The Co-op boycott “activists” look like a popularity contest and I question their activism as performative.

There have been multiple articles by a former Co-op board member and other guests who have seemed to delight in the fact that their professional headshot and brooding language has been plastered all over The Leader for months.

I attended a board meeting and witnessed white or white-passing individuals berating a board that contains two BIPOC board members. When Rufina spoke, they dismissed her defense of board members by acting like she was a victim who didn’t know any better. This activist group exists in an echo chamber and refuses to acknowledge the tangible work the Co-op has done in this community (no this does not dismiss very real problems at the Co-op), the time it takes to do the work and the path ahead.

This community has a do-something disease that makes them take on issues that occur globally and nationally and reappropriate that anger into one of the few institutions in town that makes real change. Your activism clearly comes from a place of ignorance and privilege; you live in a place that allows you to clutch pearls behind social media/carefully crafted newspaper articles; there are no bombs dropping here; we live in a state that will fight back against the new administration and yet here we are acting like we are in 1939 Germany.

During the November board meeting, everyone in attendance was reminded that there were violations of code of conduct that lead to Cameron’s dismissal. Without any of us knowing the full story of what happened, it is ignorant to view this in a hard-lined “Good vs. Evil” perspective.

I hope people can soften their approach and realize that it’s much bigger than black and white.

Alan Wells

Port Townsend