Open Harvest Member Owners for Justice

Actually he was speaking Hebrew. He grabbed a megaphone from the hands of a protester who was non cooperative, trespassing, and causing trauma to the employees they were claiming to defend. He was physically assaulted by this same protester.

Visit open harvests website. Have a conversation with management. All demands have been met. I’ve looked into their actions in response to this petition. They have been rolling out action plans since the beginning of July. Board chair stepped down. They publicly denounced the issues surrounding a previous board member. They have held several meetings with staff. Anti-racism training is being administered by an entity outside of the board. They have publicly spoken out about their own faults in the mishandling of the situation and taken responsibility for their previous silence. What demand has not been met?

There is absolutely no reason why ALL of the demands from the staff and community have not been met by now. This is an outrageous failing on the part of leadership. It needs to stop now, and leadership replaced.

After witnessing an employee assault a protester, and then speak German and threaten Jewish people during the protest, I realized that Ross Brockely is not the only problem. There needs to be fundamental, structural changes to the way the co-op is run. Denouncing white supremacy can only go so far (even though they haven’t even done that) but when a long time employee actually assaults a Jewish person? That proves how deeply embedded racism is at Open Harvest. P.S that employee still works there.

I’m curious what the ‘other side’ of racism/white supremacy is?

Demand him out. Will no longer shop there.

I was an Americorps member with Community Crops in 2016. I returned to Crops in 2019. Both occasions, I experienced an egregious abusive of power by management, and especially, especially the board... A great deal of those people are also in some management or board position at Open Harvest. I am so moved at the outpour of support to demand action. For so long, I sat quiet and afraid to voice any experience at all. Lincoln is small and unfortunately these folks are able to stay in power because of that culture. Ross Brockley specifically has attacked employees white antisemitism and I have witnessed it first hand. They portray an image of rural Nebraskan farmers with a flare for entertaining. They throw parties and love to rub elbows all over town. This works because most of the elbows are also white males. Why wouldn't the board and management see the value in denouncing such abusive tactics and train in diversity and inclusivity?? Thank you for this work!

These demands MUST be met and these changes NEED to be done. As an OH member-owner, this information is a shocking, disgusting disgrace.

This is despicable and you should be ashamed.

I just moved to Lincoln and was excited to shop here until I learned about how the board and owners are handling issues poorly. Money speaks and my money will fall silent on Open Harvest.

Great petition. However, I do not agree with anarchist methods displayed by certain protestors.

Get his ass out of there NOW

White supremacy is the real issue with our country's systematic order. Racists do not represent our diverse communities, nor our individuals. Remove white supremacist from positions of power.

As a former black employee, these demands are easily met and much needed. Leadership is completely devoid of any racial sensitivity.

A full month before this petition was released, Open Harvest posted a statement on their website acknowledging these Member-Owner concerns, as well as the role that we all play in perpetuating systemic racism, and they committed to many of the demands the petition ultimately included a month later. After the petition came out, they went further in their actions, detailed their mistakes and slow response, and reiterated their commitment to helping untangle our country’s shameful racist legacy. You can read both statements here: https://openharvest.coop/news/. They also have an upcoming Board meeting at 6pm on August 5th that you can attend online. But the petition paints this situation in a completely different light, saying the Board and Management “do not view white supremacy & anti-Semitism as an actionable issue and that no action or even a statement would be released on this issue.” Based on emails and Open Harvest statements, this is clearly false, so what’s going on here? The action Open Harvest has not taken is banning Ross Brockley from the store (which wasn’t demanded in the petition), warning employees and customers about him, or issuing a public statement directed specifically at him. And for good reason: they were warned by lawyers that this could expose the Coop to lawsuits (see 5/26/20 email attributed to Open Harvest included in the petition Google Drive). To paraphrase one commenter here, do you want Open Harvest to destroy itself to make you happy? Open Harvest has a responsibility to help ensure everyone’s physical safety in the store, and I have heard no evidence that they have failed in this charge. But Open Harvest is not responsible for anyone’s ideological safety. In a free society, one will encounter stupid, ridiculous, vile and abhorrent beliefs (such as those attributed to Ross Brockley, which are all of these things), and I'm confident that better ideas, like diversity, freedom and love, will rise to the top – without t

This has been a long time coming

I signed this petition today to stand with members of the Open Harvest community to demand that our co-op leadership take seriously the harm that has been caused by the presence of a holocaust denier and white supremacist, Ross Brockley, on the OH Board of Directors. Ross served on the Board for a full three year term that ended in 2019. It is frustrating and sad to recognize that for years he has been given a pass by many individuals and organizations in our community who allegedly do not share his harmful views. All the while his presence, his beliefs, and his verbal attacks have caused serious harm and threatened the safety of many community members. I believe that there are many of us who, thanks to those who brought this petition forward, should be taking the opportunity to examine how our own silence has enabled this harm for years. As a former OH Board Member (2013-2016) I am particularly culpable in my lack of action on this issue. Not only did my Board service overlap with Ross's for one year, I was the Chair of the Election Committee the year that Ross was elected to the Board by Member Owners. The simplest, most direct anti racist response at the time he applied to become a candidate should have been to seriously discuss the dangers of allowing a holocaust denier to join the Board and to quickly enact policy to prevent that from happening. Obviously, we did not do that. We took zero such action. It was that inaction that directly contributed to the harm that is now being addressed by this petition. I want to apologize to those individuals who have brought this petition forward for the harm that I have caused as a complicit former Board Member who did nothing to speak out against Ross's white supremacist beliefs. I apologize also, to the broader Open Harvest and Lincoln community for my silence, which only contributed to Ross's ability to spread his hateful views. I am sorry for my silence. I am sorry for my choice to remain comfortab

Showing support for this cause.

This won't go away by just ignoring and not acknowledging this problem.

Harmful to the Lincoln Community. And a disgrace.