How the Green Book Project Puts Intersectionality First
At The Green Book Project, inclusion is a concept that is core to our mission. While many people may already know what the word inclusion entails, we believe a definition is useful.
The definition of inclusion is: the practice or policy of providing equal access to opportunities and resources for people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalized, such as those who have physical or mental disabilities and members of other minority groups.
Promoting Co-allyship
Inclusion is the basis of our existence. The Green Book Project tagline ‘Never Feel Out of Place’ is based on this ideal of inclusion. We promote inclusion by encouraging co-allyship. Our goal is to not only help people stay safe, but to create a culture where folks are looking out for each other’s safety; this is how we envision co-allyship.
As we promote co-allyship, it is our goal to help everyone feel safe regardless of their identities. For example, the type of experience that a disabled black person has at a particular restaurant may be very different from the experience of a Latinx non-binary woman. When users read reviews left by other users on The Green Book Project, they can use a feature we call ‘intersections’ to search by identities. This way, they can determine whether a place has been identified as unsafe or welcoming by a person with a similar identity/identities.
Understanding Intersections
When creating a review in The Green Book Project, you have the option to add ‘intersections’ to each review. Intersections are based on the principals of intersectionality — a term coined by professor Kimberlé Crenshaw. Intersectionality is a framework for explaining how people are advantaged or disadvantaged by the overlapping of the varied aspects of their identities. These identities include race, gender, sexual orientation, physical ability, etc. No matter what intersection of identities a person has, these intersections create a unique way of experiencing the world.
Those with multiple intersecting identities from marginalized groups, face more challenges and discrimination. Thus, the more marginalized identities that a person possesses, the more disadvantages that person has historically and statistically experienced. For example, Indigenous people in general and Indigenous women in particular have a statistically higher chance of experiencing violent crime than any other racial group.†
Your Personal Experience Matters
As detailed in our founder’s story, Christian points out that it was clear to him while creating the app, that it’s not possible to tell if a place is racist or not based on one experience. He realized that he needed to build The Green Book Project so that intersectionality was at the core of the user experience. Acknowledging that his experiences as a cis-straight black man will be different than that of a queer black woman, even though they are both black.
The Key to Our Mission
In the immortal words of Dr. Martin Luther King, ‘No one is free until all are free.’ When we think of how we can all be free, we have to recognize that it requires a group effort. This is why co-allyship is key to our mission, and why intersections is integral to our achieving this dream of freedom for all of us.
Want to help us fulfill this mission?: Download The Green Book Project today in the Apple App Store or Google Play. Then, write a review and add your intersections.
†According to the Justice Dept., Native American women are 2- 3 times more likely to experience violence, stalking, or sexual assault than women of any other race.
