The Corella & Bertram F. Bonner Foundation

Purpose of the Project

The team at Rutgers - Camden (RUC) sought to elevate and amplify the voices that had experienced significant trauma within the neighboring Camden, New Jersey community in 2012 and beyond. They observed that community resident voices, in particular, were not being heard in a way that their trauma could lead to transformation, justice, and healing. The students provided a brief history and context to underscore the importance of pursuing these specific oral histories:

“2012 was a year of intense violence and transformation in the city of Camden. The city broke its own record in the number of homicides, putting it fifth in the nation of homicides per 100,000, in addition to being one of the poorest cities in America. In response to the high crime rate, then-Governor Chris Christie and the local government spearheaded the unprecedented disbandment of the Camden police, over time resulting in a lowered crime rate. The story gained nationwide recognition and coverage, for example, this piece by NPR detailing Camden’s police reform.”

In the wake of George Floyd’s murder in May 2020 and national calls to defund the police, the actions by Camden politicians to disband the police force have been upheld as a possible model of police reform by many in the media and government. However, the decision to disband the Metro Police also represents a series of political, social, and economic disenfranchisement levied on the Camden community. Thus, while the overarching media and political narrative of the decision to disband and the outcome being seen as seemingly positive, as with most policies, the story is much more complex and often omits the experiences of Camden residents.

Focusing on the last decade as a critical and transformative period in modern Camden history, this project will collect stories, memories, and histories from community members and local stakeholders of that time. After that process, those stories will be utilized to examine the impact that collective violence, trauma, and disenfranchisement have had on Camden and will seek to build greater understanding between communities, institutions, and local and state governments. Thus, while the decision to disband the Camden police will be an aspect of the project, the team seeks to situate that policy within the larger context of life in Camden at the time, including issues of health, housing, education, and violence. It also plans to incorporate that living history into the projects and coursework undertaken at Rutgers University-Camden.

Meet the Team Leadership

Josefina Ewins is a rising senior studying political science and philosophy with a minor in legal studies. “I don't really do this kind of work expecting something in return, said Ewins. Ewins is a community advocate working towards providing citizens with the resources they need to thrive within the community. Ewins said that growing up and being the youngest, she always had an advocate and now she seeks to be that support for someone else.

Dr. Simanti Lahiri, Program Coordinator for Student Civic Engagement, holds a Ph.D. in political science and her research focuses on issues of contentious politics, political belonging, violence, and democracy in South Asia. She is the author of a book on the use of suicide as a protest tactic and other publications on social movements and protests. Her research and work in civic engagement are focused on understanding and engendering positive change in society. Since joining the Office of Civic Engagement, Simanti has directed the Bonner Civic Scholar program, as well as events on voting, the 2020 election, and the 2020 Census.

Dr. Nyeema Watson is Associate Chancellor for Civic Engagement. Dr. Watson oversees efforts to connect the resources of the university with communities in Camden and across southern New Jersey. Watson is an experienced leader in civic and community engagement, higher education administration, anchor institution partnerships, student success initiatives, policy and program development, and research on issues relating to minority children and youth who live in high poverty areas. She is committed to diversity, access, and inclusion, and supporting individuals, communities, and institutions working in partnership to achieve shared goals for positive transformation.

UNCOVERING COMMUNITY HISTORY AND PERSPECTIVES

Part of compiling these histories necessitated the formation of focus groups with willing community members to share their experiences. To prepare for the in-depth research compilation, the team participated in training developed to help them understand how focus groups function. In April, each member facilitated a University-led Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) listening session.

These sessions allowed the team to understand how to facilitate sensitive topics surrounding inequities in their vast forms, whether based on gender, sexuality, age, or race. We were able to pull from the questions given to those focus groups and use them to understand where these questions should begin.” The team learned useful tips to not take over interviews, but allow alternative voices to be heard. Something important being how integral safe spaces are for vulnerable sharing, prompting the team to separate groups based on gender, age, or race when appropriate.

The voices of the citizens are muddled by the praise given to Senator Christie. This project surrounding Camden’s police and education systems allowed the discussion to be had within classrooms, during extracurricular activities, and throughout everyday discussions on our virtual campus. These conversations surrounding the now state government-controlled systems within the city have allowed students to realize that Camden is more than just Rutgers University, but a city of lives and history. The first step to change is getting people to become aware of and talk about the issue. Once a problem is recognized, marginalized voices can be focused on and amplified, for the ones who know most about the issue at hand are those who have lived and are still living through it.

USING COMMUNITY-ENGAGED Focus GroupS TO CENTER ISSUES

“You can't learn about a city without talking to the people. So I wanted to amplify the voices of the city so that they can have a say about the education system as consumers because who knows better about what's going on in this space?” student leader Josefina Ewins suggested. Some conversations within these focus groups originated from questions developed by Ewins:

Did you know about the change of the police department within the city?

Do you think that the Camden City police department is a good example of what police reform should look like?

Do you remember hearing adults talk about 2012 around you? Did this shape your perspective?

Ewins and her team desired these conversations to build upon and give an accurate statement of impact to the general narrative. This project aimed to center overlooked narratives and relationship building as important methods to promote transformation and understanding.

“Through the collection of stories and memories the project will recover, re-inscribe, and commemorate the experiences of Camden residents and juxtapose those experiences with the overarching narrative of Camden’s transformation as a ‘policy win’ for the state,” the team said.

laying the groundwork for sustained change

The team said that due to time constraints and the usual challenges of a world wrestling with a pandemic, the Racial Justice Community funds were utilized for phase one of their project and that the team had to roll with the punches of proceeding at times slower than they desired.

Ewins described the biggest lesson learned was the necessity of being adaptable. “We had to lean on each other to reach our deadlines of putting together questions for the focus group, figuring out how the focus groups will be held, and pulling together more resources to figure out how focus groups are supposed to be conducted,” she said. “As for adaptability, there will be times when the work is not as streamlined as planned, there are speed bumps and hurdles that we must accept, but that does not mean that the work must stop.“

This year, however, afforded them valuable opportunities to interact and build relationships within the community and to gather information via interviews and focus groups to move forward with their plans in phases two and three.

The second phase will focus on the collection of oral, visual, and audio histories from Camden residents and stakeholders in 2012. The goal would be to present a fuller picture of economic, social, cultural, and political life in Camden at that time. The team is hoping for the stories to be collected by Rutgers-Camden students as well as local high school students who live and work in Camden, “allowing for intergenerational connections and helping to provide young people in Camden with experiences and skills such as research methodologies, communication, and digital technologies.”

Lastly, the third phase of the project is planning to focus on utilizing the gathered stories to, “promote communication, reflection, and even policy proposals within the community.” The team is hoping for this process to be embedded within a class at RUC, focusing on developing strategies and then deploying those strategies. “The efficacy of these mechanisms will rely not only on a deep understanding of Camden’s recent past but also the present.”

“The stories being told by the community are not meant to be sound bites for one to pull from for a project, but instead to be the retelling of history within the city to change. There are high emotions present at this time, the possibility of reliving trauma that was inescapable for some due to the conditions, calling for us to not only be recorders of this history but being mindful of the community surrounding us,” she said.

“The community must come before the goal of the project. As mentioned within our proposal, we want this project to bring forth transitional justice. We can only achieve change by focusing on what the community needs from us, not just the stories we need from the community.”

to learn more:

● Find the WBUR interview here.

● See this article in the NJ Spotlight from April 27th, 2012 to learn more about Camden’s history

● See this coverage in CNN from June 27th, 2015 to learn more about Camden’s policing model