this evening by the other award winner, John Feldman. What Bono is to African debt relief, John is to animal rights. He is our rock-n-roll ambassador and I'm also lucky to call him a good friend.

I want to thank you all very much. And a special thank you to Alex Hershaft, whom I owe so much to, a true gentleman who wouldn't back down to pressure and shared this platform with me and the many other diverse voices of this cause - enriching us all.

Until I can stand proudly before you all again, I remain faithfully yours.

Kevin

Pictures from Award ceremony

Aaron Zellhoefer, Shannon Keith, Howard Lyman and Alex Hershaft announce the award.

The Award!