Black-Owned Portland: They Couldn't Get Rid of Us

Portland tried to push us out. We stayed, we built, and we're eating good. In this episode of Our Block, I'm pulling up across Portland to meet the people who made something for their community in a city that never made it easy. From a soul food institution on MLK, to a Black farm that holds space on Sundays, to a West African restaurant started by a woman who booked a flight to the wrong Portland, this is Black Portland doing it their way. Portland is personal for me. It's where I moved for love, where my life fell apart, and where I wrote most of my book, American Soul during the hardest days I had here. I left this city in tears. This episode is me coming back for the book tour and finding out who else started over here. Which, if you know Portland, tends to be a theme here. Subscribe so you don't miss the rest of the season as we travel city to city, pulling up on Black folks doing dope things in their communities. PLACES WE VISITED: 🍗 Kee's #Loaded Kitchen — Kiauna "Kee" Nelson's soul food spot on NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, loaded plates you have to share https://www.instagram.com/keesloadedkitchen_ 🌱 Black Futures Farm — Malcolm Hoover & Mirabai Collins' community farm in Brentwood-Darlington, home of Black Sundays https://blackfutures.farm/ 🍳 Grits n' Gravy — Chef Brandon Stevens' downtown Southern diner, where we had lunch. Sadly closed permanently in June 2026. 🍷 Henderson Ave — Tiquette Bramlett's canned wine brand, named for the Bay Area street she grew up on. She's also the founder of Our Legacy Harvested and the first Black woman to lead a winery in the U.S. https://drinkhendersonave.com/ 🍲 AKÂDI — Chef Fatou Ouattara's West African restaurant, cuisine from Côte d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso, 1001 SE Division St https://www.akadipdx.com | @akadipdx ✨ Here to Stay — Zanele Mutepfa-Rhone's experiential series celebrating women who built their own seat at the table, and the team behind the Portland launch of American Soul https://www.brandzanele.com/heretostay 📕 AMERICAN SOUL: The Black History of Food in the United States (National Geographic) https://www.anelamalik.com/author And a special thanks to The Confident Studios for their footage from the Savannah stop of the American Soul Book Tour. WHO WE ARE Created & Directed by Michael Johnson Executive Producers: Michael Johnson, Anela Malik & Carl Nicolaou Host: Anela Malik - https://anelamalik.com Director of Photography: Corey Joon Clark - https://cjoonclark.com/ Second Camera: Michael Johnson Edited by: Michael Johnson A Production of IDONTNEEDMUCH LLC https://idontneedmuchentertainment.com/ #OurBlock #Portland #BlackOwned #BlackTravel #FoodTravel #BlackPortland #BlackBusiness #BlackFarmers #PDX #AmericanSoul CHAPTERS 0:00 – A Portland institution 0:54 – Kee's #Loaded Kitchen 2:46 – A place that shouldn't exist by design 3:44 – Black Futures Farm 6:47 – The city I left in tears 7:12 – Lunch with Tiquette Bramlett 11:03 – American Soul, written in Portland 11:32 – Chef Fatou and the two Portlands 14:25 – Portland's reputation vs. Portland's food 17:12 – Zanele and Here to Stay 20:38 – What I took from writing this book