Purchasing is Voting
On December 1, 1955, Mrs. Rosa Parks was sitting on the seat of a local bus in Montgomery, the United States. When the bus operator commanded this African American lady with a radiant personality to stand up and give up her seat for a white male passenger, she refused to move. Police arrested her for this action.
On December 5, African Americans in the area stopped using the bus. Some of them walked to school or work. Others found different means of transportation, such as mules or horse-drawn buggies. The bus was empty. This was the start of the Montgomery movement.
They stopped paying for the bus to show that they don’t support the corrupt system that holds the idea of segregation.
By the same token, we support the business and its vision when we buy products or services from them.
When we buy clothes from Forever21, we support the unsustainable business that destroys the Earth. When purchasing food at McDonald’s, we support unhealthy foods, animal abuse, and dangerous meatpacking jobs. When you buy underwear from Victoria’s Secret, you support the distorted and unattainable image of beauty.
We tend to judge our influence only by the first consequence. We won’t imagine destroying the Earth when we buy clothes from the fast fashion business. But we are. We help their environmentally unfriendly and unsustainable system to survive.
Purchasing is voting. One vote from us adds up to a significant change. Each vote counts. We possess the purchasing power to change how our society works. So use it wisely when you execute your purchasing power.
On December 20, 1956, about a year after Mrs. Rosa Parks was arrested, Montgomery city passed an ordinance authorizing African American bus passengers to sit virtually anywhere they chose on buses.