Whole Foods: Stop carrying hatred on your shelves
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Whole Foods: Stop carrying hatred on your shelves
Hateful, discriminatory laws like North Carolina's HB2 are being designed and promoted around the country by right wing groups acting behind-the-scenes to push their bigoted beliefs on entire cities and states. In their wake Black, LGBT, and other marginalized communities are left even more vulnerable to violence and exploitation. It's not enough to oppose these policies; we have to challenge the companies who bankroll them. Whole Foods, one of the most popular and successful grocers in the nation, continues to carry products from Bolthouse Farms, a known support of conservative causes, despite outcry from customers and communities. We can't allow this to continue. Whole Foods needs to stand against hatred and discrimination by pulling those products from their shelves.
Here's the letter we'll send to the executive leadership of Whole Foods, demanding that they stop putting their profits over the lives of marginalized communities:
Walter E. Robb IV, Co-Chief Executive Officer
John Mackey, Co-Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder
A.C. Gallo, President and Chief Operating Officer
Jason J. Buechel, Global Vice President and Chief Information Officer
Edmund LaMacchia, Global Vice President of Procurement
Ken Meyer, Executive Vice President of Operations
James P. Sud, Executive Vice President, Growth and Business Development
Glenda J. Flanagan, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Roberta Lang, General Counsel and Global Vice President of Legal Affairs
Dear Mr. Robb, Mr. Mackey, Mr. Gallo, Mr. Buechel, Mr. LaMacchia, Mr. Meyer, Mr. Sud, Ms. Flanagan, and Ms. Lang,
We, the undersigned, are writing to you because your store has become an inadvertent funder of bigoted, hateful laws that directly infringe of the rights of Americans. North Carolina’s HB 2 bill not only made sweeping anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) policy into law, but prevents city and local governments from creating policy to lessen discriminatory practices. As of now, HB 2 stands as the most egregious example of the pernicious and insidious legislative attacks on Americans who identify as LGBT, but many other states are following North Carolina’s example. The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF, formerly the Alliance Defense Fund), an organization with a long history of supporting discriminatory causes, is providing templates and political advice to legislators in every state. And the ADF is being funded in part by Bolthouse Farms, a food producer and distributor whose products you carry and sell in your stores.
No matter what ideals Whole Foods professes to value, no matter how much you disavow any connection or alignment with groups like the ADF, the fact remains: Every dollar of Bolthouse Farms product sold in your stores is a dollar that goes towards supporting hate and bigotry across the country. Every Bolthouse Farms product on your shelves is a stark reminder to customers that their money is more valued their identities or their rights. Over 100 legislative efforts focused on trampling the rights of LGBT people are being developed and passed by state governments around the country. Whole Foods represents itself as a business which balances prudent business development with community engagement and ethical politics. Yet if your profits are more important than your ideals, even in the face of a clear and present danger to the rights of millions of people, then why should anyone believe in the image you put forth?
Every person, regardless of their race, class, gender, or sexual identity, is entitled to the protection of their basic rights by the government. We cannot fault people for their religious beliefs. But we will hold accountable the organizations and corporations which prey on naive fears and pervert the sacred beliefs of others to serve their self-serving agendas. An attack on the basic civil rights of one minority at any level of government exposes all marginalized groups to deeper, more dangerous disenfranchisement. Civil rights groups such as the NAACP have already mobilized to protest against the bill in North Carolina. But even if the bill is repealed, similar laws in other states are still on the book. And companies like Whole Foods are still supporting hateful legislation as long as they carry Bolthouse Farms products on their shelves. Until corporations like Whole Foods hold themselves and their partners accountable, the injustices will continue and our basic rights as Americans will be trampled.