I Stand Tall with Small

Together may we make real, positive, and effective change

Resist Persist Organize Overcome and FIGHT!

Though I am not member of small stack, I 100% support what Robin Taylor (he/him) and the

SmallStack Library

in their efforts and for what they are standing for in their open letter campaign. Therefore I wish to add my voice and my support to this effort.

Robin Taylor (he/him)

helped me find others in our community and to find my footing, which in turn helped me to gain the exposure to so many wonderful people, readers, and writers alike! I never would have found or had the pleasure to chat and share comments, notes, stories and ideas with! For those who have given me the opportunity to collaborate and work together, to make something wonderful together, you have my deep gratitude and thanks. Truly, you all have been the highlight of the Substack experience.

We stand together against any kind of racism, bigotry, prejudice, and discrimination. We do this through our words and actions. We do this by elevating and amplifying each other’s voices. We do this by battling disinformation and ensuring that, even in the most pleasant or painful prejudice we witness, we counter that with our love and acceptance, pushing back with our truth and experiences. This is not an easy thing to do - it takes its toll - I know it most certainly has for me as of late.

Perhaps more powerfully, we make each other better through telling our stories, sharing, educating, and helping us to grow both as individuals, and as a community. I certainly have learned far more from a few kind individuals who opened up and shared with me their experiences and perspectives, their history and stories, than I have in any research paper. You all did this, you all made this. I am just grateful and happy for those who have taken that time and patience, who have extended that graciousness, compassion, and love. This is our superpower, this is our strength, and through this we are indomitable.

Online, social media, and in many places around the world, it has become an increasingly inhospitable place for us. Many have closed down or suspended their accounts since November’s elections, and that number increases daily. For some, it is a preemptive self protection measure. For others, it is because they are chased off or overrun by indoctrinated zealots, bigots, and prejudiced people funded by hate groups and rich oligarchs. For others still, they simply get ground down, and need time to recover. Make no mistake about it, they smell the blood in the water, and they are seeking to divide us. We must not allow that to happen!

Though I have mixed feelings about staying or migrating to another platform, I understand and recognize that for many, Substack is a community that offers refuge and connection. A place where we may reach out and try to make connections, to find like minds and people, to share and bond with each other, where we may find refuge, safety, and strength in our community. Particularly for the isolated and marginalized, for those who struggle with the world at large - much like myself right now.

It is here where I started to talk to just a few of you, where I thought to try to reach out and make these connections, to find strength in solidarity, to make new friends, and in turn, to feel like I belonged - that I had a family of sorts. Not alone, no longer adrift in a sea of hostility. How wonderful that is, to forge a new connection, to make a new friend, another fiber in the bonds that hold us together, that strengthen us!

How sad it is when those ties are cut and lost. I suspect many of us are no strangers to that experience in our lives, so to find a community that is safe, open, and accepting, free from snap judgments and prejudice, it is a bit like having a sliver of normalcy in a society that is determined to deny you that. A safety net woven from those very bonds we are brave enough to make.

It is my hope that by opening up a little bit about myself here, to provide this unusually personal take, you all will understand just how deeply and strongly I believe in Robin’s message and what the SmallStack team is doing here.

Some of us may do so by staying, others by migrating or moving; either way, I believe the important thing is that we are doing so with one common message and purpose, together! If one of us moves to Medium, I will follow and read and clap 50 times each time, every time. If one of use moves to their own blog, I will subscribe, comment, and boost. Because no matter where we are, we are a community, a family of sorts, and we should not let anything divide us.

I agree with

Broadwaybabyto

as they so aptly stated “bullies thrive on silence. Abuse continues in darkness.” To further this metaphor, trolls wither in a vacuum, lies are exposed by the light of facts and truth, and when those in power refuse to listen, when bullies carry on deaf to the voices of those around them, we hit them back where it hurts, we hit them in the money shot.

In this way, we can punch up to those who are kicking us down.

In the words of

Broadwaybabyto

:

“Let’s keep calling it out. Let’s bring it into the light.

Let’s stand together and let love win out over hate.”

I couldn’t agree more.

I PITT [People with Inconvenient Truths about Transphobes] hereby sign the following open letter in solidarity with other small publications seeking to build community and embody our shared values. We are all publishing this letter on our individual Substacks for visibility. Thank you for reading.

Small Stands Tall

Dear Substack Community -

When you came to Substack to write or create or read, you probably thought this would be a cool place to grow and explore. And it is. But Substack leadership has put a lot of mechanisms in place to promote and platform voices that are large, hateful, and intent on harming others through disinformation.

We—the collective, small voices of creators and community members on Substack—believe that this is wrong, it is hurtful, and it has the potential to stifle growth for many of us. Worse, it further marginalizes many of us who are actively targeted by the increasing wave of local and global laws, policies, and social stigmas being promoted around us.

Small voices have big power when we stand together in solidarity, and most of the publications on Substack are small, just like us. This means we get to decide how and where we spend our time, money, and attention.

Signers of this letter believe in the following:

• We help our neighbors by calling out hate-speech, racism, misogyny, intolerance, bigotry, xenomisia, homomisia, transmisia, ableism, genocide, and violence when and where we see it by reporting and blocking such content and sharing the collective knowledge about harmful accounts.

• We endeavor to build community by caring for one another. Caring means showing up for one another even (especially) when it is hard or scary to do.

• We reject the intentional platforming of voices that spread hatred and disinformation.

We stand proudly for kindness and inclusivity, and we invite you to stand with us. Small voices can achieve huge change when we unite.

Signed,

Small Voices against Big Hatred

PITT