Ocasio Cortez Boycott

Strikes and boycotts are not the same thing, as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., pointed out early Thursday morning.

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was named Goya Foods's 'employee of the month' earlier this year after the company’s sales increased when the New York Democrat called for a boycott. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) announced Tuesday that they will join a small group of House Democrats in boycotting President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address. Pelosi appeared to back Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other Democratic lawmakers who've claimed that some GOP members pose a threat to them in the wake of the deadly Capitol siege on January 6. Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called for a national work boycott, saying when businesses re-open people should refuse to go back to work. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), both members of the “squad” of progressive freshman congresswomen frequently targeted by President Trump, announced Tuesday.

“NBA players are courageously on strike (withholding labor), NOT boycotting (withholding their $ /purchase),” she tweeted. “The diff is important bc it shows their power as *workers.*”

The rising Democratic star included a Washington Post tweet about the Milwaukee Bucks becoming the “first NBA team to boycott [a] playoff game to protest social injustice” on Wednesday.

Many others labeled it a boycott, but critics like Ocasio-Cortez argued that the term missed the mark. Dictionary.com explained the distinction in a tweet of its own.

“Boycott: The practice of abstaining from buying or using,” the dictionary’s account tweeted. “Strike: A concerted stopping of work or withdrawal of workers’ services.”

On Wednesday, the Bucks refused to take the court for a playoff game against the Orlando Magic to protest the Sunday police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis., and many other Black Americans before him. Blake was shot in the back seven times by Kenosha police while he was getting into his car. He may never walk again, according to his attorney.

After meeting for several hours Wednesday, the Bucks released a team statement.

“Despite the overwhelming plea for change, there has been no action, so our focus today cannot be on basketball,” the team said. “We hold ourselves to that standard, and in this moment, we are demanding the same from our lawmakers and law enforcement.”

The move sent shock waves through the sports world, as two other NBA playoff games were similarly postponed, and all NBA players held a private meeting inside the league’s restricted bubble at Disney World to decide their next steps. Meanwhile, three Major League Baseball games were similarly postponed.

Boycotts date back to the late 19th century. They were popularized by Irish nationalist Charles Stewart Parnell during the Irish land agitation of 1880 to protest high rents and land evictions, according to Britannica. The term “boycott” was coined when Irish tenants followed Parnell’s suggested code of conduct and effectively ostracized a British estate manager named Charles Boycott.

Boycotts rose to prominence in the U.S. more than 80 years later during the civil rights movement — including the Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott, in which Black Americans refused to ride city buses to protest segregated seating.

These boycotts had financial implications that forced change. But strikes have played a different role in history.

Strikes are a collective refusal by employees to work under the conditions required by employers. The first documented strike in history is thought to be that held by the craftsmen working on the royal necropolis at Deir el-Medina in Egypt in the mid-12th century B.C., according to History Extra.

In the U.S., there have been several large strikes through the years. One of the biggest was the Great Southwest Railroad strike of 1886, which spanned Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri and Texas. The walkout included some 200,000 strikers protesting unsafe conditions, oppressive hours and low pay.

The textile workers’ strike of 1934 included some 400,000 employees protesting long hours and low wages. The steel strike of 1959 involved a half million workers demanding higher wages.

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Flash-forward to Wednesday, when the Bucks chose not to play in their playoff game to protest social injustice. In response to the New York Times’ use of the word “boycott,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted, “Your cover title is wrong. You need to change it to STRIKE.”

She stressed that “words matter a great deal in moments like these.”

And the strike — a wildcat strike, to be precise — is expanding.

WNBA players walked out of their scheduled games Wednesday, but not before gathering to show unity on the court. Players from the Washington Mystics wore white T-shirts, each with one letter of Blake’s last name on the front and seven images of bullet holes on the back.

In addition to the six MLB teams that refused to play, Major League Soccer teams sat out, and two-time major winner and former No. 1 women’s tennis player Naomi Osaka pulled out of the Western & Southern Open.

“Before I am an athlete, I am a Black woman,” Osaka wrote in part. “And as a Black woman I feel as though there are much more important matters at hand that need immediate attention, rather than watching me play tennis.”

For many, it’s fitting that all these sweeping moves happened on the fourth anniversary of then-49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s taking a knee at an NFL preseason game to protest police brutality and injustice against Black Americans.

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Ocasio Cortez Boycott

Read more from Yahoo News:

• Pelosi said 'the enemy is within' about certain GOP lawmakers who've tried to carry weapons in the Capitol.
• Ocasio-Cortez said she and others members 'still don't yet feel safe around other members of Congress.'
• Greene has repeatedly accused Pelosi of treason and advocated for her to be given the death penalty.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi argued on Thursday that some Republican lawmakers, who she accused of 'threatening violence' against their Democratic colleagues, are 'the enemy' within the House.

Pelosi appeared to back Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other Democratic lawmakers who've claimed that some GOP members pose a threat to them in the wake of the deadly Capitol siege on January 6.

'I do believe ... that we will probably need a supplemental, more security for members when the enemy is within the House of Representatives - a threat that members are concerned about, in addition to what is happening outside,' Pelosi said during a press briefing.

When asked to clarify her remark, Pelosi added, 'It means that we have members of Congress who want to bring guns on the floor and who have threatened violence on other members of Congress.'

Some Republican members of Congress helped spread conspiracy theories that the 2020 election was stolen by Democrats - lies that helped motivate the pro-Trump mob to invade the Capitol as Congress certified the Electoral College count and finalized President Joe Biden's victory.

—NowThis (@nowthisnews) January 28, 2021

Ocasio-Cortez told CNN last week that 'a very considerable amount' of Democratic lawmakers 'still don't yet feel safe around other members of Congress' following the siege. She condemned GOP Rep. Andy Harris, who last week attempted to violate House rules and bring his concealed gun onto the House floor.

'The moment you bring a gun onto the House floor, in violation of rules, you put everyone around you in danger,' Ocasio-Cortez said. 'It is irresponsible. It is reckless.'

A man who allegedly took part in the Capitol riot also posted death threats against Ocasio-Cortez online.

Far-right GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia released a campaign ad last year that showed her holding an assault rifle next to photos of Ocasio-Cortez and two other progressive congresswomen of color. Facebook removed the ad, citing its policy prohibiting violence and incitement.

'GOP lawmakers campaigned with images of them cocking guns next to photos of myself,' Ocasio-Cortez tweeted earlier this month. 'Now they are trying to violate DC law and House rules to sneak guns onto the House floor two weeks after a white supremacist insurrection that killed 5 people. Why?'

Greene has also repeatedly accused Pelosi of treason and advocated for her to be given the death penalty.

Pelosi also condemned the House Republican leadership on Thursday for their handling of Greene, who has trafficked in a slew of conspiracy theories, including lies about mass shootings at American schools. Pelosi expressed outrage over GOP leaders' recent decision to assign Greene to the House Committee on Education and Labor.

'Assigning her to the Education Committee when she has mocked the killing of little children at Sandy Hook Elementary School,' she said. 'When she has mocked the killing of teenagers in high school ... what could they be thinking? Or is thinking too generous a word?'

—Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) January 28, 2021