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Library

Rodney Waithe

June 24, 2024

|

Hudson, NY

Song

Recorded by

Enrique Rivera

This interview is available in-person only. Please get in touch if you would like to listen.
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Summary:

Rodney Waithe is a retired police officer with multiple businesses across the Hudson area including a commercial and residential painting company. This interview was conducted at the Hudson Area Library.

Rodney shares how his family immigrated from the Caribbean island of Barbados to Hudson when he began high school. He shares his various connections within the Hudson community and how his early dreams of becoming a police officer took shape. He has started many side businesses including a daycare with his wife, a boxing program, and working part time at the Sheriff’s department. He recognized how public perceptions surrounding law enforcement has dwindled in recent years and that it has been a little discouraging. However he also recognizes the positive impact of his work, helping people through different crises, and how his different trainings as a law enforcement officer have aided him in his work.

A specific story is shared about how he employed a prison inmate from the local Hudson Correction Facility who was on a day work leave program. A proud community member, Rodney along with his wife, enjoy helping the greater community of Hudson as well as traveling the world and exploring new places.

This interview could be of interest to those hoping to learn about former Hudson police officers, Hudson small businesses, and longtime residents.

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Themes:
Longtime Resident
,
Business Ownership
,
Local Business
,
Family
,
Correctional Facilities
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Interviewer Bio:
Enrique Rivera

Enrique Rivera was raised in the Puerto Rican diaspora in Bridgeport, CT. He works in documentary filmmaking, is a multidisciplinary artist, and is a cultural worker. His current focus is on reimagining documentary forms of storytelling that integrate methodologies including oral history, decolonized storytelling, abolitionist frameworks, and other disciplines that enrich our understandings of the narratives we weave.

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Additional Info:
Interview language(s):
English
,
Audio quality:
Medium

Audio Quality Scale

Low - There is some background noise and the narrator is hard to hear.

Medium - There is background noise, but the narrator is audible.

High - There is little background noise and the narrator is audible.

Permissions: 

This interview is hereby made available for research purposes only. For additional uses (radio and other media, music, internet), please click here to inquire about permissions.

Part of this interview may be played in a radio broadcast or podcast.

Oral history is an iterative process. In keeping with oral history values of anti-fixity, interviewees will have an opportunity to add, annotate and reflect upon their lives and interviews in perpetuity. Talking back to the archive is a form of “shared authority.”

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