Letters 1-22-14

The integrity of the Olympia Food Coop has reached a new low. I am referring to the current OFC newsletter that I picked up at Bagel Bros.

In the interview of Harry Levine and Grace Cox’s 30-year anniversary, their statements in reference to the process of how the boycott happened are untrue at best.

Harry said that OFC has, throughout the years, “made decisions including many product boycotts [that] have been wildly popular. Until we hit the boycott of Israel. They all came out of evaluating our mission statement and asking ourselves – what is it that we support?”

Who is the “we” in his statement? Harry was the staff representative on the board when the decision happened. There were clearly staff members that would block consensus. Harry himself warned the staff in a memo (6/7/2010), “I think there also seems to be some fear in participating in an issue that potentially could cause a great deal of contention”. Did he table the discussion to a future meeting to get input from opposing views? No.

OFC Mission Statement: “Support efforts to increase democratic process”. Didn’t happen. A month before that warning, in the May Board minutes, “Jessica (board member) requests that if the proposal does not make it thru staff that those with blocking concerns come to the board to present those concerns”. Completely ignored.

Before this boycott, all boycotts were decided by the staff. Boycott Policy: [Staff] “will decide by consensus whether or not to honor a boycott”.

Grace commented in the interview, “we have had a more consistent practice around boycotts and other social issues”. Consistent??

Complete whitewash by both of them.

From OP&L’s editorial on the boycott, on October 6, 2010: “This is about whether to address important and potentially divisive issues in a way that brings the community of Olympia together-or pulls it apart.”

– Tibor Breuer

…We must come to see that human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability. It comes through the tireless efforts and persistent work of (people) willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right. Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy, and transform our pending national elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. Now is the time to lift our national policy from the quicksand of (racial) injustice to the solid rock of human dignity. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

I looked into the eyes of Olympians today, brothers and sisters reaching out hands in need; and knew their unique stories share the struggle of poverty and self dignity. Can’t we do better by our neighbors.

Decades ago in an attempt to end hunger our leaders created the Food Stamp Program, which is now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). And it serves to lift millions of people out of poverty across our nation and here in Olympia. More than half of SNAP recipients are children, elderly and disabled individuals.

Our policy deciders are in the midst of desecrating this first line of defense against hunger in America. They need to hear from each of us, not just through the voting process, but from our voices, our emails, twitters. Let them know that you refuse to stand by and watch the gutting of the SNAP program; penalizing those who cannot find jobs because of the weak economy.

Congress, those elected to act on your values, is close to finishing a Farm Bill, which includes SNAP; cutting $8.6 billion from over the next ten years. It means cutting benefits by an average of $90 per month for 850,000 households, some are just down the street. Are they representing your values? Raise your voice!

– Nancy Curtiss