People need to be held accountable for their actions and language and the way they affect others. This is particularly true for people with power, and namely people with power who intend to serve their community. These people not only have the social and economic capital to cause very real damage to others, but also have the ability to maintain the status quo and reinforce oppression and mistreatment of vulnerable people. In reference to Bryan Hagen’s guest Bulletin column, calling the response of politicians and the public to accusations against Nathan Boddie (Oregon House District 54 candidate) an “overreaction” rather offensively shifts the blame for hateful language and alleged sexual harassment from the perpetrator to the people reporting and reacting to the acts. It is not anyone’s fault that Nathan Boddie is an unfit candidate for state representative besides Nathan Boddie himself.

We’ve heard this rhetoric, with Al Franken, with Nathan Boddie and in other situations across the country: Progressives are shooting themselves in the foot, they are ruining a good candidate’s chance to make positive change; or as Hagen says in his editorial, are “suicidal,”(a particularly offensive word choice for a mental health care provider, I want to add.) Any candidate, any movement, any action is not progressive if it doesn’t acknowledge the rights of all people. Nathan Boddie has been accused of violating a woman’s agency over her body and her right to give consent for any type of physical contact. What came next was Boddie abusing his power as a physician to make unsubstantiated claims about the mental health status of the accuser, in a further attempt to strip her of rights and agency. That this is at all possible speaks to the fact that people in power need to be held accountable, not just to prevent harassment and assault, but to shift the narrative and culture that continues to blame (and criticize and demean) victims of very real affronts to their rights.

To be progressive is to seek forward motion and social change. To write off the #MeToo movement or the use of politically correct language as temporary cultural phenomena is not progressive. Politicians, especially those campaigning with a so-called “Progressive” platform, need to analyze themselves and their own actions before moving forward with their agendas for their community, state and country. The use of homophobic and sexist language, as Boddie was also accused of, is unacceptable in any situation. On a small scale, words can make people offended and uncomfortable, contribute to marginalized people’s experience of hate and discrimination and create a toxic work environment. The more power someone has, the more these negative effects are amplified, leading to the reinforcement of the power dynamics that continue to allow vulnerable folks to be oppressed, abused and taken advantage of. This is the same power dynamic that allows for people to come forward with stories of sexual harassment and assault, be dragged through the mud in the media and harassed and threatened by strangers online, only to be called liars and see no consequences enacted.

These brave folks who come forward to tell their stories are the true Progressives. They see problems in their community that they address head on, regardless of the negative blow-back. They speak up for the countless other folks who have experienced a disregard for their rights and human dignity. This is how we make social change.

— Allie Morgan lives in Portland