Sample Opinion Letter #2

The General Manager of the Middlebury Natural Foods Coop sent a message to his staff that infringed on their political freedoms regarding a matter irrelevant to the Coop's mission. As an employee nearing the end of my employment with the Coop, I sent this letter to the Coop Board of Directors and other community members. 2,087 words.

Political Freedom in the Workplace

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.” --Archbishop Desmond Tutu

“In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.” --The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “I Have a Dream” Speech

“We are unapologetically Black in our positioning. In affirming that Black Lives Matter, we need not qualify our position. To love and desire freedom and justice for ourselves is a prerequisite for wanting the same for others.” --Black Lives Matter, “What We Believe” Statement

The Middlebury Natural Foods Coop has joined businesses across the country in infringing on the political freedoms of its staff. On June 2nd, General Manager Glenn Lower sent an emailed message to his staff, sharing his own anger brought on by George Floyd’s murder and informing MNFC staff that “each of us needs to find some action to take to help dismantle systemic racism.” He continued by promoting a practical action: “Learning is always a good first step, so I encourage you to explore the Black Lives Matter resources at https://blacklivesmatter.com/.”

By chance, I had been planning to leave my job at the Coop, on good terms, four days after Glenn sent his message. I was therefore free to respond to the General Manager’s exhortation honestly, and without regard for my safety within the community I was soon to quit. Glenn’s instruction to me, “to find some action to take to help dismantle systemic racism,” struck me immediately as politically presumptuous. That racism exists on a “systemic” level in my community or in my country, that it is my responsibility to address such racism in my community or country, and that there is a specific action I ought to take to address such “systemic” racism, are all extremely political, and by no means self-evident, assertions. They are assertions associated with the Progressive-Liberal political movement. By assuming that my coworkers and I would agree with those assertions, Glenn assumed that all of us are sympathetic to the Progressive-Liberal movement. The leadership at the Coop is imposing its political beliefs onto its employees.

The imposition is subtle, though. The Coop does not overtly state that its employees must hold Progressive political beliefs. Rather, the Coop uses a tactic familiar to the Progressive movement: by equating Progressive ideals with non-partisan compassion, the Coop can convince itself that perceiving its employees as Progressives is paying them a compliment. “You employees are kind, compassionate people,” goes the argument; “therefore, you must share our political opinions.” Conversely, this attitude casts any employee who disagrees politically as callous and bigoted; since no worker wants his coworkers to think him callous and bigoted, those who disagree politically remain silent.

I was one of these silent Coop employees. But when General Manager Glenn Lower sent his letter to the staff on June 2nd, I recognized the cowardice in my silence. Glenn post-scripted his message with a quote from Archbishop Desmond Tutu: “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” With the Archbishop’s words fueling my courage, and my last day of work drawing near, I resolved to confront injustice at the Coop.

Black Lives Matter is a racist organization. I think many Progressives are simply unaware of what the organization stands for, but many more ought to know better. I took Glenn Lower’s advice and followed the link to the BLM website, and what I found reinforced these thoughts. I had explored the website three or four years ago and had been instantly struck by the anti-White, anti-family, anti-Christian and segregationist sentiments proclaimed in the organization’s mission statement. On today’s website, however, those sentiments are well-hidden among politically acute aphorisms and sensational news stories. They are there, though. Here are two examples:

“We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and ‘villages’ that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable.”

This is perhaps the most distressing proclamation of BLM’s “What We Believe” statement. It is BLM’s mission to destroy the family. Only slightly less apparent in this quote is BLM’s mission to create segregated Black “village” communities, so that Blacks can live unfettered by the cultural practices of “White America.” This notion bears repeating: Black Lives Matter supports racial segregation. Compare to the words of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., from his “I Have a Dream” speech: “...the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.” And also: “I have a dream that… one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.” Any supporter of both King and BLM has a good deal of reconciling to do.

“We are unapologetically Black in our positioning. In affirming that Black Lives Matter, we need not qualify our position. To love and desire freedom and justice for ourselves is a prerequisite for wanting the same for others.”

This proclamation helpfully clarifies the “We” in BLM’s “What We Believe” statement. The “We” includes Black people, and it specifically excludes non-Black people. This sort of language perpetuates segregation: defining groups of individuals by their races, in such a way that implies more than a mere superficial distinction between the groups. King also employs a black “we” in his “I Have a Dream” speech, but he defines the relationship between that “we” and the white “they” very differently: “...many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.” BLM’s “prerequisite” divides, while King ties up and inextricably binds.

The very name “Black Lives Matter” rings with division. In order for the slogan to make any sense, there must exist something called a “Black Life,” distinct from a “White Life.” Race, then is not superficial, is not merely a reference to physically discernible genetic traits, runs deeper even than cultural traditions. Members of BLM are not merely physically black or culturally black; their very lives are Black. Race, they say, is as fundamental to each of us as Life itself.

The source of racism is the lie that race is a fundamental trait. Pull out that stubborn root, and the weed withers and dies away. King understood this: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” To say that Black Lives Matter is to say that King’s children should be judged by the color of their skin – judged favorably, to be sure, but judged as Black nonetheless. Thus, the oft-criticized counter-cry, “All Lives Matter,” is a far more potent weapon against racism than the undercover agent of racial injustice, “Black Lives Matter,” could ever be.

The Middlebury Natural Foods Coop, though, has already established the Black Lives Matter website as a reputable source of information for combating systemic racism, as if such a claim were incontestably apolitical. Apparently, Coop staff are unanimous in their support of BLM’s crusade to reduce police funding, as an underfunded and overworked police force will surely exhibit reduced racial bias and improved in-the-moment decision-making. Coop leadership ignores alternative viewpoints, such as the theory that reducing police funding will negatively impact the members of black communities over white communities, thus contributing to racial disparity. Again, the Coop is either naive in its assumption that anti-police support is apolitical or tyrannical in its knowing enforcement of a particular political belief on its staff.

Black Lives Matter aside, though, Glenn Lower’s message demanding action in response to George Floyd’s murder was still highly inappropriate. It is not for the Coop to dictate the social causes to which its employees devote their energy. The connection between a murder in Minnesota and the Middlebury Coop’s stated mission is nonexistent. The notion that it is appropriate for Vermonters to involve themselves in solving problems in Minnesota and other states is a notion peculiar to political Progressivism; again, the Coop is imposing a particular political view on its staff. Another political perspective, to which I subscribe, is the belief that individuals are best equipped to address the problems of their own communities. Middlebury has many problems that need addressing and that make the problem of racism in Vermont pale in comparison. If Archbishop Tutu’s exhortation compels Glenn Lower to work for racial justice, how much more ought it to compel him to fight for a mold-free learning environment for Mary Hogan students? It is a more or less open secret that our local elementary school building is contributing to the environmental illness, and inhibiting the long-term success, of students and staff. A project to right this injustice would have the benefit of aligning somewhat with the Coop’s goal of promoting a healthy community and a vibrant local economy. A Middlebury Coop-based crusade against racism can have no such concrete benefit to the community; all it would accomplish is the confirmation that the Coop, like our country’s popular media, is thoroughly entrenched in politically Progressive ideals.

One final and definitive political imposition lurks in Glenn Lower’s communication of June 2nd: his invocation of that highly Progressive phrase, “systemic racism.” Systemic racism is a theory of racism much touted by Progressive-Liberals. I do not claim to fully understand the theory, but I do understand that it stems from a political mindset that sees from a societal, rather than individual, viewpoint. Systemic racism is an issue entrenched in the cogs of our society, and so society must be dismantled in order to eradicate the racism. Once again, this is not a truth but a belief associated with a particular political persuasion. An alternative theory of racism examines the aforementioned cogs of our society and discovers that those cogs are individuals, each one with the capacity for all sorts of bigotry as well as all sorts of compassion. Racism, according to this theory, is an individual, not a socially systemic, issue. But the Coop is not interested in recognizing multiple opinions about the nature of racism. As preface to the discussion he sought to open, General Manager Glenn Lower framed “systemic racism” as reality.

“I look forward to hearing from you and your ideas on how we can be more inclusive at our Co-op,” Glenn wrapped up his letter. “Please share your thoughts, ideas and suggestions with myself or Emma or Laura [Human Resources staff] so we can hear all voices and ideas on ways we can do better and take action.” What is a Coop employee to do when the business’s very call for increased “inclusivity” excludes his perspective? What if a staff member believes that “doing better” and “taking action” regarding George Floyd’s tragedy are mutually exclusive? What if he believes that the best way to fight racism is to avoid getting sucked into the race-based rhetoric saturating American popular culture? To keep selling healthy food to community members, regardless of their political beliefs? Coop leadership has made it clear that these are not the sorts of voices and ideas the Coop wants to hear.

Luckily for me, I am no longer an employee of the Middlebury Natural Foods Coop. I no longer need to hide my political beliefs from my employers and coworkers. But as I search for a new job, I am aware that the Coop is not alone in pressing a Progressive political agenda onto its staff. Taking their cue from popular media, businesses across the country are jumping on the bandwagon of Black Lives Matter with little thought to the political freedoms of their employees. At least, I hope this bandwagon-jumping is thoughtless; if Progressive-Liberal business leaders are fully aware of the political coercion in which they are participating, then America certainly does have an injustice on its hands.

Jack DesBois
MNFC Member-Owner, 2014 – 2020
MNFC Staff, July 2019 – June 2020
June 14, 2020