By: Dustin Schweitzer

If you guessed hothouse cucumber and green bell pepper you would make a great sous chef but this edition of Beyond the Beams cuts way deeper than that. As some of you may know, cooking is my therapy, it always has been for the better part of the last ten years. The other day as I was in therapy (aka the kitchen) I felt a desire to cut my veggies and spell out Black Lives Matter and posted it to my IG.

The impetus for this creation is fostered through my longstanding belief that if I want something to manifest into the real world I somehow find a way to make it tangible. So, that’s what I did, I made it tangible through an activity that truly brings me inner peace, cooking. Unfortunately, one comment I received on this post did not sit well with me and nor should it sit well with any of you.

The comment which has since been deleted read, “Still don’t know why we support 2 criminals. All lives matter. Doesn’t matter if black white or what religion. But I would never join a movement that is based on a criminal…but that’s the trend.” For those who truly believe The Black Lives Matter movement means no other lives matter, or that black lives matter more, then I’m sorry to tell you this bluntly, that is a racist thought and claim. I too am guilty of being racist in moments throughout my life, we all are to some extent. But, there is no grey area when it comes to BLM movement. Black Lives matter just as much. Not any more and not any less. Period.

If you want to learn and educate yourself though, which you probably should with that belief, start by reading each contributors story in this volume and maybe, just maybe you will begin to understand that the BLM movement is not about Black lives being more important. It is about their lives being just AS important, just as worthy of equal pay for an equals days work, being able to send their children to school without the fear they might not come home, or even something as simple as being fairly evaluated for a home loan. These are not made up claims, they actually exist in perpetuity and at an excessively high rate.

As a privileged white male, not only does this movement sit close to my heart because of the pain some of my closest friends have endured, but I have a responsibility to change the narrative, and so do you. At George Floyd’s funeral, Reverend Al Sharpton’s said, “The reason we are marching all over the world is because we are like George, we can’t breathe. Not because there is something wrong with our lungs but because you wouldn’t take your knee off our neck. We don’t want no favors, just get up off of us and we can be and do whatever we can be!”