To the Editors:

The events of this past week, both national and local, have unsettled members of the Oberlin community and specifically those of us in the Oberlin Student Cooperative Association. We, as members of the OSCA Board of Directors, support those who fear for their safety and personhood in the wake of these events. We recognize that the recent decisions made on the national level and the local incident of racial profiling are symptomatic of institutionalized oppression. As an organization that considers social justice as central to our mission, we denounce the recent attacks against marginalized communities and offer them our undivided support.

In this period of intense activism, the time we take to cook and eat together is vital. Our co-ops become places for self-care, community, organizing and simply being. As we witnessed last week, OSCA has the unique ability to support activists both on the street and in the needed breaks in between. We urge members of OSCA and the wider Oberlin community to create dynamic and intentional spaces that fulfill the needs of our members who occupy these communal spaces: from organizing to self-care, from collective action to solitary, from cooking to crewing and from lentils to tofu.

Impartiality is unacceptable in this political era. We must affirm through our actions and words our support for all marginalized communities in Oberlin and beyond. Over the past week we have watched communities come together in a way that has been both unexpected and extremely comforting. The OSCA officers recently sent our membership an email with some words that hit close to home for us: “Tonight, let’s be tender and soft. Let’s live and love our truths. Let’s hold each other sweetly.” We want to extend this sentiment to everyone in the Oberlin community, and during this tumultuous time, we hold firm onto our commitment to promoting justice, kindness and love both inside and outside OSCA.

We would like to conclude with a quote by Dr. Cornel West, author of Race Matters: “Never forget that justice is what love looks like in public.”

In love, solidarity and cooperation,

Members of the OSCA Board of Directors:

– Tara Wells, President
– Rory O’Donoghue, Membership Secretary
– Emmanuel Navarro, Treasurer
– Bridget Menkis, Chair of the Board
– Frances Casey, Brown Bag Co-op Representative
– Phoebe Downer, Brown Bag Co-op Representative
– Julian Meltzer, Harkness Co-op Representative
– Jonathan Seamon, Harkness Co-op Representative
– Juliet Flam-Ross, Keep Co-op Representative
– Oliver Meldrum, Keep Co-op Representative
– Jenna Gyimesi, Fairchild Co-op Representative
– Teagan Webb, Fairchild Co-op Representative
– Sarah Bouquin, Pyle Inn Co-op Representative
– Melody Goodin, Pyle Inn Co-op Representative
– Simon Idelson, Old Barrows Co-op Representative
– Carmen Wolcott, Old Barrows Co-op Representative
– Rachel Finn-Lohmann, Tank Co-op Representative
– Sadie Munter, Tank Co-op Representative
– Alexandra Nicome, Third World Co-op Representative
– Gavin Epstein, At-Large Board Member