Why we must confront the painful parts of US history | Hasan Kwame Jeffries

Translator: Emma Toft Reviewer: Anders Finn Jørgensen

Not that long ago,

For ikke særlig lang tid siden,

I received an invitation

modtog jeg en invitation

to spend a few days at the historic home of James Madison.

til at tilbringe et par dage i James Madison's historiske hjem.

James Madison, of course,

James Madison, selvfølgelig,

was the fourth president of the United States,

var den fjerde præsident i USA,

the father of the Constitution,

Forfatningens fader,

the architect of the Bill of Rights.

arkitekten af de 10 første tillægsparagraffer.

And as a historian,

Som en historiker,

I was really excited to go to this historic site,

var jeg meget spændt på at besøge dette historiske sted,

because I understand and appreciate the power of place.

fordi jeg forstår og værdsætter kraften ved stedet.

Now, Madison called his estate Montpelier.

Madison kaldt hans ejendom Montpelier.

And Montpelier is absolutely beautiful.

Og Montpelier er så smuk.

It's several thousand acres of rolling hills,

Der er flere tusinde hektar af rullende bakker,

farmland and forest,

landbrugsjord og skove,

with absolutely breathtaking views of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

men fuldstændig betagende udsigt over Blue Ridge bjergene.

But it's a haunting beauty,

Men det er en hjemsøgende skønhed,

because Montpelier was also a slave labor camp.

fordi Montpelier var også en slavearbejdslejr.

You see, James Madison enslaved more than 100 people

Du ved, James Madison gjorde mere end 100 mennesker til slaver

over the course of his lifetime.

over hans levetid.

And he never freed a single soul,

Og han befriede ikke en eneste sjæl,

not even upon his death.

ikke engang da han døde.

The centerpiece of Montpelier is Madison's mansion.

Hovedattraktionen i Montpelier er Madison's palæ.

Now this is where James Madison grew up,

Det var her James Madison voksede op,

this is where he returned to after his presidency,

det var her han tog tilbage til efter hans præsidentembede sluttede,

this is where he eventually died.

det var her han til sidst døde.

And the centerpiece of Madison's mansion is his library.

Og hovedattraktionen ved Madison's palæ er hans bibliotek.

This room on the second floor,

Dette værelse er på anden sal,

where Madison conceived and conceptualized the Bill of Rights.

hvor Madison undfangede og dannede de 10 forfatningstillæg.

When I visited for the first time,

Da jeg besøgte første gang,

the director of education, Christian Cotz --

uddannelsesdirektøren, Christian Cotz --

cool white dude --

sej, hvid fyr --

(Laughter)

(Latter)

took me almost immediately to the library.

tog mig, næsten med det samme, ind i biblioteket.

And it was amazing, being able to stand in this place

Og det var fantastisk, at være i stand til at stå i det sted

where such an important moment in American history happened.

hvor så vigtige øjeblikke i Amerikansk historie skete.

But then after a little while there,

Men så, efter et lille stykke tid der,

Christian actually took me downstairs to the cellars of the mansion.

Christian tog mig med nedenunder til palæets kældre.

Now, in the cellars of the mansion,

Nu, i palæets kældre,

that's where the enslaved African Americans who managed the house

det var der de Afro-Amerikanske slaver som arbejdede i huset

spent most of their time.

tilbragte det meste af deres tid.

It's also where they were installing a new exhibition on slavery in America.

Det var også der hvor de var ved at bygge en ny udstilling om slaveri i USA.

And while we were there,

Og mens vi var der,

Christian instructed me to do something I thought was a little bit strange.

bad Christian mig om at gøre noget jeg tænkte var en smule mærkeligt.

He told me to take my hand

Han bad mig om at tage min hånd

and place it on the brick walls of the cellar and to slide it along,

og løbe den hen ad murstensvæggen i kældren,

until I felt these impressions or ridges in the face of the brick.

indtil jeg kunne mærke aftryk eller riller i facaden af murstenene.

Now look,

Hør nu her,

I was going to be staying on-site on this former slave plantation

Jeg skulle være på denne tidligere slave plantage

for a couple of days,

i et par dage,

so I wasn't trying to upset any white people.

så jeg ville ikke irritere de hvide mennesker.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

Because when this was over,

Fordi når dette var over,

I wanted to make sure that I could get out.

ville jeg gerne sikre mig at jeg kunne komme ud.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

But as I'm actually sliding my hand along the cellar wall,

Men da jeg løb min hånd henover kælder væggen,

I couldn't help but think about my daughters,

kunne jeg ikke lade være med tænke på mine døtre,

and my youngest one in particular,

og specielt min yngste,

who was only about two or three years old at the time,

som kun var omkring 2 eller 3 år på dette tidspunkt,

because every time she hopped out of our car,

fordi hver gang hun hoppede ud af vores bil,

she would take her hand and slide it along the outside,

ville hun tage sin hånd og løbe den hen ad bilens ydre,

which is absolutely disgusting.

hvilket er fuldstændig modbydeligt.

And then --

Og så --

and then, if I couldn't get to her in time,

og så, hvis jeg ikke nåede hende i tide,

she would take her fingers and pop them in her mouth,

ville hun tage hendes fingre og putte dem i munden,

which would drive me absolutely crazy.

hvilket drev mig fuldstændig sindsyg.

So this is what I'm thinking about while I'm supposed to be a historian.

Så dette var hvad jeg tænkte på mens jeg skulle være en historiker.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

But then, I actually do feel these impressions in the brick.

Men så, følte jeg rent faktisk disse aftryk i murstenene.

I feel these ridges in the brick.

jeg følte rillerne i murstenene.

And it takes a second to realize what they are.

Og det tager et sekund at indse hvad de er.

What they are

Hvad de er

are tiny hand prints.

er små håndaftryk.

Because all of the bricks at James Madison's estate

Fordi alle murstenene i James Madison's palæ

were made by the children that he enslaved.

er lavet af børnene som var slaver der.

And that's when it hit me

Og det var der det slog mig

that the library

at biblioteket

in which James Madison conceives and conceptualizes the Bill of Rights

hvor James Madison undfangede og dannede de 10 forfatningstillæg

rests on a foundation of bricks

hviler på et fundament af mursten

made by the children that he enslaved.

lavet af børnene han havde som slaver.

And this is hard history.

Og dette er hård historie.

It's hard history, because it's difficult to imagine

Det er hård historie fordi det er svært at forestille sig

the kind of inhumanity

den slags umenneskelighed

that leads one to enslave children

som leder en til at slavebinde børn

to make bricks for your comfort and convenience.

til at lave mursten for din egen komfort og behagelighed.

It's hard history,

Det er hård historie,

because it's hard to talk about the violence of slavery,

fordi det er hårdt at tale om volden i slaveri,

the beatings, the whippings, the kidnappings,

slagene, piskene, bortførelserne,

the forced family separations.

de tvungne familieadskillelser.

It's hard history, because it's hard to teach white supremacy,

Det er hård historie, fordi det er hårdt at undervise i hvid herredømme,

which is the ideology that justified slavery.

hvilket er ideologien som refærdiggør slaveri.

And so rather than confront hard history,

Og så, i stedet for at konfrontere hård historie,

we tend to avoid it.

har vi tendens til at undgå det.

Now, sometimes that means just making stuff up.

Men, sommetider betyder det at finde på andre ting.

I can't tell you how many times I've heard people say

Jeg kan ikke fortælle jer hvor mange gange jeg har hørt folk sige

that "states' rights" was the primary cause of the Civil War.

at "staternes rettigheder" var skyld i borgerkrigen.

That would actually come as a surprise

Det ville faktisk være en overraskelse

to the people who fought in the Civil War.

for de mennesker som kæmpede i borgerkrigen.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

Sometimes, we try to rationalize hard history.

Sommetider, prøver vi at rationalisere hård historie.

When people visit Montpelier --

Når folk besøger Montpelier --

and by "people," in this instance, I mean white people --

og med "folk", mener jeg i dette tilfælde hvide folk --

when they visit Montpelier

når de besøger Montpelier

and learn about Madison enslaving people,

og lærer om Madison's slaveri,

they often ask,

spørger de ofte,

"But wasn't he a good master?"

"Men var han ikke en god herre?"

A "good master?"

En "god herre"?

There is no such thing as a good master.

Der findes ikke en god herre.

There is only worse and worser.

Der var kun slem og værre.

And sometimes,

Og sommetider,

we just pretend the past didn't happen.

lader vi bare som om at fortiden ikke skete.

Jeg kan ikke fortælle jer hvor mange gange jeg har hørt folk sige,

I can't tell you how many times I've heard people say,

"It's hard to imagine slavery existing outside of the plantation South."

"Det er svært at forestille slaveri eksisterede udenfor plantagerne i Syden."

No, it ain't.

Nej, det er ikke.

Slavery existed in every American colony,

Slaveri eksisterede i alle Amerikanske kolonier,

slavery existed in my home state of New York

slaveri eksisterede i min hjemstat New York

for 50 years after the American Revolution.

i 50 år efter den Amerikanske Revolution.

So why do we do this?

Så hvorfor gør vi dette?

Why do we avoid confronting hard history?

Hvorfor undgår vi at konfrontere hård historie?

Literary performer and educator Regie Gibson

Literær kunstner og underviser Regie Gibson

had the truth of it when he said

havde sandheden da han sagde

that our problem as Americans is we actually hate history.

at vores problem som Amerikanere er at vi faktisk hader historie.

What we love

Hvad vi elsker

is nostalgia.

er nostalgi.

Nostalgia.

Nostalgi.

We love stories about the past

Vi elsker historier om fortiden

that make us feel comfortable about the present.

som for os til at føle os trygge omkring nutiden.

But we can't keep doing this.

Men vi kan ikke blive ved med at gøre dette.

George Santayana, the Spanish writer and philosopher,

George Santayana, den Spanske forfatter og filosof,

said that those who cannot remember the past

sagde at de som ikke kan huske fortiden

are condemned to repeat it.

er dømt til at gentage den.

Now as a historian, I spend a lot of time thinking about this very statement,

Nu, som en historiker, bruger jeg meget tid på at tænke over denne udtalelse,

and in a sense, it applies to us in America.

og på en måde, gælder det os i USA.

But in a way, it doesn't.

Men på en måde gør det ikke.

Because, inherent in this statement,

Fordi, væsentligt i denne udtalelse,

is the notion that at some point,

er idéen at på et tidspunkt,

we stopped doing the things

stoppede vi med at gøre de ting

that have created inequality in the first place.

som havde skabt ulighed i første omgang.

And a harsh reality is,

Og den hårde sandhed er at,

we haven't.

det har vi ikke.

Consider the racial wealth gap.

Overvej race-velstandskløften.

Wealth is generated by accumulating resources in one generation

Velstand er skabt ved at samle ressourcer i en generation

and transferring them to subsequent generations.

og videregive dem til de efterfølgende generationer.

Median white household wealth

Median hvide husstandes velstand

is 147,000 dollars.

er 147.000 dollars.

Median Black household wealth

Median sorte husstands velstand

is four thousand dollars.

er 4 tusinde dollars.

How do you explain this growing gap?

Hvordan forklarer du denne voksende kløft?

Hard history.

Hård historie.

My great-great-grandfather was born enslaved

Min tipoldefar var født en slave

in Jasper County, Georgia, in the 1850s.

i Jasper kommune, Georgia, i 1850'erne.

While enslaved, he was never allowed to accumulate anything,

Mens slavebundet, var han aldrig tilladt at samle noget,

and he was emancipated with nothing.

og han blev befriet med ingenting.

He was never compensated for the bricks that he made.

Han blev aldrig kompenseret for de mursten han lavede.

My great-grandfather was also born in Jasper County, Georgia, in the 1870s,

Min oldefar var også født i Jasper kommune, Georgie, i 1870'erne,

and he actually managed to accumulate a fair bit of land.

og han formåede faktisk at samle en god del jord.

But then, in nineteen-teens, Jim Crow took that land from him.

Men så, i 1910'erne, Jim Crow tog det jord fra ham.

And then Jim Crow took his life.

Og så tog Jim Crow hans liv.

My grandfather, Leonard Jeffries Senior,

Min bedstefar, Leonard Jeffries Senior,

was born in Georgia,

var født i Georgia,

but there was nothing left for him there,

men der var intet tilbage for ham der,

so he actually grew up in Newark, New Jersey.

så han voksede faktisk op i Newark, New Jersey.

And he spent most of his life working as a custodian.

Og han brugte størstedelen af hans liv som en inspektør.

Job discrimination, segregated education and redlining

Job diskrimination, segregeret uddannelse, og redlining

kept him from ever breaking into the middle class.

afholdte ham fra at slå igennem til middelklassen.

And so when he passed away in the early 1990s,

Og så da han gik bort i starten af 1990'erne,

he left to his two sons

efterlod han til sine to sønner

nothing more than a life-insurance policy

intet mere end en livsforsikringspolice

that was barely enough to cover his funeral expenses.

som var knap nok til at dække begravelsesudgifterne.

Now my parents, both social workers,

Mine forældre, begge socialarbejdere,

they actually managed to purchase a home

de har faktisk formået at købe et hjem

in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, New York, in 1980,

i Crown Heights sektionen af Brooklyn, New York, i 1980,

for 55,000 dollars.

for 55.000 dollars.

Now Crown Heights, at the time, was an all-Black neighborhood,

Crown Heights, på det tidspunkt, var et helt-sort kvarter,

and it was kind of rough.

og det var en smule råt.

My brother and I often went to sleep,

Min bror og jeg ville ofte falde i søvn,

by the mid-1980s,

i mid-80'erne,

hearing gunshots.

til pistolskud.

But my parents protected us,

Men mine forældre beskyttede os,

and my parents also held onto that home.

og mine forældre holdte ved dette hjem.

For 40 years.

I 40 år.

And they're still there.

Og de er der stadig.

But something quintessentially American happened

Men noget grundlæggende Amerikansk skete

about 20 years ago.

omkring 20 år siden.

About 20 years ago,

Omkring 20 år siden,

they went to sleep one night in an all-Black neighborhood,

gik de i seng en aften i et helt-sort kvarter,

and they woke up the next morning

og de vågnede op den næste morgen

in an all-white neighborhood.

i et helt-hvidt kvarter.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

And as a result of gentrification,

Og som et resultat af gentrifikation,

not only did all their neighbors mysteriously disappear,

ikke kun forsvandt deres naboer på mystisk vis,

but the value of their home

men værdien af deres hjem

skyrocketed.

steg dramatisk.

So that home that they purchased for 55,000 dollars --

Så det hjem som de købte for 55.000 dollars --

at 29 percent interest, by the way --

med 29% rente, så I ved det --

that home is now worth 30 times what they paid it for.

det hjem er nu værd 30 gange hvad de betalte for det.

Thirty times.

30 gange.

Do the math with me.

Regn det ud med mig.

That's 55,000 times 30, carry the zeros --

Det er 55.000 gange 30, flyt nullerne --

That's a lot of money.

Det er mange penge.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

So that means,

Så det betyder,

as their single and sole asset,

som deres eneste ejendom,

when the time comes for them to pass that asset on to my brother and I,

når tiden kommer til dem at give den ejendom videre til min bror og mig,

that will be the first time in my family's history,

vil det være første gang i min familie's historie,

more than 150 years after the end of slavery,

mere end 150 år efter slutningen af slaveri,

that there will be a meaningful transfer of wealth in my family.

at der vil være en betydningsfuld videregivning af rigdom i min familie.

And it's not because family members haven't saved,

Og det er ikke fordi familiemedlemmerne ikke har samlet,

haven't worked hard,

ikke har arbejdet hårdt,

haven't valued education.

ikke har værdsat uddannelse.

It's because of hard history.

Det er på grund af hård historie.

So when I think about the past,

Så når jeg tænker over fortiden,

my concern about not remembering it

min bekymring om ikke at huske den

is not that we will repeat it if we don't remember it.

er ikke at vi vil gentage den hvis vi ikke husker den.

My concern, my fear is that if we don't remember the past,

Min bekymring, min frygt er at hvis vi ikke husker fortiden,

we will continue it.

vil vi fortsætte den.

We will continue to do the things

Vi vil fortsætte med at gøre de ting

that created inequality and injustice in the first place.

som skabte ulighed og uretfærdighed i første omgang.

So what we must do

Så det vi må gøre

is we must disrupt the continuum of hard history.

er at forstyrre den fortsættelse af hård historie.

And we can do this by seeking truth.

Og vi kan gøre dette ved at søge sandheden.

By confronting hard history directly.

Ved at konfrontere hård historie direkte.

By magnifying hard history for all the world to see.

Ved at forstørre hård historie for hele verden.

We can do this by speaking truth.

Vi kan gøre dette ved at fortælle sandheden.

Teachers teaching hard history to their students.

Lærere som underviser deres elever i hård historie.

To do anything else is to commit educational malpractice.

Ved at gøre andet er at begå undervisnings pligtforsømmelse.

And parents have to speak truth to their children,

Og forældre skal fortælle deres børn sandheden,

so that they understand

så de forstår

where we have come from as a nation.

hvor vi er kommet fra som en nation.

And finally, we must all act on truth.

Og til sidst, vi må handle på sandheden.

Individually and collectively,

Individuelt og kollektivt,

publicly and privately,

offentligt og privat,

in small ways and in large ways.

på små måder og store måder.

We must do the things that will bend the arc of the moral universe

Vi må gøre de ting som kan bøje buen af det moralske univers

towards justice.

mod retfærdighed.

To do nothing is to be complicit

At gøre ingenting er at være medskyldig

in inequality.

i ulighed.

History reminds us

Historien minder os om

that we, as a nation,

at vi, som en nation,

stand on the shoulders of political giants

står på skulderne af politiske giganter

like James Madison.

som James Madison.

But hard history reminds us that we, as a nation,

Men hård historie minder os om at vi, som nation,

also stand on the shoulders of enslaved African American children.

også står på skulderne af slavebundne Afro-Amerikanske børn.

Little Black boys and little Black girls

Små sorte drenge og små sorte piger

who, with their bare hands, made the bricks

som, med deres bare hænder, lavede murstenene

that serve as the foundation for this nation.

som danner fundamentet for denne nation.

And if we are serious about creating a fair and just society,

Og hvis vi er seriøse om at skabe et fair og lige samfund,

then we would do well to remember that,

så ville vi gøre godt af at huske det,

and we would do well to remember them.

og vi ville gøre godt af at huske dem.

Thank you.

Tak.

(Applause)

(Bifald)