Brooklyn Park Mayor Points to Trade Opportunities Following West Africa Trip
Brooklyn Park Mayor Hollies Winston recently returned from a two-week trip to West Africa, a long sojurn that aimed to build connections with sister cities and bring eventual trade opportunities.
Winston and his wife, Latrice, first made the lengthy flight to Nigeria, where they visited Udu, an area in Delta State known for oil production. The couple then made their way to Liberia, where they visited Brooklyn Park’s sister city of Kakata, a coastal city of about 34,000 people.
“We went over there and we thought we would stick out as Americans,” said Winston. “And in Nigeria they were asking us what part of the country we’re from, what tribe we’re from, what region … because we look like everybody else over there.”
It was Mayor Winston’s first trip to Africa. The couple paid for most of the trip out of their own pocket. The Brooklyn Park City Council did approve paying for about $1,600 in costs for the mayor to visit Udu through the city’s annual sister city budget.
The Winstons were in West Africa from Aug. 12-26.
From Powerful Moments to Warm Welcomes
The two-week trip offered emotional moments, especially when the mayor described his visit to Badagry, the Nigerian coastal town that once served as a major hub in the transatlantic slave trade.
“There was these two pillars that many of my ancestors went through and it was a point of no return,” described Winston of the historic, but somber site. “Once you went through those pillars you were not coming back.”
Winston much of his time visiting with government leaders and chiefs. He recalled the welcome one he received in Liberia in which he was presented with a chicken, a traditional gesture of hospitality to an honored guest.
“I probably looked really American because I was like ‘well, you know is this chicken going to peck me?’, but I held on,” said Winston.
Besides his visit to Kakata, Liberia, Winston met with the mayor of Monrovia, the capital city.
Brooklyn Park Mayor Hollies Winston is presented with a live chicken in Liberia, a traditional welcome and cultural sign of respect.
‘We Can Really Change the Narrative’
The goal of the trip was to build relationships that could eventually lead to economic opportunities for Brooklyn Park, which is estimated to have the highest concentration of native Liberians in the U.S. According to Brooklyn Park Census data, more than 4,000 people of Liberian descent live in the city.
“I think there is so many opportunities for trade, for investment, and I think our city of Brooklyn Park is directly positioned to help people take advantage of that,” said Winston.
This isn’t Brooklyn Park’s first mayoral visit to sister cities. In 2012, Brooklyn Park sent a delegation to Kakata that included former Mayor Jeff Lunde. The trip included former fire chief Ken Prillaman, who established a nonprofit that worked to restore Liberian fire service.
Mayor Winston believes visits like these can change the narrative when it comes to his diverse city, which Census figures show is nearly 65 percent people of color.
“I think Brooklyn Park is a place where we can really change the narrative in terms of what we’ve seen in the country when it comes to diverse communities,” said Winston. “I want us to I want us to move differently, I want us to think differently and I want us to have very different much more positive outcomes.”
Winston added the economic benefits will take time, but said it’s important to building relationships first. The mayor pointed to economic outcomes his city has seen with Japan.
“You plant the seed you, don’t always get to see that that seed come to full fruition,” said Winston. “There will be future generations of all ethnicities, colors, religions that will benefit from what we’re starting here and, to me, that’s important that our city helps lead with that.”
