One of my earliest and longest struggles at DailyKos was understanding racism. If I've learned anything, it's that I still don't truly understand it. And it's because I acknowledge that that I am capable of respecting those who do.
My biggest challenge was with the cartoon about the chimpanzee being shot by the police. The caption said something like, "Who's going to write the health care bill now?" A lot of outrage took place here about the racism.... but I couldn't see it. The reason I couldn't see it was that I really really felt that there's no way the cartoonists or the publisher intended it to be an AA / Monkey comparison.
Someone, I've forgotten too, finally showed me that that was only a small part of the situation, and not even a significant part... and my eyes were open.
So now, while I am 100% confident that Kos (like the cartoonist or New York Magazine) or whatever is NOT engaged in any sort of campaign to ban or sillence AA kossacks. But that's only a small part of the situation, and not even a significant part... and my eyes are open.
I am not so naive to believe I will be significantly missed, of course. At the risk of editorializing (more than I already have) I somewhat suspect those least likely to participate in the boycott are also those least likely to miss the people that do.
Read what you want into that.
Anyway, see you all on the other side of September.
My friend Amber and I recorded this. It's irrelevant but sharing anyway: