My reason for joining may seem strange and contradictory but be patient with me. I believe that the bannings and rate removals were fair. They may have felt unfair and disproportionate to many but I have seen a great deal of abuse of the rating system and people I deeply care about accused of racism, in fact writing this diary has hurt those very same people. It is hard to know that I have hurt people by doing this. I hope those who understand that, will consider that with my decision. It is not an easy one.
Having said that, I also believe those who were banned should be reinstated because their voices are valuable and important to the conversation. Their reinstatement should be conditional on better behavior and treatment of their fellow Kossacks, and that they should be treated just as anyone would be treated when they abuse the rating system and their fellow human beings with words.
I also want people to understand why their is so much anger in the air, from so many people, especially those of color who have lived with this racism, from every second of their lives, something that I cannot understand or know. I cannot understand the anger because it is not my anger, but I have most certainly tolerated much anger from the black community for the countless injustices dealt to them over the decades. (I cannot embrace anger, but how can I, a white woman, tell anyone not to be angry about RACISM, or homophobia, or any other unfairness dealt to another human being, it is not my place).
I just want to see how we speak to each other change, I would like to see some more tolerance, not of racism, I am not saying that we should tolerate racism. But we need to change how we talk to each other. I do not believe that the racist words used against Obama are to be tolerated nor those against people of color on Daily Kos. I also believe we should give those who walk the line, those who may have said something that could be taken the wrong way and who maybe just spoke hastily be given the benefit of the doubt.
But even though I may not completely agree with the boycott, I will still join it because I must. It is my way of showing that I do take racism seriously, it is alive and well all over the internet, in how people see our President, the first family and the many people of color in our Country. It permeates so many of our debates, from immigration to education policy.
Civil rights is an issue that affects many, for different reasons, from sexism, racism, homophobia, you name it, we battle so many injustices in the world, as we should. And as a Democrat, I feel it is my duty to take on this battle as my own.
I will honor the boycott and urge others to do the same.
I ask too that we try to treat each other more civilly, especially those with whom we don't agree with. No, we should not tolerate racism, but people cannot be afraid to speak their minds, ask questions and try to learn if they are to outgrow what they've been conditioned to.
No one is born to be a racist, it is a taught behavior. People can be taught that it is merely a construct, race and the differences we perceive between ourselves. We can learn about each other with some patience, love and gentle truth.
I have learned a great deal over the years myself, I will always be grateful for my Black History classes and those fellow students who were patient with me. I ask that you be patient with fellow travelers.
I must honor those voices, those strong black voices that speak for those who cannot because they cannot be silenced and I believe that they are important to the Democratic party and the process we must go through as a party and culture.
I have some quotes below I want to share, I hope you find something in them that I could not express here and that you will think about why you cannot step away from Daily Kos for just one week. This could make a difference that goes beyond just GOS and make a larger point, which is what I am hoping for.
I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word. ~Martin Luther King, Jr.
I swear to the Lord
I still can't see
Why Democracy means
Everybody but me.
~Langston Hughes, The Black Man Speaks
"Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.
-- Maya Angelou
Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible.
-- Maya Angelou
"It demands great spiritual resilience not to hate the hater whose foot is on your neck, and an even greater miracle of perception and charity not to teach your child to hate."
-- James Baldwin
We are still conditioning people in this country and, indeed, all over the globe to the myth of white superiority. We are constantly being told that we don't have racism in this country anymore, but most of the people who are saying that are white. White people think it isn't happening because it isn't happening to them.
-- Jane Elliot
if whites would vote their economic interests, not their racial fears, we the people who have the most need for change have the power to bring about that change nonviolently.
-- Jesse Jackson
Bigotry is the disease of ignorance, of morbid minds; enthusiasm of the free and buoyant. Education and free discussion are the antidotes of both.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"What we need to do is learn to respect and embrace our differences until our differences don’t make a difference in how we are treated."
-- Yolanda King
"As believers we all have an opportunity and moral obligation to recognize our spiritual common ground; to rise above our differences; to combat prejudice and intolerance."
-- Queen Noor of Jordan
Our goal is to have a country that's not divided by race. And my impression, as I travel around the country, is that that's the kind of country that most people want, as well, and that we all have prejudice, we all have certain suspicions or stereotypes about people who are different from us, whether it's religious or racial or ethnic, but what I think I found in the American people, I think there's a core decency there, where if they take the time, if they get the time to know individuals, then they want to judge those individuals by their character.
-- Barack Obama