Unlearning silence requires shifts in mindsets, skill sets, and systems. Whether in a family or a community, systemic change starts with one person being willing to take action. Let that person be you.

Our decisions to follow or challenge the policies and practices that make up systems can change the course of history.

Money is influence. I have to remind myself that how I use money is more than just how much is left in my bank account at the end of the month. Because how I use and spend money influences which projects, people, voices, and communities succeed. However large or small, our purchasing power has the ability to support or silence someone else’s

If you’re an investor, who are you going to invest in? If you’re looking for a vendor, who are you going to hire? If you’re a consumer, who are you going to purchase from?

Like it or not, money talks. Every single one of us, in our own small way, determines what is stocked on the grocery store shelves, which films get made, and whose voices get to be heard.

Giving credit where credit is due recognizes people’s different contributions. We can’t appreciate and value invisible work until we unlearn our refusal to acknowledge its existence. Until we unlearn our silence about it. We can’t value what we don’t acknowledge.

As you look around, think about who else might share or be sympathetic to your concerns? Where might you be able to work together for a common goal?

As exhausting as these practices might sound, the informal coalition means that you’re using the cards you have and not going it alone.

Ask yourself, Who does my silence protect? Are those the people and systems I want to protect? If not, that’s one weight to tip the scale toward choosing voice.