A film called “Green Book” has won the Oscar for Best Picture. I don’t know anything about the film, but I know a little about the actual Green Book.

The Negro Motorist Green Book was a travel guide written and published by a former mailman named Victor Hugo Green. It listed places across the country where black citizens could actually buy gas, a meal, or a room for the night. It was a sadly necessary resource for black Americans for most of the twentieth century, when segregation was legal and might at any moment be enforced by violence.

Although the film is described as a “comedy-drama,” I don’t think real-life black Americans found much amusement in the fact that they were banned from commercial establishments all over their own nation.

If I were to make a film referencing the Green Book, I think I would focus on a middle-class black family and describe the extraordinary obstacles they faced in doing something as simple as driving across their own country – on roads supported by their tax dollars.

I am sure it was great fun to worry about where you might be able to get gas – that is, where you might find a gas station (or a restaurant, or a motel) that would actually serve you.  The film would include a heartwarming scene in which the dad – a combat veteran perhaps – has to explain to his young son why they are not allowed to stop at most of the places they pass and why there are some towns that they must avoid after dark – lest they be beaten, jailed, or both. It would also be inspiring to hear how they feared local law enforcement officers at all times.

Of course, I guess that scene would be unrealistic, as no black kid in America ever misunderstood the effects of legal discrimination, segregation, and racial hostility.

February 26, 2019