It’s now been two years since I’ve launched this blog. A few of you have followed from early on (thank you!), while others have begun reading (and contributing) as they’ve searched for alternative voices in Camden. Some may just be finding this space for the first time. Welcome to all of you. I want to take a quick moment to talk a little bit about why I began this space. The title of the blog is Local Knowledge. The concept is simple — local voices and perspectives are important, have a lot to offer the policy process, and too often are minimized or considered discredited because of cultural reasons. It sounds like such common sense written out, but during my time conducting field work in New Orleans, and my time living and doing the same here in Camden, these voices are too often shunned. The reasons vary — sometimes it is a visiting policy-making class that doesn’t have the cultural competency to hear these voices. Sometimes they come in a language that is not academic or polished, which makes it easy (though, I’d argue, not advisable) to discredit the themes and arguments. So I created this space to highlight those arguments, whether they come directly from local voices (I love guest posts!), or from my own writing/research as I attend public meetings, get to know folks, and become more ingrained in the city.

One of the challenges of highlighting local voice is that in general, people don’t seem to prefer to write. They’d much rather discuss things with me or speak publicly, than put words to paper. Which I get — writing is time consuming, difficult, and readership here isn’t quite “game changing” in a way that makes it an obvious win. So one of the things I’ve been hoping to do is incorporate more video. 

Luckily, local voices here are far ahead of me. In particular, Vida Neil has become a Facebook sensation. I first heard her live at Monday’s Camden One Love: Stop the Violence rally, but folks have been talking about her now-viral videos. I wanted to share these directly. In general, I prefer to let these voices speak for themselves, before following up and providing analysis — that way local voices are heard first and readers can make up their own mind before reading my responses. So, without further ado, Vida Neil:

Here’s another video too long to embed (update: Vida has given me permission to upload the video to Facebook so that I could share it here):

A lot to think about here. More tomorrow!

Photo by April Saul