Chinaka Hodge: What will you tell your daughters about 2016? | TED

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Joanna Pietrulewicz

Translator: Enara Caride Reviewer: Belén García Penerbosa

Tell your daughters of this year,

Contádelle ás vosas fillas o deste ano,

how we woke needing coffee

como nos erguiamos necesitando café

but discovered instead cadavers strewn about our morning papers,

e atopábamos no seu lugar cadáveres espallados nas páxinas dos xornais,

anegadas de copias das nosas irmás, cónxuxes, fillos pequenos.

waterlogged facsimiles of our sisters, spouses, small children.

Say to your baby of this year when she asks, as she certainly should,

Contádelle ao voso bebé o deste ano, cando pregunte, que sen dúbida o fará,

dicídelle que chegou demasiado tarde.

tell her it was too late coming.

Admit even in the year we leased freedom, we didn't own it outright.

Admitide que, incluso no ano no que alugamos a liberdade,

ésta non nos pertencía por completo.

There were still laws for every way we used our privates

Aínda había leis para cada emprego que lle dábamos ás nosas cousas

while they pawed at the soft folds of us,

mentres eles nos pateaban aos débiles,

grabbed with no concern for consent,

nos collían sen ningunha preocupación,

no laws made for the men that enforced them.

non había leis para os homes que as impoñían.

Adestráronnos para esquivar,

We were trained to dodge,

to wait, to cower and cover,

para esperar, para encollernos e cubrirnos,

para esperar máis, e seguir esperando.

to wait more, still, wait.

Dixeron que gardáramos silencio.

We were told to be silent.

But speak to your girls of this wartime,

Faládelle ás vosas fillas deste tempo de guerra,

a year preceded by a score of the same,

un ano precedido por moitos outros iguais,

so as in two decades before,

coma cando dúas décadas antes,

we wiped our eyes,

nos secamos os ollos,

atamos cadaleitos con bandeiras,

laced caskets with flags,

evacuamos a escena do crime do club,

evacuated the crime scene of the club,

caterwauled in the street,

berramos na rúa,

laid our bodies on the concrete against the outlines of our fallen,

nos deitamos no formigón contra os restos dos nosos caídos,

cried, "Of course we mattered,"

berramos, "Por suposto que importamos"

chanted for our disappeared.

cantamos aos nosos desaparecidos.

The women wept this year.

As mulleres choraron este ano.

They did.

Fixérono.

In the same year, we were ready.

No mesmo ano, estabamos preparadas.

O ano no que perdemos as nosas inhibicións e nos movemos con valente abandono

The year we lost our inhibition and moved with courageous abandon

was also the year we stared down barrels,

foi tamén o ano no que miramos fixamente aos canóns,

sang of cranes in skies, ducked and parried,

cantamos sobre grúas nos ceos, evadimos e esquivamos,

caught gold in hijab, collected death threats,

collemos ouro no hijab, recollemos ameazas de morte,

knew ourselves as patriots,

recoñecémonos como patriotas,

said, "We're 35 now, time we settled down and found a running mate,"

dixemos, "Temos 35; é tempo de sentar a cabeza e atopar un compañeiro"

made road maps for infant joy, shamed nothing but fear,

fixemos mapas de estradas por diversión, avergoñándonos de nada excepto do medo,

called ourselves fat and meant, of course,

chamámonos gordas querendo dicir, por suposto, perfectas.

impeccable.

This year, we were women,

Este ano, fomos mulleres,

not brides or trinkets,

non esposas ou adornos,

not an off-brand gender,

non un sexo débil,

not a concession, but women.

non unha concesión; senón mulleres.

Instruct your babies.

Ensinade aos vosos bebés.

Remind them that the year has passed to be docile or small.

Recordádeslles que pasou o ano de ser dóciles ou pequenas.

Algunhas de nós dixemos por primeira vez que éramos mulleres,

Some of us said for the first time that we were women,

took this oath of solidarity seriously.

tomando este xuramento de solidariedade en serio.

Algunhas tivemos fillos, outras non,

Some of us bore children and some of us did not,

and none of us questioned whether that made us real

e ningunha de nós cuestionou se isto nos facía máis ou menos reais,

or appropriate or true.

ou apropiadas, ou verdadeiras.

When she asks you of this year,

Cando vos pregunte sobre este ano,

your daughter, whether your offspring or heir to your triumph,

a vosa filla, xa sexa descendente ou herdeira do voso triunfo,

from her comforted side of history teetering towards woman,

desde o seu confortable lado da historia con respecto á muller,

she will wonder and ask voraciously,

fará preguntas de xeito incansable,

e aínda que non pode comprender o voso sacrificio,

though she cannot fathom your sacrifice,

she will hold your estimation of it holy,

considerará a vosa estimación dos feitos coma algo sagrado,

curiously probing, "Where were you?

preguntando con curiosidade, "Onde estiveches?

Did you fight? Were you fearful or fearsome?

Loitaches? Fuches temerosa ou temible?

What colored the walls of your regret?

De que cor eran as paredes do teu arrepentimento?

What did you do for women in the year it was time?

Que fixeches polas mulleres nese ano?

This path you made for me, which bones had to break?

Neste camiño que fixeches para min, que ósos tiveches que romper?

Did you do enough, and are you OK, momma?

Fixeches o suficiente? Estás ben, mamá?

And are you a hero?"

Es unha heroína?"

She will ask the difficult questions.

Ela fará as preguntas difíciles.

She will not care about the arc of your brow,

Non lle importará o arco da túa cella,

ou o peso co que cargas.

the weight of your clutch.

She will not ask of your mentions.

Non preguntará polas vosas mencións.

A vosa filla, pola que fixeches tanto, quere saber

Your daughter, for whom you have already carried so much, wants to know

what you brought, what gift, what light did you keep from extinction?

que trouxeches, que agasallo, que luz salvaches da extinción.

When they came for victims in the night,

Cando viñan a por víctimas na noite,

did you sleep through it or were you roused?

ficaches durmida ou espertaches?

Cal foi o prezo de permanecer esperta?

What was the cost of staying woke?

What, in the year we said time's up, what did you do with your privilege?

Que, no ano no que dixemos basta, que fixesches cos teus privilexios?

Alimentácheste da miseria de outros?

Did you sup on others' squalor?

Did you look away or directly into the flame?

Apartaches a mirada ou ollaches directamente as lapas?

Did you know your skill or treat it like a liability?

Coñecías as túas habilidades ou considerábalas unha carga?

Were you fooled by the epithets of "nasty" or "less than"?

Deixácheste enganar polos calificativos "despreciable" ou "menos que"?

Did you teach with an open heart or a clenched fist?

Ensinaches co corazón aberto ou co puño pechado?

Where were you?

Onde estabas?

Tell her the truth. Make it your life.

Dille a verdade. Faino durante toda a vida.

Confirm it. Say, "Daughter, I stood there

Demóstrao. Di,"Filla, eu mantívenme firme,

with the moment drawn on my face like a dagger,

co momento marcado na miña cara coma un puñal,

and flung it back at itself,

e lanceino,

facendo espazo para ti."

slicing space for you."

Tell her the truth, how you lived in spite of crooked odds.

Dille a verdade, como viviches contra todo pronóstico.

Tell her you were brave,

Dille que fuches valente,

and always, always in the company of courage,

e sempre, sempre na compaña da valentía,

mostly the days when you just had yourself.

especialmente nos días nos que só te tiñas a ti mesma.

Tell her she was born as you were,

Dicídelle que naceu coma vós,

as your mothers before, and the sisters beside them,

coma as vosas nais e as irmás xunto a elas,

in the age of legends, like always.

na era das lendas, coma sempre.

Dicídelle que naceu xusto a tempo,

Tell her she was born just in time,

just in time

xusto a tempo

to lead.

de liderar.

(Applause)

(Aplausos)