Photo courtesy of Dara Beevas
Dara Beevas
Dara Beevas, publisher, artist
Welcome to 2021, the year we finally move forward again. The only question now is, how? We interviewed some key Twin Cities stakeholders, community voices, and leaders who will be central to what happens–or doesn't–in the year to come.
Dara Beevas is the co-founder and chief strategic officer of the publisher Wise Ink. She’s also the wife and partner to Tomme Beevas, co-founder of Pimento Jamaican Kitchen, the Eat Street restaurant that turned itself into a food distribution site and community hub after the George Floyd uprising and was subject to armed white supremacist harassment.
“There have been days I think back to my 700 Club upbringing and think, ‘Are these the end times they were talking about?’” laughs Beevas. “But seriously, what’s been hardest about this for me personally was how surprised our community was—surprised? Really? George Floyd’s murder was painful. George Floyd’s murder was devastating. George Floyd’s murder was unnecessary—but George Floyd’s murder was not surprising. Seeing the shock on my fellow white Minnesotan’s faces? Please. To be surprised that it happens in Minneapolis? That dismisses what Black people live with 100 percent of the time.
“The inequality and the wealth gap, the segregation, the horrible education situation—all of these systemic issues drive toward more and more gentrification and segregation and wealth gap. I don’t know if Minneapolis ever wanted to be a cultural city of mixed-race and multifaceted, textured cultures. I mean, sure, it liked the occasional Mexican restaurant, the delightful Indian restaurant—but Minneapolis really thrives on being a segregated city.
“Black people had been saying and feeling that they couldn’t breathe for decades. George Floyd and Derek Chauvin is our unfortunately precise metaphor—a white knee on the silenced throat of a Black person, a white, heartless, apathetic knee crushing someone’s sense of dignity while Black people are standing in a circle around that knee and that neck begging for mercy. Any Black person who grew up here will tell you they have been made to feel that helpless and that worthless again and again.
“But this is what gives me hope. Having to look at and see the evil of Derek Chauvin, to see that he lived and walked among us, that he so carelessly took a life in broad daylight—people, or at least some people, are not looking away. Derek Chauvin is not an outlier. So what gives me hope is that we have all the information we need to change. No more being surprised. You can’t tell me Minneapolis doesn’t have the brainpower, the creativity, the people willing to do the work to make the community we all want to live in. Yes, this has sucked, but there is good stuff. Good stuff like our community is outraged. We didn’t just say, ‘Oh well, bury it, let’s keep moving.’ The outpouring of support Black organizations got? It was the most support we’ve ever had. I think a lot of white people are finally being introspective—How do I feel about my Black neighbors? Why do I feel the way I do about north Minneapolis? Have I been there? Why not? There’s hope to be had and work to be done. Just make sure no one forgets: There is no happily ever after. Just steadily ever after, and hopefully ever after.”
This article originally appeared in the January 2021 issue.
