It was January 18th, 2020, when I landed on Schiphol in my
hometown Amsterdam after a trip to Asia… I picked up my rental car and drove
straight to my barber, Earl. When I sat down in his chair I truly had an
epiphany. I recalled Clarence, Sean, and many more telling me that they liked
Amsterdam, but that it would never feel like home. As an Amsterdammer, I
obviously didn’t like hearing that! I also remembered realizing how far the Black
diaspora reaches, as my Asia trip led me to a church (a Black church!) in a
garage in Indonesia. The third flashback in that moment was when I traveled to
Memphis, Tennessee, in 2018 with Mo and Do and seeing a physical GreenBook in
the Civil-rights Museum right after I saw the movie GreenBook with Mahershala
Ali. It without a doubt gave an emotional historical perspective….
“WE STILL NEED A GREEN BOOK TODAY”
Now, back to Amsterdam…
When I sat in the barber chair, I realized that I now felt like my American
friends when they were living in Amsterdam. Although I like Portland and I have
lived here for two years, it did not feel like home. Now, I know I know why. All
of the elements that make home feel like home – the people, food, the community
(of course) and so much more. All of those elements are significantly harder to
find in cities like Portland – or other cities, like Amsterdam- if you’re not
from there. I also realized that I had failed helping my non-Dutch friends make
Amsterdam feel like home.It took my move
to Portland, to really understand that and my personal experience motivated me
to help so-called transferees. So, I started putting my pen to paper to create
ideas and plans. Many additional ideas
came to mind, such as, how this could help companies retain Black talent? How could
transferees authentically connect with the local Black community? How could
Black transferees form a community?
“WE STILL NEED A GREEN BOOK TODAY”
I felt even more responsible and an even stronger need to make sure this
project comes to life because: I am responsible! The communities that suffer
the most could significantly benefit from this directory.Not only because of the connection it could
offer, but also the business they could gain. Both are our responsibility. This
directory offers over 300 businesses. I’m not going to
lie, finding all of them and representing them well, was a lot of work – hard
work. So, let’s take that responsibility, together!
