How to raise a Black son in America | Clint Smith

Prevoditelj: Vanja Kovac Recezent: Ivan Stamenković

Growing up, I didn't always understand

Odrastajući nisam uvijek razumio

why my parents made me follow the rules that they did.

zašto su me roditelji tjerali slijediti pravila koja su oni slijedili.

Like, why did I really have to mow the lawn?

Kao, zašto sam stvarno morao pokositi travu?

Why was homework really that important?

Zašto je zadaća toliko važna?

Why couldn't I put jelly beans in my oatmeal?

Zašto nisam mogao staviti gumene bombone u zobenu kašu?

My childhood was abound with questions like this.

Moje djetinjstvo vrvjelo je takvim pitanjima.

Normal things about being a kid and realizing that sometimes,

Normalna stvar kad si dijete, i shvaćaš da je ponekad

it was best to listen to my parents even when I didn't exactly understand why.

najbolje poslušati roditelje iako nisam uvijek znao zašto.

And it's not that they didn't want me to think critically.

I nije to da nisu željeli da ražmišljam kritički.

Their parenting always sought to reconcile the tension

Njihov odgoj uvijek je tražio način kako pomiriti napetost

between having my siblings and I understand the realities of the world,

između toga da moja braća i sestre i ja shvatimo kako stvari u svijetu stoje

while ensuring that we never accepted the status quo as inevitable.

istovremeno osiguravajući da nikada ne prihvatimo status quo kao neizbježan.

I came to realize that this, in and of itself,

Shvatio sam da je to bio, sam po sebi,

was a very purposeful form of education.

vrlo svrhovit način obrazovanja.

One of my favorite educators, Brazilian author and scholar Paulo Freire,

Jedan od mojih najdražih prosvijetitelja, Brazilski autor i učenjak Paulo Freire,

speaks quite explicitly about the need for education

govori vrlo eksplicitno o potrebi da se obrazovanje

to be used as a tool for critical awakening and shared humanity.

koristi kao sredstvo za kritičko buđenje i dijeljenu čovječnost.

In his most famous book, "Pedagogy of the Oppressed,"

U njegovoj najpoznatijoj knjizi "Pedagogija potlačenih"

he states, "No one can be authentically human

govori: "Nitko ne može biti čovjek

while he prevents others from being so."

dok god ostale sprječava da budu isto."

I've been thinking a lot about this lately, this idea of humanity,

Puno razmišljam o tome u posljednje vrijeme, o toj ideji čovječnosti,

and specifically, who in this world is afforded the privilege

a posebno, tko na ovom svijetu ima privilegiju

of being perceived as fully human.

da ga se doživljava kao potpunog čovjeka.

Over the course of the past several months,

Tijekom nekoliko posljednjih mjeseci

the world has watched as unarmed black men, and women,

svijet je gledao kako nenaoružani crnci i crnkinje

have had their lives taken at the hands of police and vigilante.

bivaju ubijeni od strane policajaca ili osvetnika.

These events and all that has transpired after them

Ti događaji i sve što se dogodilo nakon njih

have brought me back to my own childhood

vratili su me u moje djetinjstvo

and the decisions that my parents made about raising a black boy in America

i sjetio sam se odluka mojih roditelja o odgajanju crnog dječaka u americi

that growing up, I didn't always understand in the way that I do now.

koje, dok sam odrastao, nisam razumio kao sada.

I think of how hard it must have been, how profoundly unfair it must have felt

Razmišljam koliko je moralo biti teško, koliko nepravedno je moralo biti

for them to feel like they had to strip away parts of my childhood

osjećati se kako su se oni osjećali dok su otkidali dijelove mog djetinjstva

just so that I could come home at night.

samo da mogu doći kući navečer.

For example, I think of how one night,

Na primjer, sjećam se jedne večeri,

when I was around 12 years old, on an overnight field trip to another city,

bio sam oko 12 godina i na noćnom putovanju u drugi grad

my friends and I bought Super Soakers

moji prijatelji i ja kupili smo pištolje na vodu

and turned the hotel parking lot into our own water-filled battle zone.

i pretvorili hotelski parking u privatno vodeno bojno polje.

We hid behind cars,

Skrivali smo se iza auta,

running through the darkness that lay between the streetlights,

trčali kroz tamu između uličnih svjetiljki,

boundless laughter ubiquitous across the pavement.

sa neprekidnim smijehom svepristunim na kolniku.

But within 10 minutes,

Ali za desetak minuta,

my father came outside, grabbed me by my forearm

moj tata je izašao van, zgrabio me za ruku

and led me into our room with an unfamiliar grip.

i odveo u našu sobu.

Before I could say anything,

Prije nego sam mogao bilo što reći,

tell him how foolish he had made me look in front of my friends,

reći mu kako me osramotio pred mojim prijateljima,

he derided me for being so naive.

ismijao me zbog moje naivnosti.

Looked me in the eye, fear consuming his face,

Pogledao me u oči, lice mu je obuzeo strah,

and said, "Son, I'm sorry,

i rekao: "Sine, žao mi je,

but you can't act the same as your white friends.

ali ne možeš se ponašati jednako kao tvoji bijeli prijatelji.

You can't pretend to shoot guns.

Ne možeš se praviti da pucaš iz pištolja.

You can't run around in the dark.

Ne možeš trčati u mraku.

You can't hide behind anything other than your own teeth."

Ne možeš se skrivati nigdje osim iza svojih zubi."

I know now how scared he must have been,

Sada znam koliko je morao biti uplašen,

how easily I could have fallen into the empty of the night,

koliko sam lako mogao nestati u noći,

that some man would mistake this water

samo da je jedan čovjek zamjenio vodu

for a good reason to wash all of this away.

za dobar razlog da sve to opere.

These are the sorts of messages I've been inundated with my entire life:

To je vrsta poruka s kojima sam preplavljivan cijeli svoj život:

Always keep your hands where they can see them, don't move too quickly,

Uvijek drži ruke gdje ih mogu vidjeti, ne kreći se prebrzo,

take off your hood when the sun goes down.

skini kapuljaču kada zađe sunce.

My parents raised me and my siblings in an armor of advice,

Moji roditelji odgojili su braću i sestre i mene u oklopu savjeta,

an ocean of alarm bells so someone wouldn't steal the breath from our lungs,

oceanu alarma koji će spriječiti nekoga da nam otme dah iz pluća,

so that they wouldn't make a memory of this skin.

da napravi uspomenu od naše kože.

So that we could be kids, not casket or concrete.

Da možemo biti djeca, a ne grobovi od betona.

And it's not because they thought it would make us better than anyone else

I to ne zato što su mislil da će nas to učiniti boljima od drugih

it's simply because they wanted to keep us alive.

nego zato što su nas željeli održati na životu.

All of my black friends were raised with the same message,

Svi moji crni prijatelji odgajani su sa istom porukom,

the talk, given to us when we became old enough

govor, održan kada smo postali dovoljno stari

to be mistaken for a nail ready to be hammered to the ground,

da nas zamjene za čavao spreman za zakucavanje u zemlju,

when people made our melanin synonymous with something to be feared.

kada su ljudi poistovjećivali našu boju kože s nečim čega se treba bojati.

But what does it do to a child

Ali, što to učini djetetu

to grow up knowing that you cannot simply be a child?

odrasti znajući da ne smije biti dijete?

That the whims of adolescence are too dangerous for your breath,

Da su hirovi puberteta preopasni za tvoj život,

that you cannot simply be curious,

da ne smiješ biti znatiželjan,

that you are not afforded the luxury of making a mistake,

da si nemožeš priuštiti luksuz pravljenja pogreške,

that someone's implicit bias

da nečija pristranost

might be the reason you don't wake up in the morning.

može biti razlog da se ujutro ne probudiš.

But this cannot be what defines us.

Ali to nas ne smije definirati.

Because we have parents who raised us to understand

zato što imamo roditelje koji su nas odgojili da razumijemo

that our bodies weren't meant for the backside of a bullet,

da naša tijela nisu namjenjena za metke,

but for flying kites and jumping rope, and laughing until our stomachs burst.

nego za zmajeve i konope, i smijanje dok nas stomak ne zaboli.

We had teachers who taught us how to raise our hands in class,

Imali smo učitelje koji su nas naučili kako podići ruku u razredu,

and not just to signal surrender,

ne samo da bi signalizirali predaju,

and that the only thing we should give up

i da je jedina stvar koje se trebamo odreći

is the idea that we aren't worthy of this world.

ideja da nismo vrijedni ovoga svijeta.

So when we say that black lives matter, it's not because others don't,

Zato kada kažemo da crni život vrijedi, ne zato što drugi ne,

it's simply because we must affirm that we are worthy of existing without fear,

nego zato što moramo potvrditi da smo vrijedni postojanja bez straha,

when so many things tell us we are not.

kada nam puno stvari govori da nismo.

I want to live in a world where my son

Želim živjeti u svijetu u kojem moj sin

will not be presumed guilty the moment he is born,

neće biti kriv od trenutka kada se rodi,

where a toy in his hand isn't mistaken for anything other than a toy.

u kojem igračka u njegovoj ruci neće biti zamjenjena za nešto drugo osim igračke.

And I refuse to accept that we can't build this world into something new,

I odbijam prihvatiti da ne možemo ovaj svijet izgraditi u nešto novo,

some place where a child's name

neko mjesto gdje ime djeteta

doesn't have to be written on a t-shirt, or a tombstone,

ne treba biti napisano na majicu, ili spomenik,

where the value of someone's life

gdje vrijednost nečijeg života

isn't determined by anything other than the fact that they had lungs,

nije određena ničim drugim osim činjenicom da ima pluća,

a place where every single one of us can breathe.

mjesto gdje svatko od nas smije disati.

Thank you.

Hvala vam.

(Applause)

(Pljesak)