Open Harvest Member Owners for Justice

Open Harvest is a beautiful place and with the truth unveiled, the value is lowered. Change is good and is must for growth.

Racism is enabling racist. “Not having views that don’t align” with with racist while still giving them a platform = racists act!

Get this POS OUT!

Thank you Sarah.

Failure to act signifies agreement.

STOP THE HATE

One of my parents worked at Open Harvest for years and it was always hard for employees, but it got so much worse in the later years. I had no idea this was going on on top of all the other mistreatment. I volunteered there and was a member owner at one point. I feel a personal responsibility to step up and hold them accountable, especially now. I always loved the community and I want to protect it. We don't need people like Ross Brockley and his views.

Sick! I meant to read the reply to this super disgusting “explanation” and whoops hit the like button and can’t take it back. Just needed to say NO.

Much luv

Stand in for Nebraska’s formal statement in solidarity and support of those impacted is forthcoming.

I’m so appalled that I was unaware of the horrible racism going on at Open Harvest. This news is sickening and the board has to change. I can’t believe they tried to cover this up.

White supremacists have NO PLACE in Lincoln

Disgusting actions from this store and board. I will stop shopping here until this issue is resolved. Say no to racism! Say no to hate! Say no to Anti-Semitism

NO place for Ross Brockley in the Open Harvest community.

Internalized beliefs about white supremacy are seemingly insidious, but result in a noxious culture that allows violence to happen under its nose. We have to grow stronger as a community to recognize the ideas and ideals that cause harm and say no, you are not allowed to grow here. When a member of the community spreads these ideas openly, as Ross has done, its ok to say no. It’s ok to say, not here. It’s healthy to value the mental and emotional well-being of the whole community. It’s not easy for me to write this because I know Ross, too. The Brockley CSA was the first I joined years ago. I haven’t personally heard him make racist statements, but I’ve heard from friends first hand that he does. I hope Ross takes time to reflect on the effects of his words in the community. I hope Open Harvest has the courage to say, no, and hold an expectation of respect and accountability. I’m right here with you learning how to do this work. There’s a lot to unlearn, so that we can be a healthy community where communities that have been marginalized feel welcome and free from oppression. Let’s do the work.

It seems like it would be a bad idea for Open Harvest to publicly denounce a person as a white supremacist. That would open them to a libel/defamation lawsuit. Does the author want open harvest to destroy itself to make them happy? Reading through the messages hosted on the Google drive it looks like the board took actions to address the concerns of the author and actually did try. Ross Brockley is not on the board at open harvest, and the CoOp has posted a statement about it on their webpage. So what else does the author want? -not affiliated with any party involved

This is not what I would expect from a welcoming community focused co-op that I am a member of. Please reconsider Brockley Farms products and having Ross Brockley as a (board) member.

There are a number of first hand accounts that cannot be included in this document, due to legal reasons, job related concerns, etc. It is a shame, because those folks have been personally accosted by Ross at birthday parties, at Open Harvest itself, and in other instances. The Board has been aware of this. I know of member owners who have even written in on their membership renewal about their concerns about Ross. For the Board to continue saying to employees and other member owners that they are “just learning about this” is a blatant lie. It is not the only blatant lie that they have told during this time. As a Jewish person, I’ve been very hurt discovering how many of my friends don’t realize how harmful holocaust denial actually is. I urge you to google Lou Leviticus and other Lincoln holocaust survivors. There are few left, as they have passed away over the last handful of years, but their stories are still online, and they are POWERFUL. If you truly believe there isn’t harm in denying the holocaust, please educate yourself immediately. It should be noted as well, that aside from simply denying the holocaust, Ross has been heard saying he WISHES the Nazis would have gassed the Jews. One of my greatest concerns throughout this process of speaking with the Board about Ross has been the young minds he has been manipulating out on his farm. There are a handful of young folks between the ages of 18 and 35 or so who have spent time on his farm over the last decade. I have heard them speak of such ideas as “Jews raping babies” as well as more subtle manipulations like studying German / Nazi agricultural beliefs. Every time I have spoken to one of them, or heard of a friend speaking to one of them, they are immediately defensive of Ross and his beliefs. They demand to know if I, too, have read these Nazi philosophers and if not, then I don’t have room to disagree with them yet. It’s been horrifying to see young malleable minds being brainwashe

There is no place for this kind of ignorance & blatant racism on the board of this type of organization, zero tolerance is what is needed NOW

Please take the time to read all the attached PDF documents before defending Mr Brockley. In Mr Brockley’s statement he doesn’t deny being a Holocaust denier or an antisemite, he just references the conspiracy theorists who fuel his hate. His statement is the equivalent of Trump saying “fine people on both sides.”