Courage is contagious | Damon Davis

Translator: Júlia Ramírez Reviewer: Anna Comas-Quinn

So, I'm afraid.

Tinc por.

Right now,

Ara mateix,

on this stage,

en aquest escenari,

I feel fear.

tinc por.

In my life, I ain't met many people

A la vida he conegut poques persones

that will readily admit when they are afraid.

que admetin obertament que tenen por.

And I think that's because deep down,

I crec que és perquè, en el fons,

they know how easy it spreads.

saben que s'estén ràpid.

See, fear is like a disease.

La por és com una malaltia,

When it moves, it moves like wildfire.

quan s'escampa, ho fa com un foc incontrolat.

But what happens when,

Però què passa quan,

even in the face of that fear,

fins i tot quan tens por,

you do what you've got to do?

fas el que has de fer?

That's called courage.

D'això se'n diu coratge.

And just like fear,

i, igual que la por,

courage is contagious.

el coratge és contagiós.

See, I'm from East St. Louis, Illinois.

Sóc de East St. Louis, Illinois.

That's a small city

És una ciutat petita

across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri.

a l'altra banda del riu Mississippi de St. Louis, Missouri.

I have lived in and around St. Louis my entire life.

He viscut a St. Louis i als voltants tota la meva vida.

When Michael Brown, Jr.,

Quan Michael Brown Jr.,

an ordinary teenager,

un noi normal,

was gunned down by police in 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri --

va ser abatut per la policia el 2014 a Ferguson, Missouri,

another suburb, but north of St. Louis --

un altre suburbi al nord de St. Louis,

I remember thinking,

recordo que vaig pensar

he ain't the first,

que no era el primer,

and he won't be the last young kid to lose his life to law enforcement.

ni seria l'últim jove que perdria la vida a mans de policies.

But see, his death was different.

Però la seva mort va ser diferent.

When Mike was killed,

Quan Mike va ser assassinat

I remember the powers that be trying to use fear as a weapon.

els poders van intentar que la por fos una arma.

The police response to a community in mourning was to use force

La resposta de la policia vers una comunitat de dol va ser la força

to impose fear:

per imposar la por:

fear of militarized police,

por de la policia militaritzada,

imprisonment,

empresonament,

fines.

multes.

The media even tried to make us afraid of each other

Els mitjans van intentar que tinguéssim por d'altres,

by the way they spun the story.

van tergiversar-ho tot.

And all of these things have worked in the past.

Tot això havia funcionat abans,

But like I said, this time it was different.

però, com he dit, aquest cop era diferent.

Michael Brown's death and the subsequent treatment of the community

La mort de Michael Brown i el tractament posterior de la comunitat

led to a string of protests in and around Ferguson and St. Louis.

va desencadenar una sèrie de protestes a Ferguson, St. Louis i els voltants.

When I got out to those protests about the fourth or fifth day,

Quan vaig anar cap a les manifestacions, quatre o cinc dies després,

it was not out of courage;

no va ser per coratge,

it was out of guilt.

sinó pel sentiment de culpa.

See, I'm black.

Sóc negre,

I don't know if y'all noticed that.

no sé si us n'havíeu adonat.

(Laughter)

(Riures)

But I couldn't sit in St. Louis, minutes away from Ferguson,

Però no podia ser a St. Louis, a minuts de Ferguson

and not go see.

i no anar-ho a veure.

So I got off my ass to go check it out.

Em vaig espavilar i hi vaig anar.

When I got out there,

Quan hi vaig arribar,

I found something surprising.

em vaig sorprendre.

I found anger; there was a lot of that.

Hi havia ràbia, moltíssima,

But what I found more of was love.

però el que més hi havia era amor,

People with love for themselves.

gent amb amor a ells mateixos,

Love for their community.

amor a la comunitat,

And it was beautiful --

i era preciós...

until the police showed up.

fins que va arribar la policia.

Then a new emotion was interjected into the conversation:

Llavors un nou sentiment va entrar a la conversa:

fear.

la por.

Now, I'm not going to lie;

No us enganyaré,

when I saw those armored vehicles,

quan vaig veure aquells vehicles blindats,

and all that gear

tot aquell equipament,

and all those guns

aquelles pistoles

and all those police

i tota aquella policia,

I was terrified --

estava aterrat,

personally.

personalment.

And when I looked around that crowd,

Quan vaig mirar la multitud,

I saw a lot of people that had the same thing going on.

vaig veure que molta gent sentia el mateix,

But I also saw people with something else inside of them.

però també vaig veure gent que tenia alguna altra cosa:

That was courage.

el coratge.

See, those people yelled,

Aquesta gent cridava,

and they screamed,

xisclava,

and they were not about to back down from the police.

i no reculaven per la policia.

They were past that point.

Ja ho havien superat.

And then I could feel something in me changing,

Llavors alguna cosa va canviar en mi,

so I yelled and I screamed,

i vaig cridar i xisclar

and I noticed that everybody around me was doing the same thing.

i vaig notar que tothom al meu voltant feia el mateix.

And there was nothing like that feeling.

No hi havia res com aquest sentiment.

So I decided I wanted to do something more.

Per això vaig decidir que volia fer més.

I went home, I thought: I'm an artist. I make shit.

Vaig anar a casa i vaig pensar: "sóc artista, faig coses".

So I started making things specific to the protest,

I vaig començar a fer coses relacionades amb la protesta,

things that would be weapons in a spiritual war,

coses que serien armes en una guerra espiritual,

things that would give people voice

coses que donessin veu a la gent,

and things that would fortify them for the road ahead.

i coses que els fessin més forts vers el futur.

I did a project where I took pictures of the hands of protesters

Vaig fer un projecte en què feia fotos de les mans dels manifestants

and put them up and down the boarded-up buildings

i les penjava en edificis abandonats

and community shops.

i botigues de barri.

My goal was to raise awareness and to raise the morale.

L'objectiu era despertar la consciència i la moral.

And I think, for a minute at least,

I crec que, per un moment,

it did just that.

ho vaig fer.

Then I thought, I want to uplift the stories of these people

Després, vaig voler elevar les històries d'aquesta gent,

I was watching being courageous in the moment.

veia com la gent s'encoratjava en aquell moment.

And myself and my friend,

Així doncs, amb el meu amic

and filmmaker and partner Sabaah Folayan

Sabaah Folayan, company i cineasta,

did just that with our documentary,

ho vam fer amb el nostre documental:

"Whose Streets?"

"Whose Streets?"

I kind of became a conduit

Vaig ser una mena de conductor

for all of this courage that was given to me.

de tot aquest coratge que havia rebut.

And I think that's part of our job as artists.

I crec que això és part de la nostra feina com a artistes.

I think we should be conveyors of courage in the work that we do.

Hauríem de ser transportadors de coratge amb allò que fem,

And I think that we are the wall between the normal folks

som la paret entre la gent normal

and the people that use their power to spread fear and hate,

i la gent que usa el poder per propagar por i odi,

especially in times like these.

especialment en moments així.

So I'm going to ask you.

Així doncs, us pregunto

Y'all the movers and the shakers,

a vosaltres, els que en sabeu,

you know, the thought leaders:

és a dir, els líders intel·lectuals,

What are you gonna do

què fareu amb el que us han regalat

with the gifts that you've been given

to break us from the fear the binds us every day?

per allunyar-nos de la por que ens cega cada dia?

Because, see, I'm afraid every day.

Perquè jo tinc por cada dia,

I can't remember a time when I wasn't.

no recordo un dia en què no en tingués.

But once I figured out that fear was not put in me to cripple me,

Però quan em vaig adonar que la por no serveix per incapacitar-me,

it was there to protect me,

sinó que serveix per a protegir-me

and once I figured out how to use that fear,

i quan vaig descobrir com usar aquesta por,

I found my power.

vaig trobar el meu poder.

Thank you.

Gràcies.

(Applause)

(Aplaudiments)