June 2021
Real Pickles’ Public Commitment to Racial Justice
We, the Worker-Owners of Real Pickles Co-operative, add our voices to the chorus of people, businesses, organizations, and movements calling for an end to racism. Our intention in writing this statement is to show our solidarity with Black people, Indigenous people, and all those oppressed by white supremacy in our world and in our communities.
As a worker co-operative with a social mission to build a better food system, we believe that dismantling systemic racism is part of the work of building a just, democratic, and vibrantly healthy food system. We see the harmful impacts of racism in our own co-operative and throughout our society. The racial inequities we see now are continuations of historical injustices, from colonization to slavery to farmworker exploitation. Stories of transforming the food system often center on white people and erase the work, knowledge, and leadership of people of color, especially Black and Indigenous people. We acknowledge that the work of uprooting racism in the food system has been happening for a long time, and believe that we must take an actively anti-racist approach to join in addressing these deep racial inequities.
While we recognize the importance of stating our support for racial justice, we believe that our ongoing actions will make these stated commitments real over time. Here are some of the actions we are taking as we find our way towards being a more inclusive and actively anti-racist business:
- Through regular staff education, all staff will be familiarized with the concepts of systemic racism and microaggressions in the workplace so that we can have a workplace that upholds our stated guiding principle to create jobs that support the dignity of all workers.
- We will broaden our workplace conversations on how to become an anti-racist business, working to include voices beyond our currently all-white board of directors and to bring stronger leadership and vision to Real Pickles from a racial justice perspective.
- Our board will revisit our co-op governing documents and staff policies to ensure that we are actively supporting people of color in the workplace and that we are leading our co-operative with an inclusive vision that is aligned with dismantling racism in our business activities.
- Our board will continue to educate ourselves about racial inequities and anti-racism.
- We will continue to show up for racial justice work in our home region and in the networks we are part of (recent examples include the Franklin County Welcoming and Belonging initiative and the New Economy Coalition’s Black Solidarity Economy Fund).
- We will continue to support farmers and farmworkers, gardeners, land stewards, co-operative organizers, and activists of color in our region with financial contributions and product donations. We will also prioritize opportunities to share their work in our business outreach and advocacy.
