230 Bay Place
Oakland, CA 94612
USA
On Thursday Sept. 4th a Black man who was attempting to make a purchase with his EBT, was beaten and bloodied by armed security guards at the Lake Merritt Whole Foods. This man was left unconscious in a large pool of his own blood out front of the store, while employees called for more back-up rather than sending for paramedics.
This inhumane beating adds to the national narrative around a crisis of anti-Black violence. Currently, every 28hrs a black person is murdered by police, vigilantes, or security guards.*
This latest brutality is also in context of many ongoing discriminatory practices and anti-Black policies engaged by Whole Foods:
**Whole Foods materially supported the state violence in Baltimore**
During the Baltimore protests, Whole Foods distributed free water bottles to the National Guard and created a photo opportunity, rather than providing any food/water donations to the Baltimore children left hungry by the forced school closures.
**Whole Foods depends on Prison Labor**
WF uses exploitative prison labor in Colorado to supply products to their stores nationally.
*Whole Foods has a poor labor record**
WF is known for their union-busting and anti-worker labor practices.
*Whole Foods was a significant gentrifying force in Oakland*
WF only opens locations in areas that meet their median income standards. The Lake Merritt location was an exception to this policy; in 2007 this store was opened based on a projected rise in income. Meaning WF both fostered and depended on the gentrification of this area in particular.
On Thursday Spet 10th, we are calling for a picket at Whole Foods with the following demands:
1. Disarm all security guards at the store
2. Compensate for the pain, suffering, and humiliation of the attack victim
3.Issue a public apology
4. Suspend all managers on duty that night, as well as the employees who called for more backup rather than calling the paramedics.
5. Provide discounts and giveaways for EBT customers, in solidarity with the working families being displaced from the area.
6. Require on-going staff training on how anti-Black racism functions within customer service
Please turn out with SIGNS and BANNERS for a two-hour picket line out front of the Whole Foods. This violence against our community has to stop!! And we will not support a business that promotes these acts of brutality!!
~This event is being hosted by members of black.seed and the Anti-Police Terror Project~
*This statistic comes from Malcolm X Grassroots Project annual report, Operation Ghetto Storm.