“I think every single human being should be deemed a free human being,” says Danny Bristow, creator of the Free Human Being Project.
First Week of COVID-19 Crisis
During the first weeks of the COVID-19 crisis, Bristow worked to help flatten the curve. Owner of Electronic Gamers League, a clothing-manufacturer in the Springs, he scaled back production to a minimum and arranged for half his employees to work from home.
But as the weeks wore on, Bristow says he began to wonder: Why were big chains like Lowe’s and Target allowed to open while small businesses—deemed “nonessential”—remained closed?
“Putting food on the table and paying your bills, making sure that your children are taken care of, is essential,” says Bristow. He began to see the government orders prolonging business closures as an affront to human rights to work and make personal decisions about health and safety.
The Free Human Being Project
Within weeks he had started The Free Human Being Project to help stand up for both small businesses and human liberty. The idea is simple: Bristow sells clothing with slogans about personal liberty. For every $1,500 in revenue, $300 is donated to a business.
The project’s website, launched May 3, offers nine designs of T-shirts and sweatshirts, ranging from sweatshirts featuring the First Amendment on the back to shirts with “#weareallessential” or “Don’t Censor Me” designs.
Bristow clarifies that the project is not politically affiliated and does not discourage anyone from wearing a mask or choosing to stay home. Bristow himself chooses not to wear a mask. A promoter of herd immunity, he is 60 percent deaf in one ear, and when others wear masks, he cannot rely on his usual method of accurate hearing: lip-reading.
Despite the inconvenience it poses for him, Bristow says about others’ mask-wearing, “I don’t have to support it to respect it.”
And promoting respect for others’ choices is one of Bristow’s goals. “We all have different ideas of what we think is right to do for ourselves and for our family,” Bristow says. “I want people to be free human beings.”
Initial Popularity of the Free Human Being Project
The project’s initial popularity is exciting. “That first week was very overwhelming,” says Bristow. In less than three weeks, he had sold enough merchandise to pass the mark for the first $300 donation—it went to C&C Coffee and Kitchen in Colorado Springs.
With a short list of small businesses he’d like to donate to next, Bristow invites anyone interested in the project to email him about a business anywhere in the United States.
Bristow is hopeful that The Free Human Being Project will continue to grow. “I hope we can spread the word across the entire country,” he says. He aspires to bring in enough revenue to support multiple businesses with subsequent donations.
Bristow is encouraged by the local community’s support, but the final goal of the project, he says, is to promote a group of free human beings that love and support their fellow man while helping businesses survive difficult times. Says Bristow, “That’s what this country is about.”
To support The Free Human Being Project, visit their website at www.TheFreeHumanBeingProject.com. For information to suggest a business, see the website’s “About Us” page or email Danny Bristow at tfhbp@comeupins.com.
