re: book stuff and Black oral histories

I wanna talk more about the nature of interviewing older Black subjects. During field work, one woman told me straight up that it's not that she didn't want to talk, it's just that her community has suffered violations (cont)

This woman told me that she's seen how journalists and ethnographers would come into their communities and record them without them even knowing about it.

Next thing they know the work produced becomes scholarship without any recognition.

I always kept my recorder on the table. Always.

But it made me wonder: How many times have scholars entered into Black communities that were not their own, grabbed these stories, recorded w/o consent, and made so much money off these precious oral histories?

I made sure people knew my name and publisher, what was in my bag, etc. It was nothing personal.

I may be Black but I was still a stranger and I acted accordingly.

I knew I had to go through a screening process because of the damage that had already been done.

I had some things in my favor I'm a BW. I'm also small, and I didn't come with a whole crew. Most days all I had were my camera phone, a recorder, a pen and notebook.

But again, I wasn't from there. A lot of people asked where I was from. If I said NJ, they were like....no LOL

When you're interviewing older Black subjects about exp. that no one has asked about or they haven't told anyone in years, it requires so much delicacy.

Some may speak in roundabout ways but stay on your toes because they're gonna get there. And it's gonna be like a thunderbolt.