Entry · catalog no. 8904
Don't Mute DC
/ /doʊnt mjut di si/ /DOHNT MYOOT dee-SEE
phrase · Washington, DC · 2010s
✓ Verified
1.
The rallying cry and hashtag of the April 2019 campaign that restored go-go to the outdoor speakers of the Shaw Metro PCS store after a resident's complaint had silenced them.
“They put Don't Mute DC on a shirt the week the speakers came back.”
2.
More broadly, a slogan of resistance to the displacement of Black Washington's culture by gentrification.
“When the new condos complained about the drums, folks said, Don't mute DC.”
Origin & Attribution
The phrase comes from Black Washington in April 2019, when the Metro PCS store at Florida and Georgia Avenues, which had played go-go outdoors since 1995, was told to stop. Owner Don Campbell said T-Mobile cited a complaint from a resident of a new building. Supporters rallied under #DontMuteDC, a petition passed 61,000 signatures, and on April 10, 2019 the music was restored. The phrase then spread as shorthand for protecting Black D.C.'s sound; the corner sits on Chuck Brown Way, named for the founder of go-go.
2019
Metro PCS speakers silenced after a resident's complaint
2019
Go-go returns after T-Mobile reverses course
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
The Northeast
Washington, DC · 2010s
Spoken by
Washington, DC residents, go-go fans, activists
$DONTMUThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Fading7 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
40/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
2019
in the culture
Cultural energy indexed from documented usage, search interest, and citation frequency. The recorded date is the archive’s permanent point of record.
Hear it spoken
By region — how it actually sounds
@bxgriot
The Bronx, NY
@phillyanne
Philadelphia, PA
Contribute your pronunciation
Citations & Sources
■
DCist, 'Go-go music is back at Shaw's Metro PCS store,' April 10, 2019
newspaper
■
+ Cite a sourceThe Washington Post, 'The music will go on: Go-go returns days after a complaint silenced a D.C. store,' April 2019
newspaper
See also