Staff report
Bloomington, Indiana – September 3, 2023
The newly renamed “Bloomington Farm Stop Collective” announced its rebranding initiative Sunday.
In a press release issued on September 3, 2023, the organization expressed remorse for “the harmful historical context associated with Rose Hill Cemetery.”
“By using Rose Hill in our name, we not only harmed community members, but we perpetuated the historical and systematic erasure of Black people. In our quest for understanding community concerns, we learned that many Black Indigenous People of Color buried in Rose Hill cemetery do not have headstones. This erasure of Black life is a part of a long, racist history in the United States. Our use of the Rose Hill name contributed to this erasure. We apologize for the harm we have caused our community, and for not speaking up on these issues sooner.,” the statement read.
Here is the full press release:
“FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 3, 2023
For more information, please contact:
Lillian Greenberg- [email protected] or Bobbi Boos- [email protected]
The Newly Named Bloomington Farm Stop Collective
902 W. Kirkwood Ave. Bloomington, IN 47404
To our beloved Bloomington community,
It has been an honor serving our community and small farmers through the cooperative over the last two years. We are working hard to better serve our community by expanding on our original mission. Our board of directors and operations team have taken time to reflect on how our cooperative originated and the mistake we made in choosing the store’s name. We did not grasp the harmful historical context associated with Rose Hill Cemetery. By using Rose Hill in our name, we not only harmed community members, but we perpetuated the historical and systematic erasure of Black people. In our quest for understanding community concerns, we learned that many Black Indigenous People of Color buried in Rose Hill cemetery do not have headstones. This erasure of Black life is a part of a long, racist history in the United States. Our use of the Rose Hill name contributed to this erasure. We apologize for the harm we have caused our community, and for not speaking up on these issues sooner.
We cannot undo the pain caused by our decision to use the Rose Hill name. We are, however, determined to move forward in a more informed and DEI-centered direction. With education from local partners, we have been on a journey of processing the history of our cooperative and learning about the necessary changes needed to improve our mission and values. We are moving through this process intentionally and we have made significant strides. We now have a more diverse board of directors, with three BIPOC and four women farmers. We still have room for growth and are committed to this process.
To reflect our expanding mission, we have changed our store’s name to Bloomington Farm Stop Collective. This decision is an opportunity for us to put our DEI efforts into practice, and hold ourselves accountable for our past mistakes.
We want to say thank you to our community for alerting us to the mistake we made in choosing our name and the harm we have caused because of this decision. We want to thank our farmers, staff, and board of directors for taking accountability. It has been a humbling and challenging process. We are grateful to be a part of the Bloomington local food community, and are committed to upholding our shared values.
With gratitude,
Bloomington Farm Stop Collective Board of Directors and Management Team: Ash Teng, Bobbi Boos, Chelssie McKinney, Enrique Hernandez, Jonas Carpenter, Keenan May, Lessie Frazier Lennon, Lillian Greenberg, Mike Record, and Shanna Poveda“
