From Silence to the Deafening Disturbance of Difference
When everyone is shouting over everyone else, does anyone have a discernible message, one that breaks through to hearts and minds?
Reading Audre Lordeโs article, โThe Transformation of Silence into Language and Action,โ I realize that there is certainly a time when silence was most clearly the domain of ideological systems of control like the patriarchy and racism.
โI have come to believe over and over again that what is most important to me must be spoken, made verbal and shared, even at the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood.โ
Oneโs chosen, agreeable, or enforced silence in the system allows an oppressive system to perpetuate.
When those with the power allow those who are oppressed to speak up but require the oppressed to explain why they are oppressed, the ideological constructs and constraints of the system are only further reinforced.