Photograph by Katrina Hajagos.
BY: JULIET SCHULMAN-HALL, SUMMER 2020 COLLABORATOR AT POWER IN PLACE
Laughter resonates in the room at the Falcons annual dinner in South Bend, Indiana, as politicians roar at the sight of a plush toy dog held between the hands of a politician squealing about the importance of protecting animals. They stand in front of dinner tables elegantly set, mocking the passion and hard work of the South Bend City Councilwoman Valerie Schey—this was a dinner she did not attend.
Valerie notes that this mockery does not compare to the many stories of female politicians who have been harassed. However, there is an intriguing sensitivity that revolves around her being a female politician advocating for animal welfare as one of her many key issues.
Animal welfare is not a winning issue in politics. The love humans hold for their beloved pets often does not extend to the protection of other animals, even to those within the same species. One of the reasons for this sensitivity revolves around the fear, according to Valerie Schey, that if a politician fights for animals, they will not fight for their constituents.
Valerie’s voice raises slightly as she is reminded of the persistence she needed during her time in office to make any difference in the lives of animals. With a low grumble in her laugh at the preposterousness of her colleagues, she states that it took an overwhelming amount of time to even be able to start an animal welfare committee: two years to be exact. Her council was not trying to make revolutionary laws that completely altered humans’ lives, but rather was trying to change legislation around breed-specific laws and mitigate the high euthanasia rate occurring in animal shelters around South Bend. Even at the outset of this committee, certain women around her did not support Councilwoman Schey, including the city council attorney who refused to work with her as she thought this committee shouldn’t exist. The committee, in the eyes of many of her colleagues, was a distraction from the work she needed to do for her constituency. What they failed to recognize was her dedication to the lives of those in South Bend—not only animals, but also humans.
In 2016 Valerie left office and since then she has been running a nonprofit called Care of South Bend. She has been spending her time providing free spay and neuter clinics, vaccines, and more for low income pet owners in the area of South Bend. Her dedication to animal welfare remains strong despite the difficulties she had in office; persisting with patience and humility, her voice will remain unwavering.
Juliet Schulman-Hall is a rising junior at Smith College majoring in English Language & Literature, minoring in Sociology, and concentrating in Poetry. At Smith, she is involved in Emulate Magazine, the club volleyball team, and the Sophian Newspaper. She is passionate about criminal justice reform and animal rights and advocacy and is the Communications Lead for an animal nonprofit called Global Strays.