At Mariposa Food Co-op, there are specific product standards that inform the types of items we sell in our store. A long-time member-owner recently brought it to our attention that we weren’t adhering to those guidelines by carrying LesserEvil, an organic snack food brand, on our shelves.
LesserEvil, owned and led by a white man, appropriates the word “guru” to describe the cartoonish imagery of seemingly Eastern spiritual leader(s) that appears on all of their snack food packaging.
Because of this, the Co-op made the decision to remove all LesserEvil products from our shelves and will not continue to sell them. Additionally, we also notified the company of their offensive, culturally appropriative packaging and the harm that it causes.
We apologize to those in the Asian-American community, and other folks we offended, by choosing to sell this brand, and take full responsibility in making the wrong decision to do so. We extend our gratitude to the long-time member-owner for taking the time out to send a very detailed message telling us where we could do better as an organization, and we take their concerns very seriously.
As we see a surge in hate crimes against the Asian-American and Pacific Islander community fueled by white supremacy, it was imperative for us to assess our own practices at the Co-op to see where we can take action to further dissociate ourselves from white-centered-thinking and denounce white supremacy; and instead center the voices of the Asian community and other people of color who have been historically marginalized in this country for far too long. We know removing this brand is a small step, and the work doesn’t happen overnight, but please understand that this is of the utmost importance to us.
The General Manager and Buyers Team will take a look at our current list of product standards and make updates given the context brought forth by the long-time member-owner. We will present these changes to our membership and community by May 4, 2021. The guidelines will be accessible in-store and on our website.
We continue to support and stand in solidarity with organizers, protestors, allies and others working tirelessly to bring awareness to racist attacks and pressing issues the Asian community faces.
In Cooperation,
Mariposa Food Co-op