EVERETT, Wash. — From the kitchen of his Everett restaurant, Avery Lewis feels the Black Lives Matter movement.
"I know what it's like to feel your life slipping away and to know there's nothing you can do about it," he said.
Once homeless and addicted, Lewis says he fell victim to police brutality on several occasions when he lived in California.
Now, he runs Lew's BBQ, a small, black-owned business that regularly gives back to the community.
On Friday, demonstrators in Everett held a rally and silent march as a "statewide day of action."
Those who couldn't attend were asked to close down their businesses in solidarity.
But for Lewis, it wasn't that easy.
The statewide coronavirus shutdown still threatens to destroy all he has worked for over the past 8 years.
Lewis's small business is so small, he didn't qualify for a paltry $10,000 in federal pandemic relief.
To him, it's a glaring example of the economic injustice running rampant in this country.
"That's pennies on the table compared to the millions, the hundreds of millions that were sent to those places that didn't even need it," says Lewis. "You have to wonder why that is."
But while Lewis couldn't close for the day, he did close for the most critical part of his day.
He turned his "open" sign off at lunchtime.
It will cost him hundreds of dollars, a lot of money to a struggling small business, but Lewis says it's worth it.
"Because I understand. I understand what the protests are about. I understand the hurt. I understand the pain. I understand the anger. I understand all that."
Lewis hopes the protests will spark a larger conversation about the haves and have-nots in America, of all races.
"We have to support each other," he says. "If we can all come together we can accomplish something great. Do whatever you can do. Follow your heart. That's the main thing I'll say to anybody out there."