Todd Boyle reports from the Aug. 2 Whole Foods protest

Presenter: The group 50501 launched a nationwide action to boycott companies owned by Jeff Bezos. Whole Foods in Eugene was the scene of the protest Aug. 2, and KEPW’s Todd Boyle was there.

Todd Boyle: My name is Todd Boyle. I’m out here for KEPW Radio, and I always just ask people what brings you out here.

Whole Foods protester, Aug. 2, 2025: Just the degradation of our freedoms right now. It’s pretty scary and it’s from every angle. It’s like it’s hard to even keep up with what annoys or angers you the most.

[00:00:28] I’m particularly concerned about manipulating the statistics, like when he fired the director of the Bureau of Labor Statistics yesterday. That’s just banana republic stuff.

[00:00:40] It’s important to protest as well as resist. We’re moving into a phase now where we really have to have resistance against a regime that’s oppressive, but people have to know that we’re here. And so we’re here to give all the people like us strength.

[00:01:02] Todd Boyle: And this symbol here is the American flag, looks like about a three-by-six version, a nice big one there.

[00:01:08] Whole Foods protester, Aug. 2, 2025: I’m here because I think that the Trump regime has taken control of things that they shouldn’t have. I’m mostly concerned about cuts to education. I’m concerned about cuts to Public Broadcasting System and I’m opposed to the way that ICE is taking citizens and having them leave the country with no due process.

[00:01:35] Todd Boyle: Right. And the sign says, ‘Toxic, Reckless, Unqualified, Maniac, Pathetic.’ T-R-U-M-P.

[00:01:46] Whole Foods protester, Aug. 2, 2025: I just like hanging out with cool people. And I’m a little disturbed with 45. I try not to say his name in vain, but—

[00:01:58] Todd Boyle: And this is organic t-shirt, ‘Plant these: Rosemary Fennel Poppy Sunflower.’ Good job. The sign says: ‘I shot the tariff, but I did it for democracy.’ All right.

[00:02:12] Whole Foods protester, Aug. 2, 2025: I’m hoping there’s not too many young people who don’t remember the song.

[00:02:20] I’m here because I feel like we spend our money, give it to the billionaires. The billionaires give it to our representatives and they own the representatives and no longer have a voice. We have to hold them accountable. They have to pay their fair share and we got to stop this crap.

[00:02:40] Todd Boyle: And the sign says ‘Boycott billionaires.’ In fact, we’re in front of Whole Foods today because there’s been a demonstration organized against Whole Foods, which is an Amazon property, you know. And if we don’t boycott Jeff Bezos, who is? You know?

[00:02:56] Whole Foods protester, Aug. 2, 2025: That’s how it works. We’re always buying from them and giving them money and then they give their money and it just doesn’t work. The money is where it’s at.

[00:03:05] Todd Boyle: And there goes another Tesla.

[00:03:06] Whole Foods protester, Aug. 2, 2025: Yeah, that’s going to happen.

[00:03:11] Todd Boyle: This is KEPW Radio and I just ask people and then almost everybody just has an opinion. Seems like people have a lot of opinions. Can I ask you what motivates you to come out?

[00:03:23] Whole Foods protester, Aug. 2, 2025: It’s really hard to pinpoint but I think that what’s drawn me into this for years has been gender equity and reproductive rights, but of course, I’m concerned about many other things as well, given the current political situation.

[00:03:39] Todd Boyle: Thank you. And so I’m going to read your sign. ‘Boycott Whole Foods. Cancel Amazon.’ Yeah.

[00:03:44] Whole Foods protester, Aug. 2, 2025: We need change and we need numbers and the more people come out, the more likely change will be.

[00:03:56] Todd Boyle: And the sign is ‘No rule by billionaires or corporations.’

So what brings you out here today?

[00:04:02] Whole Foods protester, Aug. 2, 2025: Well, I feel like things are just not okay and people need to speak out.

[00:04:10] Todd Boyle: And the sign says, ‘Make America Compassionate and Wise.’

[00:04:15] Whole Foods protester, Aug. 2, 2025: It’s my right as an American to protest things that I disagree with and I’m going to keep doing it until they make me stop.

[00:04:27] Todd Boyle: So the T-shirt is ‘The People’s Free Food Program.’ Yep. The sign is ‘Living with constant intimidation is not freedom. Resist fascism and stay woke.’

What motivates you?

[00:04:41] Whole Foods protester, Aug. 2, 2025: I believe in democracy and I think it’s being undermined by Donald Trump and his gang in the Congress. And I’m not going to stand for it. I’m going to protest until it either is fixed or they put me in jail.

[00:04:55] Todd Boyle: And the sign says, ‘Donald’s new DEI: Discrimination, Exclusion and Inequality. WTF.’ I saw a sign last week that said ‘OMG GOP WTF.’ It was so perfect.

[00:05:11] Whole Foods protesters, Aug. 2, 2025: Three letters. Short and sweet.

[00:05:14] Todd Boyle: So I’ve been asking everybody, what is the main issue, you know, that if there is one single thing that motivates you the most to come out?

[00:05:23] Whole Foods protester, Aug. 2, 2025: All of it. We have to protect our democracy and fight for it. Right now, this is the only way we can do it. We have to express our voices.

[00:05:34] Todd Boyle: Yeah, and, it looks like there’s at least 100 people out here now and we’re getting ready for this.

[00:05:39] Whole Foods protester, Aug. 2, 2025: More are coming. It’s a tough time. It’s vacation time.

[00:05:42] Todd Boyle: Yeah. Oh, and the sign says: ‘The convicted rapist wants to pardon the convicted pedophile.’ So wrong. ‘Congress is broken and useless. Vote them out.’

[00:05:54] Whole Foods protesters, Aug. 2, 2025: What’s motivating me?

[00:05:56] The love of my community.

[00:05:57] Yeah, the love of my country, my community. Yeah. And trying to get people to get more people. I’m sorry we don’t have that many people today. Just get more people to protest what they’re doing. It’s absolutely terrible.

[00:06:11] Todd Boyle: And the sign says ‘All of my outrage can’t fit on this sign.’ And the other sign is, ‘The GOP party are killing America, Americans. Impeach all.’ Do you want to do you want to comment on what motivates you to be out here?

[00:06:33] Whole Foods protester, Aug. 2, 2025: Fear. That’s pretty much it.

[00:06:37] Todd Boyle: And the sign is a classic ‘No Kings.’ Right on. Do you want to say why, what motivates you to come out?

[00:06:50] Whole Foods protester, Aug. 2, 2025: Fear of an oligarchy, fear of the dictatorship, fear of our rights, fear of taking immigrants away. We’re all immigrants.

[00:07:04] Todd Boyle: Yeah. I’ve got the fear of like, what’s going to happen next, you know. Yeah. And the sign is ‘Neuter the looters.’ Now there’s an idea. Well, a little picture of Trump and Elon Musk, I guess, there.

[00:07:17] Whole Foods protester, Aug. 2, 2025: Well, I’m here for obvious reasons. It’s like, you know, I, in my lifetime, I saw a slow progression of our rights increasing. And now I was going to retire this year, and they’re all being taken away and it’s hellish. That’s about it.

[00:07:33] Todd Boyle: Couldn’t agree more. And the sign says, ‘We are all immigrants.’ Yeah. So I’m just asking people what motivates you to be out here, you know, if there was one thing.

[00:07:45] Whole Foods protester, Aug. 2, 2025: One thing out of all of the things? I don’t know, man. I hope that we can live up to the ideals that we say we are founded on. (I hear ya.) Yeah. Yeah.

[00:08:02] Todd Boyle: Actually, you know, the Constitution was highly flawed, you know, when it was here, but we’ve been, until recently, we were improving it. The sign says, ‘Billionaires and the GOP are threats to our democracy.’

[00:08:15] Whole Foods protester, Aug. 2, 2025: I have another sign, too.

[00:08:17] Todd Boyle: Well, the other sign, there you go. ‘End Citizens United = Get money out of politics.’ Yes. Any comments?

[00:08:26] Whole Foods protester, Aug. 2, 2025: I’m just surrounding myself with like-minded people.

[00:08:29] Todd Boyle: Right on. I’m asking people, you know, what motivates you to get out here today?

[00:08:35] Whole Foods protester, Aug. 2, 2025: Well, we want to encourage people to help each other out and build power through whatever means that they can. We’re here with the Neighborhood Anarchist Collective, and that’s an organization dedicated to direct action, mutual aid, and seeing people out and riled up about the state of things that they are right now. Well, we want to help them with that and help build a better world. That’s why we’re out here today.

[00:09:00] Todd Boyle: Yeah, a table full of good materials from the Neighborhood Anarchist Collective. So what brings you out here?

[00:09:06] Whole Foods protester, Aug. 2, 2025: We just kind of show up, trying to spread solidarity and hopefully help people feel empowered, so they don’t have to wait for someone to save them because I don’t think Chuck Schumer is going to do that. So here we are.

[00:09:20] Todd Boyle: So I’ve been asking people, what motivates you to come out, you know?

[00:09:24] Whole Foods protester, Aug. 2, 2025: All of it. All of it. It’s just all coming undone. It’s as was predicted, it’s happening, it’s unfolding: Dictatorship is here.

[00:09:36] Todd Boyle: They said the 25-point plan, they’re actually doing it.

[00:09:39] Whole Foods protester, Aug. 2, 2025: Oh yeah. Well, when I heard it, I started getting scared then. If they’re even saying it, then something’s going down we didn’t know about. Here it is.

[00:09:46] Todd Boyle: And the shirt is: ‘The daughter of an immigrant, proud daughter.’ Right on.

[00:09:52] Whole Foods protester, Aug. 2, 2025: Thank you.

[00:09:54] Todd Boyle: What are the issues that motivate you the most, that make you get off your couch?

[00:09:59] Whole Foods protester, Aug. 2, 2025: Yeah, right here on my T-shirt: Keep immigrants, and just, yeah, everything that’s involved.

[00:10:04] Todd Boyle: And the bike. The bike has a sign. And so there’s a list of every progressive issue: Free speech, public land, Social Security, NATO, cancer research, clean air, libraries, immigrants, protect DEI, Medicare, Medicaid, jobs, our books and libraries, protect our personal data, anyway that’s about half of the things on the sign here.

[00:10:23] Whole Foods protester, Aug. 2, 2025: Yeah, and we’re going to have to add more.

[00:10:27] Todd Boyle: So what is the thing, like, if there’s one thing that motivates you the most?

[00:10:31] Whole Foods protester, Aug. 2, 2025: Just frustration with the administration and what’s happening. There’s so much of it that I don’t agree with, and we just need to do something, and this is all I can do at the moment.

[00:10:42] Todd Boyle: And the sign says, ‘Rage against the regime,’ ‘Not my president.’ And here’s another one that says, ‘I have a dream.’ A police person frog-marching a yellow-haired guy. The other side says, ‘Not my pedophile.’

[00:10:58] Whole Foods protester, Aug. 2, 2025: Yeah, I think it’s important to tell people like Jeff Bezos to f— off. If you have that much money and there are people starving all over the place, then you’re doing the wrong thing. So that’s how I feel about it, that’s why I’m out here.

[00:11:14] Todd Boyle: What brings you out here? Like, what issues are most…

[00:11:19] Whole Foods protester, Aug. 2, 2025: Well, where to begin? I think the immigration issue is really hurting my soul. Just the fact that they’re grabbing people off the streets, I’d say that’s up there. The judicial system being eroded is scary for the long-term effects of that. And I just hate the man. He’s just the most, the most incompetent, cruel, corrupt president we’ve ever had. So I’m out here as much as I can.

[00:11:58] Todd Boyle: And the sign says, ‘Exercising my First Amendment rights.’

[00:12:01] Whole Foods protester, Aug. 2, 2025: Yeah, that’s because now we have to remind people that this is our right. And also, this is a quote: ‘When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty.’ I believe it was a quote by… Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

[00:12:15] Todd Boyle: Oh, there we go.

[00:12:15] Whole Foods protester, Aug. 2, 2025: Yeah. So I do feel like they’re starting to pass laws that I feel are unjust and immoral, and so I feel my duty to resist.

[00:12:26] Todd Boyle: Thanks so much. Say, what motivates you the most to come out today?

[00:12:35] Whole Foods protester, Aug. 2, 2025: Palestine. And the children of Palestine, and we need to get the f— out. I’m so sick of supporting our… it’s despicable. That’s an understatement.

[00:12:53] Todd Boyle: What motivates you to be out here the most, I mean?

[00:12:57] Whole Foods protester, Aug. 2, 2025: Oh, because we feel very powerless, because we are powerless singularly and it’s only collective action, and that there, we have power. So I want to be out here to let people driving by go, ‘Oh, there’s a lot of people who care about this, and there’s things to join and ways to get involved.’

[00:13:13] Todd Boyle: I guess we’re getting up around 150 by now. Yeah. I’m never going to be able to ask everybody. (No.) That’s too many.

[00:13:20] Whole Foods protester, Aug. 2, 2025: Yeah, but thanks for doing that, like everything that somebody said.

[00:13:28] Presenter: Todd Boyle interviews protesters Aug. 2 outside Eugene’s Whole Foods, as the group 50501 launches a nationwide boycott of Whole Foods, Amazon, and other businesses owned by Jeff Bezos. For a longer version, and much more, see Todd’s YouTube channel, and keep listening to KEPW 97.3, Eugene PeaceWorks News.