What the Boycott Means to Me

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Sunday September 11, 2011 · 7:46 PM PDT

2011/09/11 · 19:46

I have many roles in life. I am a woman, a daughter, a wife and mother. I am a white, Jewish college graduate. I am a union activist, a community activist (elected), and a non-profit volunteer. I am a person with physical limitations that are not visibly evident, I am a bulldog when defending my clients, and I am over scheduled. I am the owner of a never-stamped passport, who will probably never get to use it. I am a struggling small business owner, a Gen Xer, and an official member of the "sandwich generation". I own a dog, a small house, and enough technology to keep me both in business and in trouble.

I am a believer in collective action.

According to my profile, I've been here since 2006, but I know I was lurking clear back in 2004, trying to understand how the country could have re-elected W. I've been around a while, but I don't diary often and most of you don't know me at all and won't miss me when I'm not here.

I am here every day. Every single day, just like so many of you. Boycotting Daily Kos for a week is not an easy thing for me to do. It is not a decision I have made lightly. I have concerns about leaving here for this week of boycott and being able to come back, if we are permitted to come back. I worry about those here who will work to make participants as unwelcome as possible, and that the divide will become deeper and more permanent.

That said, I believe that this boycott is the only way to make people who post at this site and those who manage it understand that when a large group of people takes collective action, it means something and those in opposition should be paying attention. In other words, ignore this collective action at your peril. There is something deeply wrong when so many members of a community are singled out for diminished status or disposal. We are supposed to be better than this!

I cannot stand by with my TU status and watch as so many voices here are silenced. If I do not stand today, who will stand for me when it is my turn? Because the way things are going here, I will have my turn someday and I would like to know that someone cared enough to stand up and call out discrimination and limitations based on belonging to a certain group, class, race, whatever- for what they are- wrong.

If we do not stand up today, collectively, to advocate for the change we seek, which group will be targeted next?

Solidarity Forever.

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