You've learnt enough to take the view that cats are very much like you
Humans had always wondered about the existence of Jellicles. Old legends told of beings that looked like humans all of the time except for one night a month, where the Jellicle Moon would turn them into cat-like creatures. The Jellicle Cats looked like a strange hybrid between human and cat. They were human size, and stood on two legs, and spoke as humans do. But they also grew fur, feline teeth and retractable claws. The myth of the Jellicle turned into known reality when a male Jellicle, in love with a beautiful human female, shared his secret. At first the existence between humans and the few known Jellicles was uneasy, but okay. Humans feared them at first, thinking that they turned into crazed creatures every full moon with no sense of what was right or wrong. What humans always failed to realize was that the Jellicles had always lived peacefully among the humans, and had never displayed violent tendencies any more than humans themselves did.
All it took to was one attack. Just one mistake by one Jellicle, and the humans turned on the Jellicles. No one cared that the attack had been provoked. The humans said that the Jellicles had foolishly drawn first blood and that now they would pay. In reality, the humans had been waiting for any excuse to call the Jellicles a threat to humanity.
Weston Grensther, also known as Grumbuskin, had been executed immediately by having his throat slit. The humans deemed him an animal, and therefore unworthy of a humane execution.
Following that, all Jellicles had to come forward. Those who didn't, and were found out, ran the risk of execution. The human government began locking up suspected Jellicles during full moon. Knowing that weakness or injury would make them more likely to change (for strong Jellicles can hold off the pull of the Moon and remain in human form), the prisoners would be beaten until exhausted and would then be left until the full moon would show them as they truly were. The names, addresses and all personal details of each Jellicle were recorded. It was only within 3 three months that each Jellicle had to be branded.
All ties with humans were cut. Their human names and identities were destroyed. No one cared that Jonathon Edwards had just graduated from medical school. Or that Pat Manners had been a highly respected primary teacher. They were just animals now.
Within a year of Grumbuskin's attack, all Jellicles had to report to their local government, where they were divided up and sent to 'special facilities' in remote parts of the world. They were really detention centres. Each detention centre held around 35 Jellicles. Because of how rare Jellicles were, they were only three special facilities worldwide.
The Jellicles lived in a frightening and cruel existence. They had no rights, and lived as slaves to the captors' whim.