How to do it:

The reason it’s hard to avoid big box stores is they’ve nearly eradicated small businesses. We fight back by choosing small businesses whenever we can. Here are some ways to help:

• On Small Business Saturday create a post inviting friends to share their small businesses in the comments. This helps them market!
• Leave reviews everywhere you can
• spend time seeking out local alternatives
• go to craft, holiday and farmer’s markets
• When you find a business you like, tell people about it
• make a point of buying local/small whenever you can

A word about competing boycotts:

There are a number of competing economic pressure campaigns being promoted this year, including a few that don’t exempt small businesses. We are promoting the “We Ain’t Buying It” action by Black Voters Matter (not No Kings) because they pass these three tests:

They are building on an established track record : No Kings was bigger in October rain than June sunshine. That wasn’t just growing discontent, that was trust built by the first event. The harder the ask, the more critical a track record is.

They’ve considered affected people : every action has consequences. A strike means missed paychecks. A protest requires a health and safety plan. Economic protest hurts the targets, so did the organizers consider workers and small, ethical businesses? If not, did they address why?

A good organizer supports a realistic ask : an experienced organizer may be able to pull off a maximalist demand like “nobody rides the busses until they desegregate them.” To do that the organizers of the Montgomery Bus Boycott needed trusted leaders and world-class support systems including carpools and bail funds. They didn’t just make demands: they enabled participation.

We Ain’t Buying It is a modest ask from experienced organizers that addresses questions like “what about small businesses?” It isn’t as flashy or bold as some campaigns we’ve seen, but Americans are generally new to economic pressure campaigns, and it builds on existing success while laying the foundations for future growth.