Oral History Project

Angela interviews Police Chief Giacomo Sacca, Elizabeth Police Department, Elizabeth, NJ.

Part 1 of 4. “Between the year we had double the arrests and the next one, when I became Chief, where we made half of that, which year did the police work harder? When we made more arrests or fewer?” Necessary listening.
25:39 minutes

Part 2 of 4. “That’s the medicine.” Learn about building a police department WITH the community. Important listening.
24:07 minutes

Part 3 of 4. “What is the difference between the law and justice?” The pandemic, social unrest, and the way forward.
30:37 minutes

Part 4 of 4. “We have to change the culture.” Chief Sacca breaks community policing, best practices, and working in-relationship.
40:10 minutes

Victor (17) interviews Kevin (17).

Two teenaged friends sit and talk about a world they did not choose and choosing themselves.

15:43 minutes

Gabby (16) interviews Delores (82).

Delores (82) shares her insight, experience, and testimony on a changing community with Gabby (17). As an organization, we believe intergenerational spaces and intergenerational sharing is important.

44:59 minutes

Audens and Detective Williamson.

Teen artist Audens interviews hero & retired detective Darin Williamson of the Elizabeth Police Department.
39:25 minutes

Angela interviews Crystal Orr, Executive Director of the Urban League of Union County, NJ.

Part 1 of 2. “The need is so great. We offer services to make right what years have gotten so wrong.”
30:49 minutes

Part 2 of 2. “The danger of worry.”
35:19 minutes

Angela interviews Mrs. Sandra Toll, Drama teacher. "The Pretty City Committee." On radical collaboration.

Part 1 of 2. “Pretty city committee.” Sandra talks to Angela about her time as a teacher, disrupting violence with art, and coming together to make the city we want to live in.
26:59 minutes

Part 2 of 2. “Pretty city committee.” Sandra talks to Angela about her time as a teacher, disrupting violence with art, and coming together to make the city we want to live in.
27:31 minutes

Victor (17) interviews Reverend Dr. Wanda Lundy. "God is a God of love and expects, requires and demands that we live as people of love."

Dr. Lundy is currently engaged in research of 313+ free and enslaved African people buried in unmarked graves in the Siloam-Hope First (Old First) Presbyterian Church, Elizabeth, NJ cemetery with a goal of establishing a monument to honor and remember their contributions to the story of First Presbyterian Church and Elizabeth, New Jersey.

42:04 minutes

Angela interviews Penny, 8 years old. "Children have rights."

Penny (8) talks with her mother, Angela, about being a child, children’s rights, and personhood.

30:28 minutes

Julissa (17) interviews Judge Carl Marshall.

Part 1 of 2. Judge Carl Marshall talks to Julissa (17) about his experiences as a juvenile justice judge, the law, justice and a more perfect union.

27:00 minutes

Part 2 of 2. Judge Carl Marshall talks to Julissa (17) about his experiences as a juvenile justice judge, the law, justice and a more perfect union.

25:49 minutes

David (19) interviews Audens (17).

Part 1. These two friends take turns interviewing each other about the world and their place in it.

32:43 minutes

Part 2. These two friends took turns interviewing each other about the world and their place in it.

17:08 minutes

Moises and McNaully. Moises interviews his friend.

Two teens talk about their perspectives on community and interrupting violence.

26:11 minutes

Julissa and Argo. Julissa interviews her best friend.

Teenagers and best friends, Julissa and Argo talk about their perspectives on safety and youth-led movements.

37:28 minutes

How might we keep each other safe?

Our mission with the Oral History project aims to collect and preserve our Elizabeth’s stories in order to build connections among people and create radical empathy toward a safe world.

Participants will be trained to conduct interviews about community safety.

This is our public call for both interviewers and interviewees.

We hope to interview city officials, community members, activists, artists, friends, family, and neighbors. We will interview elders as well as children, for an intergenerational collection of perspectives.

These interviews will be recorded and preserved in the Elizabeth Public Library archives for research and public listening, available to all.

As a community, we’ll listen to these interviews, and with these, we will work together to ideate policies that render conditions for safety.

Click here to apply!