What We Fund, We Normalize: On Boundaries, Boycotts, and Buying Power
I live in beautiful St. Petersburg, Florida, which you may know for its vibrant beaches, historic hotels, top notch museums, or the SHINE Mural Festival. But what you may not know - and even many residents don't - is about St. Pete's green benches.
In the early 1900s, a real estate agent placed some benches outside of his downtown office so that customers could relax after their journey. They were so popular that other businesses soon joined in, resulting in a "motley collection of benches" throughout downtown. In 1916, an ordinance was passed requiring all of these benches to be green.
For some longtime residents, they symbolize local charm and nostalgia, a throwback to a slower, friendlier era. Several local businesses have "green bench" in their name. But for others, those benches are a painful reminder of exclusion because Black residents were not permitted to sit on them. They were intended for white residents and tourists only, and serve as an example of when practice becomes policy. While there was no ordinance preventing Black residents from using the benches, the exclusion was enforced.
There's been debate about whether local businesses should keep "green bench" in their name, and whether people should spend their dollars there. It’s a great example of how economic decisions reflect values, and how consumers, especially consumers from minoritized communities, are expected to separate their history from their spending.
In today’s economic and political climate, many of us are reconsidering how we spend, where we spend, and what those choices say about our boundaries, our values, and our power.
A green bench in the Florida Holocaust Museum exhibit "Beaches, Benches, and Boycotts: The Civil Rights Movement in the Tampa Bay."
Data Highlights – Where We Spend Matters
📉 Foot traffic to Target stores has been down for 11 straight weeks since the company scaled back its DEI initiatives.
→ Newsweek, Target Sees Foot Traffic Down for 11th Straight Week Amid Boycott💰 Costco, by contrast, has seen increased foot traffic for 13 straight weeks by maintaining support for DEI policies and worker benefits.
→ Afrotech, After Upholding DEI Commitments, Costco's Foot Traffic Increases For 13th Straight Week🏢 Values-aligned spending is increasing. Consumers are 7 times more likely to buy brands that improve access to healthcare, 5 times more likely to buy brands that address climate change, and 4.5 times for likely to buy brands that commit to ending racism.
→ Edelman Trust Barometer, 2023 Special Report: The Collapse of the Purchase Funnel
📈 "Consumer boycotts significantly impact both immediate sales and long-term brand reputation, particularly when boycotts are perceived as credible and widely supported."
→ Herry Mulyono and Benediktus Rolando, Multidisciplinary Reviews, Consumer boycott movements: Impact on brand reputation and business performance in the digital age
Side note: Buycotts matter, too! That's intentionally spending your money on businesses aligned with your values.
The Harris Poll, US Adults Who Have, Are, or Will Participate in Economic Boycotts, by Generation, March 2025 (EMARKETER)
Equity & Inclusion – Economic Power and Selective Pressure
🛍️ Communities of color have long practiced economic resistance. For example, the Montgomery Bus Boycott lasted 381 days and ultimately resulted in a Supreme Court decision in Browder v. Gayle (1956) that segregated buses are unconstitutional.
→The MLK Institute at Stanford, Montgomery Bus Boycott
🗳️ Black, Indigenous, and LGBTQIA+ communities are disproportionately impacted by the rollbacks in DEI, voting access, and workplace protections under the current Administration.
→ Reuters, Trump's first 100 days target diversity policies, civil rights protections
🧠 Financial literacy builds power and equity by building the capacity for people to understand how to manage their resources and plan long-term, a crucial strategy for resisting exploitation and exclusion.
→ Time, Financial Literacy is the Civil Rights Issue of This Generation
According to Stanford's Financial Literacy Data Hub, only 29% of Americans can correctly answer "The Big Three" - a set of three financial literacy questions from the FINRA Foundation's 2021 National Financial Capability Study. How do you perform? I got all three correct!
Take the 3-question quiz here: https://ifdm.stanford.edu/bigthree
Boundary Highlight: Your Wallet is a Boundary
Boundaries are about more than saying no to another meeting, they’re about knowing your worth, honoring your values, and choosing where your energy and money go.
Economic boundaries might mean:
Refusing to spend where your humanity isn’t respected
Supporting businesses that uplift your community - including small, minority, and women-owned businesses
Demanding transparency from organizations you fund, endorse, or join
Law & Policy – Economic Tools for Change
⚖ Executive Orders are legal tools presidents or governors use to direct the actions of government agencies. They carry the force of law for agencies, but not for private businesses, although though they can create enormous political and economic pressure to comply.
→ Act for Public Health, Executive Orders & Public Health Practice: FAQs🧱 Community Benefits Agreements (CBAs) are legally enforceable contracts between developers and community coalitions, requiring job creation, affordable housing, or other public benefits as a way to ensure that large developments provide concrete value to residents, especially in historically excluded neighborhoods.
→ PolicyLink, Community Benefits Agreements📜 Boycotts are a constitutionally protected form of speech in the U.S. See the landmark Supreme Court case NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co. (1982) - explained in the video below.
🗳️ Budgets are a policy tool. Where public dollars flow (e.g., toward carceral systems vs. community development) sets the tone for values at scale.
Take Action: Align Your Resources with Your Values
✅ Individual
Research the values behind the businesses you support.
Create a “values-aligned spending” list of companies or local vendors.
Speak up when businesses exploit symbols of community without honoring their meaning.
🏢 Organizational
Conduct a DEI audit of vendors, suppliers, and partnerships to ensure you are inclusive and equitable in your practices.
Make your commitments public and stick to them, even when politically inconvenient.
Train leadership on economic equity, inclusive branding, and historical context.
🌍 Systemic
Advocate for Community Benefits Agreements in local developments.
Demand that government contracts include equity-based provisions, like requiring that contracts make genuine efforts to utilize small and diverse businesses (SDBs) in subcontracts when possible.
Support public education on financial literacy, economic justice, and participatory budgeting.
I hope today's edition helps you to think more deeply about how to leverage our spending, and how our boundaries are often negotiated through power, not policy. That's why I love today's quote by author and art critic John Berger:
“A boycott is directed against a policy and the institutions which support that policy either actively or tacitly. Its aim is not to reject, but to bring about change.”