For nearly a year, from late August 2019 to June 2020, I was an employee at the Ashland Food Co-op. My resignation was a direct response to the organization’s deeply rooted racism, manifested both in its actions and, critically, its inaction. The Ashland Food Co-op fostered a workplace where racist ideologies were freely propagated and protected, while employees who dared to challenge this rhetoric were left vulnerable and unsupported. In fact, those who spoke out against racism faced retaliation, and the co-op actively chose to prioritize a “comfortable silence” over addressing these critical issues. My experience of confronting a white supremacist coworker and subsequently facing retaliation, with the explicit support of supervisors, ultimately exposed the systemic failures within the Ashland Food Co-op’s purported values. When I formally reported these incidents, both Human Relations Manager Sharon van Duker and General Manager Emile Amarotico demonstrably failed to conduct any meaningful investigation.
The Ashland Food Co-op knowingly employs individuals who actively disseminate white supremacist viewpoints within the workplace and, more alarmingly, protects these individuals. This protection is facilitated by the widespread ignorance, tacit sympathy, or fear among the majority of white employees, who remain silent due to fear of harassment or job loss.
While the employee agreement includes a discrimination policy ostensibly designed to protect minority employees from harassment, in practice, it offers no tangible safeguards beyond reporting incidents to the HR Manager. This recourse is rendered futile by the HR department’s, and specifically Sharon Van Duker’s, consistent unwillingness to take any meaningful action beyond dismissing or discouraging complaints.
My coworker in the Prepared Foods Department, Pete Schwartz, repeatedly promoted white supremacist rhetoric in the workplace. This included assertions denying the existence of racial issues in the USA, advocating for concentration camps to “take care of our own kind,” and, in February 2020, falsely claiming the existence of a study indicating East Asian people were more susceptible to COVID-19.
In the initial incident, I directly challenged and debated Schwartz’s statements, an action not prohibited by Ashland Food Co-op guidelines. While political discussions were permitted, Schwartz’s defense of detaining migrant Guatemalan children in ICE detention camps without trial arguably violated co-op guidelines regarding hate speech. However, the co-op’s Diversity Guidelines proved to be toothless and unenforced. Schwartz escalated the confrontation, ultimately invading my personal space and following me as I left the building. The following day, I reported the entire incident to HR Manager Sharon van Duker. Her response was limited to mentioning that Schwartz would be attending diversity courses, with no further action taken. Schwartz continued to propagate racist and xenophobic rhetoric without consequence.
The Ashland Food Co-op’s Diversity Courses, touted as a solution, are fundamentally inadequate. They are outdated, irrelevant, and performative. The co-op’s inaugural class began with a white spiritualist leading a silent prayer to “The Native Americans” as if they were a vanished people, complete with ceremonial chimes. These courses superficially address systemic racism and the necessity of anti-racist action, focusing instead on vague notions of empathy and increased caring. This approach offers no practical resources or protection for employees vulnerable to workplace discrimination. The co-op seemingly uses these token gestures to assuage white guilt, congratulating itself without genuinely assessing whether its workforce is committed to diversity and inclusion. Predictably, these diversity courses yielded no tangible change. Racist employees remained unaffected, recognizing they could endure the training without altering their behavior, confident in the co-op’s inaction and the fear of retaliation experienced by coworkers of color. Ultimately, the Ashland Food Co-op’s diversity initiatives served to underscore its unwillingness to enforce its stated commitment to diversity and anti-discrimination policies, reducing the concept of a pro-diversity workplace to a shallow, performative exercise rather than a fundamental standard of decency.
Having witnessed HR’s inaction, and understanding Schwartz’s ideology, I felt obligated to inform my coworkers, particularly those more vulnerable to white supremacist ideologies than myself as a white male. Knowing HR would not issue any warnings, I took it upon myself to alert coworkers of color and those of Semitic heritage about Schwartz’s behavior, advising caution but not advocating for hostility. This was, in my view, the bare minimum of responsible action. The Ashland Food Co-op, however, remained comfortable allowing an employee who advocated for concentration camps to work alongside Latin-American and Jewish employees without any warning about his hostile ideology, an ideology fundamentally opposed to their very existence. The co-op was fully aware and demonstrably unconcerned.
In February 2020, amidst rising COVID-19 concerns, Schwartz attempted to disseminate xenophobic misinformation within the Prepared Foods Department kitchen. He tried to entice coworkers to inquire about a fabricated study supposedly linking East Asian ethnicity to higher COVID-19 susceptibility. This blatant lie, attempting to legitimize xenophobia during a public health crisis, was immediately challenged by me, labeling it as xenophobic. Schwartz ceased spreading this misinformation in my presence.
The subsequent events must be understood within the context of the Ashland Food Co-op’s inconsistent language policy. While a policy nominally prohibited workplace swearing, it was widely disregarded, with employees using profanity and even racial slurs. Enforcement was arbitrary, primarily occurring in the Prepared Foods Department when customers were within earshot, or when supervisors sought leverage against specific employees. I generally adhered to workplace norms, avoiding profanity. This is crucial because when a white supremacist threatened me in the workplace, my response, telling him to “fuck himself,” became the focal point of management’s concern, overshadowing the initial threat. My supervisors, Reagan Roach and Jinelle Wendling, alongside HR Manager Sharon van Duker and General Manager Emile Amarotico, each for their own reasons, prioritized my use of profanity over the fact that a white supremacist employee had issued a threat.
A white supremacist employee threatened me in the workplace, BUT my response included the word “fuck.”
My supervisors threatened termination under false pretenses, equating the experiences of white supremacists and Black people in terms of discrimination, BUT I said “fuck.”
My single use of the word “fuck” became a central justification for the Ashland Food Co-op’s inaction. Apparently, at the Ashland Food Co-op, comparing a Black person to a Nazi is permissible, but using the word “fuck” is deemed obscene and unacceptable.
The ensuing events are detailed in the Incident Report I submitted directly to HR Manager Sharon Van Duker (full version available in documentation):
“…A few weeks prior, upon clocking in, I witnessed Schwartz engaged in an aggressive argument with Justin Stahl. Schwartz’s posture and demeanor mirrored my previous breakroom encounter, and Stahl appeared visibly uncomfortable. I approached Stahl, inquiring if he was alright. He confirmed he was, explaining he had been arguing with Schwartz over an “incredibly ignorant” statement. I expressed sympathy and shared my own experiences.
Later that day, I observed Schwartz invading Stahl’s personal space, speaking in a manner and tone that suggested harassment. I later learned from Stahl that it was a tense but work-related conversation, and my initial assessment was mistaken in this instance. I acknowledge this error and that I should have approached a supervisor directly. Instead, I directly asked Schwartz if he was “Harassing people again,” referencing his prior breakroom behavior. Schwartz responded with a threatening growl to “Stay out of it.” Interpreting this as a threat, I instinctively responded with an expletive directed at Schwartz. I acknowledge this response deviated from workplace guidelines, but argue it was a minor infraction, not warranting termination, particularly as Roach implied it could be, conflating this incident with my previous, guideline-compliant actions of refuting Schwartz’s racist statements and informing coworkers. While I accept disciplinary action for using crude language, the events in Roach’s office, detailed below, have eroded my trust in the fairness and impartiality of any such action, suggesting disproportionate reprisal.
Days later, Chef Reagan Roach summoned me to his office. Jinelle Wendling was present, observing silently. Roach, without stating the meeting’s purpose, asked why I believed I was there, mentioning names including Schwartz, and asking if I recalled recent issues with any of them. Disoriented but anticipating discussion of the Schwartz incident, I volunteered the information, acknowledging my reaction was imperfect and expressing willingness to rectify my workplace conduct concerning harassment or threats. Roach then informed me that this incident could lead to my termination, explaining Schwartz had complained of harassment by me, citing my previous actions as harassment. I explained these actions were measured responses to Schwartz’s hate speech. Roach claimed ignorance, so I detailed my past interactions with Schwartz and his white supremacist ideology. Roach asserted that white supremacy was protected under the co-op’s Diversity guidelines, deeming it a purely political matter to be excluded from the workplace. I countered that it was a matter of coworker safety. Roach then fundamentally undermined any trust by stating that white supremacy deserved the same protection as minority employees, and that white supremacists faced discrimination comparable to Black people.
Quote: “We could turn back the clock one-hundred years ago and it would be people in the workplace going up to other employees and saying, ‘Hey, this employee is black.’”
Ignoring the undeniable reality that Black people STILL endure far worse discrimination TODAY than white supremacists (often BECAUSE of white supremacists), Roach’s statement is horrifyingly inaccurate. Consider the historical reality of discrimination against Black people just 100 years ago, exemplified by the lynching of Zachariah Walker:
Zachariah Walker screamed before the mob threw him into the fire. Walker, a black iron worker from the South, was already bloodied from a recent surgery that removed a bullet from his jaw, and was agonized by the experience of being dragged hundreds of feet from his hospital bed to a field where a fire had been built by a white mob. “For God’s sake, give a man a chance!” Walker yelled. It did not matter. They threw him in.
The lynching of Zachariah Walker happened in the bustling steel town of Coatesville, Pennsylvania, on the night of August 13th, 1911.
Roach’s statement, whether from ignorance or prejudice, was shocking and destroyed any confidence in his impartiality or fairness. I challenged him on the statement, questioning his understanding of its implications and dangers, but he persisted. I explained the false equivalency he was drawing between Nazis and oppressed minorities, between a group seeking to eradicate another and a group simply seeking to live with dignity. Roach maintained his position, trivializing it as mere political differences irrelevant to the workplace. He implied that if I continued to inform people about Schwartz’s ideology, my employment would be terminated. When pressed, he confirmed this. Wendling remained silent throughout. Disoriented, I sought to end the interaction to process events. Roach and Wendling asked if I understood, and if I had questions. I replied in the affirmative and exited, deciding to leave work. I informed [name redacted] and went home.
Upon reviewing the Ashland Food Co-op Employee Guidelines and Agreement, I recognized that the actions of Roach, Wendling, and Schwartz were not only unethical but violated company policy. I hoped the Ashland Food Co-op would uphold its stated commitment to diversity and ethical business practices, requiring meaningful action and follow-through.
- -Reece Bredl, Prepared Foods Department*
Following this meeting, I left work and reviewed the Ashland Food Co-op Employee’s Agreement, specifically the Discrimination and Harassment Prevention Policy and Complaint Procedures (full version in documentation).
The policy explicitly mandated that harassment and retaliation complaints be reported to the HR Manager ASAP, promising a prompt, thorough, impartial, and confidential investigation conducted by qualified and impartial personnel, potentially including external investigators if internal staff lacked impartiality. Sharon Duker’s subsequent actions demonstrated her lack of qualification and impartiality, yet the co-op deemed her performance acceptable, highlighting the deeply ingrained racial ignorance within the company.
On June 1st, 2020, I left a detailed voicemail for HR Manager Sharon van Duker outlining the events and lodging my official complaint (recording available in documentation).
Duker responded with a call, not informing me of an investigation, but scheduling a meeting between myself and Chef Roach in her office. I had to assert my knowledge of the Employee’s Agreement and insist on adherence to its procedures before Duker agreed to an in-person meeting to receive my complaint (mentioned in the recording of the 2nd HR Meeting, documentation).
An in-person meeting was arranged for a complete incident report to the HR Manager and General Manager. I exercised my right to bring an Employee’s Alliance Representative and requested, and was granted, permission to record the meeting (recording held by myself and the co-op).
I requested counsel from the AFCEA and received support, counsel, and three volunteers to attend the meeting with me. I learned that this was not the first complaint regarding Schwartz’s behavior. I was advised to contact coworkers with potential similar experiences with Schwartz, Roach, or Wendling, asking for truthful incident reports or testimonials for HR. I sent this request, including my incident report, to coworkers I believed would act ethically. The majority response was silence. Some moral support came from a few individuals. Justin Stahl’s response was notably panicked and evasive, categorically refusing any involvement in an investigation (Stahl’s text in documentation). Similar texts came from other employees.
1st HR Meeting (Recording in Documentation)
Attendees: Sharon Van Duker, Emile Amarotico, three AFCEA Representatives, and myself.
Key observations:
Van Duker focused disproportionately on the specific swear word used in response to a white supremacist threat, dedicating questions and time to this rather than the threatening behavior itself. The single swear word would later be used as a trivializing excuse for inaction.
Van Duker repeatedly mentioned my discussions with HR in the workplace as potentially detrimental to her investigation, yet in the subsequent meeting, she admitted to doing nothing for a month except asking the accused parties if they committed the actions in my complaint and accepting their denials at face value. Essentially, she took no investigative action, while preemptively making excuses about the difficulty of her (non-existent) work.
The meeting concluded, and I was granted unpaid personal leave. The Employee Alliance representatives were realistic about the limitations of an investigation with the available evidence, which I acknowledged. At this point, I hoped the Ashland Food Co-op would at least make a genuine effort to investigate as promised in its Bargaining Agreement with employees. A month passed with no substantial updates. I had to email Van Duker for brief, uninformative updates stating the investigation was “ongoing.” Coworkers still at the co-op reported being interviewed by Van Duker, who asked if they had heard Pete Schwartz make racist comments, but followed up by asking if they had heard me make “anti-racist” comments, equating “anti-racism” with racism in a chilling display of HR incompetence. This was the head of AFC’s HR Department.
2nd HR Meeting
Attendees were the same as the first meeting.
I was presented with a PowerPoint presentation – a rudimentary Word document (copies in documentation). This presentation summarized a month-long “investigation” by the HR Department under Sharon Van Duker, consisting solely of superficial interviews primarily with Roach, Wendling, and Schwartz. Based on these interviews, the HR department concluded I was entirely wrong, at fault for harassment, and guilty of using a bad word. A significant portion of this flimsy “findings” document was dedicated to the single swear word. The Ashland Food Co-op made me wait a month to be told they had done nothing. Despite knowing multiple coworkers had provided testimony about Schwartz’s behavior and the racist environment in the Prepared Foods Department, she had ignored it. It is difficult to believe General Manager Emile Amarotico was unaware of her actions. I did not endure the entire presentation. I obtained what answers I could, collected my documentation, and left. Had the Ashland Food Co-op demonstrated any commitment to upholding its agreements to employees, I would have remained. But it demonstrably did not.
The Ashland Food Co-op fails to protect its employees. Due to structural flaws and leadership complicity, the Ashland Food Co-op is a workplace where racism is protected, and opposition to it is punished, disregarding ethical principles and employee agreements. AFC lacks effective policies to shield employees from racist retaliation. Company management, both General and HR, has shown disregard for policy, prioritizing silence above all else.
Ashland Food Co-op is not a genuinely “woke” or socially responsible option. While they may promote a reduced carbon footprint, customers deserve the complete truth about their actions. No business can claim “Social Responsibility” while simultaneously protecting white supremacists and evading accountability.
Black Lives Matter
Fuck White Supremacy
Fuck White Silence
Fuck Ashland Food Co-op
For those in the Rogue Valley at greater risk:
Pete Schwartz is approximately 6 feet tall, heavyset, and bald with a thistle plant tattoo on his head. He has demonstrated a willingness to use intimidation and manipulation to harass and retaliate against those who oppose his racist ideology. He typically carries what appears to be a knife and has mentioned owning a firearm. Exercise caution and prioritize safety if encountering this individual.
