Breweries join Black is Beautiful to bring awareness to racial injustice (and you can too)

Big ups to Marcus Baskerville, Founder and Head Brewer at San Antonio, Texas’ Weathered Souls Brewing, for launching The Black is Beautiful initative. As stated on the site:

The Black is Beautiful initiative is a collaborative effort amongst the brewing community and its customers, in an attempt to bring awareness to the injustices that many people of color face daily. Our mission is to bridge the gap that’s been around for ages and provide a platform to show that the brewing community is an inclusive place for everyone of any color. We are asking for all breweries and brewers far and wide to raise a glass with us in unison and participate in this collaboration.

The collaboration involves, of course, brewing a collaboration beer and donating those proceeds to local foundations that support reforms to stop police brutality or legal defense funds for those who have been wronged. A recipe is available on the site to download (with the instruction to “please place your own spin and love into this. The sky is the limit as far as creativity“) as well as a label (seen above) that needs to be used (there is a place for your logo).

But maybe more important than that immediate call to action is the final bulletpoint of what Black is Beautiful is all about: Commit to the long-term work of equality. As Marcus puts it on the site:

Weathered Souls will personally be giving part of our proceeds to the Know Your Rights Campaign. As much as we want this to be about raising money, the real issue is bringing education and information, which will bring forth change to a system that has fractured so many families and has been broken for decades.

This platform and collaboration is about understanding and supporting people of color and inclusion. We ask that you please stand with us to create something that has never been seen before and show the world the brewing community is one of a kind.

As someone who has personally dealt with the abuse of power by the police, this recent turmoil the country is facing has hit home for me. As I write this, I contemplate how the country can move forward, how we as the people, can create change, and what it will take for everyone to move forward with a common respect for one another. For us, we feel that this is our contribution to a step.

The Brewers Association notes that more that 700 breweries have already signed up. We at CBB definitely hope the rest of you do too. Black is Beautiful. Black Lives Matter.