Studio Kusi is one of over 50 businesses featured on Free DC's holiday shopping guide, featuring local businesses committed to self-determination for District residents. (Courtesy of Studio Kusi)
The holidays are upon us, along with the annual barrage of gift guides dominated by e-commerce giants like Amazon and Target, boasting deep discounts and quick delivery times.
But Free DC, a volunteer-run group dedicated to protecting self-determination for the District, is offering people another choice this season: support their “procott” by purchasing from 50-plus local businesses in their shopping guide.
While boycotts operate on withholding money, procotts are about spending it. That means uplifting shops that sign a pledge committing to tenets such as working towards D.C. statehood and refusing entry to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers who don’t have a signed judicial warrant said Yvette, the co-chair of Free DC’s “consumer defiance” working group who is going by their middle name to maintain their privacy.
“What organizing also needs to do is have a proactive vision for what it is that we do want to build,” said Yvette.
Local Businesses for a Free DC dropped on Tuesday to get ahead of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, when major retailers drop big discounts to entice consumers. “We really want folks to feel that where they spend their money is a choice that reflects their values during the holiday season — and at all times too,” they said.
The guide features businesses across a wide array of services and locations — D.C. residents can hit up shops like Capitol Hill’s Labyrinth Games & Puzzles to purchase a gift for the board game lover in their life, get their pre-holiday haircut at D's Barber and Salon in Takoma, or treat themselves to a meal at Kitchen Savages in Anacostia.
(Left: Courtesy of Merry Pin, Right: Courtesy of Studio Kusi)
When Free DC organizers started thinking about how residents could flex their economic power, they reached out to local businesses that believed their success was tied to self-governance for D.C.
Studio Kusi, a ceramic arts hub in Mount Pleasant that has hosted activities like a protest sign making workshop and where 100% of profits go to mutual aid projects, was a natural fit.
“I think it very much represents Studio Kusi’s desire to build solidarity economies,” said Renée Perez, a studio partner and instructor of the decision to sign on to the list. “And to signal to the community that this is a space where you can not only create art, but be actively engaged in causes that you might otherwise feel overwhelmed by or powerless in.”
Another obvious choice was Merry Pin, a craft store and community space in Ward 4. The business has held several “crafternoons” with Free DC this year, co-owner Megan Flynn said, where attendees did things like fold zines and make a collaborative art project.
“D.C. deserves its own governance,” said Flynn, adding that it was a “natural yes” to sign the pledge. “It's something we're proud of because it's something we care a lot about.”
But it became apparent to Free DC organizers that they would need to recruit beyond the stories they had pre-existing connections to. Now, Free DC holds community canvassing events where volunteers go to stores and talk with staff about signing on. Once they do, organizers collectively vet them to make sure they don’t have practices that would preclude them from embodying the pledge — like a pattern of labor disputes.
For Yvette, interacting with neighborhood businesses they hadn’t visited before was gratifying. “It’s really, really powerful to be connecting to small businesses, especially at a time when I think a lot of our lives are very atomized, and modernity and the convenience of the internet age allows for hyper individualism more than ever before,” they said.
Yvette says that canvassing also gave them an opportunity to explore other wards. During one of Free DC’s canvass events in Ward 8, Yvette stopped by Grounded. The store is a plant shop, café, and wellness studio all wrapped up in one space — and has signed onto the Local Businesses for a Free DC pledge. “It’s such a calming and serene place,” said Yvette, adding that they can envision visiting again for coffee catch-ups or organizing meetings.
The co-owners of Solid State books have long been committed to D.C. statehood, which made signing on to Free DC's pledge an obvious choice. (Courtesy of Solid State Books)
The co-owner of Solid State Books, Scott Abel, felt signing was an important part of confronting recent challenges to D.C.’s Home Rule. The owners have been advocates for statehood since they opened their first store on H Street Northeast in 2018 — in fact, that's part of why they chose the store's name.
"We’re not just being neglected, we're not just being overlooked,” said Abel. “We're being attacked.”
Abel sees Solid State Books as a hyper-local spot committed to fighting for self-determination and dignity D.C. — whether by hosting book clubs to facilitate discussion on these issues, or donating to local mutual aid groups and nonprofits, like harm reduction group HIPS.
Abel added that they also signed the pledge to take a stance against large corporations like Amazon.“We want to acknowledge some of the larger machinations in our country that are going in the wrong direction,” said Abel. “People [are] spending so much time online and giving so much of their money to these mega corporations that are doing things that are against our principles.”
Free DC is simultaneously leading a local boycott of Amazon to protest actions that help carry out President Trump’s agenda — like the business partnership between Amazon Web Services and Palantir, a key technology firm for Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE). The group has also joined the We Ain’t Buying It boycott, which is targeting Amazon, Target, and Home Depot.
Flynn acknowledged that there’s ease in ordering from massive companies that can deliver items overnight — but that there’s also power in shopping locally. “I hope that folks will look at this guide and help vote with their dollar, and support the businesses that are really trying to defend and protect our community.”
The shopping guide is a living document: as more stores sign the pledge and get vetted, Free DC organizers will add their details to the list.
Yvette says that the backdrop of federal layoffs and mass immigration raids has made residents feel small, alone, and powerless. So if the procott offers people a little bit of hope in difficult moments — whether it be from seeing local businesses taking a stance or feeling more involved and invested in their neighborhood — then it will have been a success, they said.
“It is one small response to that, that says: No, we can actually take care of each other. We can actually have deep-rooted connections in our community,” they added. “We can uphold the small businesses and the community entities that want to see, want to live in a free DC."
Sam Delgado is a freelance multimedia journalist living in D.C. She was previously a Future Perfect fellow at Vox.com and a production manager at More Perfect Union.
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