Courage is contagious | Damon Davis

Prevoditelj: Dunja Knežević Recezent: Sanda L

So, I'm afraid.

Bojim se.

Right now,

Upravo sada,

on this stage,

na pozornici,

I feel fear.

osjećam strah.

In my life, I ain't met many people

U životu nisam upoznao puno ljudi

that will readily admit when they are afraid.

koji spremno priznaju kada se boje.

And I think that's because deep down,

Mislim da je to jer u dubini duše,

they know how easy it spreads.

znaju kako brzo se širi.

See, fear is like a disease.

Strah je poput bolesti.

When it moves, it moves like wildfire.

Kada se širi, širi se poput požara.

But what happens when,

No, što se dogodi kada,

even in the face of that fear,

iako suočeni sa strahom,

you do what you've got to do?

učinite ono što morate?

That's called courage.

To se zove hrabrost.

And just like fear,

I poput straha,

courage is contagious.

hrabrost je zarazna.

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

Ja sam iz East St. Louisa, Illinois.

That's a small city

To je mali grad

across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri.

uz rijeku Mississippi, St. Louis, Missouri.

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

Cijeli sam život živio u i oko St. Louisa.

When Michael Brown, Jr.,

Kada je Michaela Browna,

an ordinary teenager,

običnog tinejdžera,

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

ustrijelila policija 2014. u Fergusonu, Missouri,

another suburb, but north of St. Louis --

još jednom predgrađu, no sjeverno od St. Louisa,

I remember thinking,

sjećam se da sam pomislio

he ain't the first,

da on nije prvi,

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

a ni posljednji mladi život koji je odnijela policija.

But see, his death was different.

No, njegova je smrt bila drukčija.

When Mike was killed,

Kada je Mike ubijen,

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

sjećam se moći koju donosi nastojanje da se strah koristi kao oružje.

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

Policija je na zajednicu u žalovanju reagirala silom

to impose fear:

namećući im strah:

fear of militarized police,

strah od militarizirane policije,

imprisonment,

zatvora,

fines.

novčanih kazni.

The media even tried to make us afraid of each other

Mediji su pokušali okrenuti nas jedne protiv drugih

by the way they spun the story.

načinom na koji su sve prikazali.

And all of these things have worked in the past.

I sve je to ranije uspijevalo.

But like I said, this time it was different.

No, kao što sam rekao, ovaj je put bilo drukčije.

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

Smrt Michaela Browna i odnos prema zajednici nakon toga

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

vodili su nizu protesta u i oko Fergusona i St. Louisa.

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

Kada sam se pridružio protestima, četvrti ili peti dan,

it was not out of courage;

nije to bilo zbog hrabrosti,

it was out of guilt.

nego zbog grižnje savjesti.

See, I'm black.

Crnac sam.

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

Ne znam jeste li to primijetili.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

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

Nisam mogao sjediti u St. Louisu, nekoliko minuta od Fergusona

and not go see.

i ne otići vidjeti to.

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

Stoga sam otišao provjeriti.

When I got out there,

Kada sam došao,

I found something surprising.

pronašao sam nešto iznenađujuće.

I found anger; there was a lot of that.

Pronašao sam ljutnju, mnogo ljutnje.

But what I found more of was love.

No, pronašao sam još više ljubavi.

People with love for themselves.

Ljude koji vole sebe.

Love for their community.

Koji vole svoju zajednicu.

And it was beautiful --

I bilo je prelijepo...

until the police showed up.

dok se nije pojavila policija.

Then a new emotion was interjected into the conversation:

Novi je osjećaj ušao u razgovor:

fear.

strah.

Now, I'm not going to lie;

Neću lagati,

when I saw those armored vehicles,

kada sam vidio ta oklopna vozila,

and all that gear

svu tu opremu

and all those guns

i svo to oružje,

and all those police

kao i sve te policajce,

I was terrified --

bio sam prestravljen...

personally.

ja osobno.

And when I looked around that crowd,

Kada sam pogledao okupljenu gomilu,

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

vidio sam puno ljudi koji su se jednako osjećali.

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

No, prepoznao sam i nešto drugo u njima.

That was courage.

Hrabrost.

See, those people yelled,

Ti su ljudi vikali,

and they screamed,

urlali su,

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

i nisu htjeli ustuknuti pred policijom.

They were past that point.

Nadišli su to u sebi.

And then I could feel something in me changing,

I tada sam osjetio kako se nešto u meni mijenja,

so I yelled and I screamed,

pa sam i ja vikao i urlao

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

te sam primijetio da su svi oko mene činili isto.

And there was nothing like that feeling.

Ništa nije ravno tom osjećaju.

So I decided I wanted to do something more.

Odlučio sam da želim učiniti više.

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

Otišao sam kući misleći: Umjetnik sam, izrađujem stvari.

So I started making things specific to the protest,

Pa sam počeo izrađivati predmete posebno za protest,

things that would be weapons in a spiritual war,

stvari koje mogu postati oružje u duhovnom ratu,

things that would give people voice

stvari koje će ljudima dati glas,

and things that would fortify them for the road ahead.

koje će ih osnažiti za put pred njima.

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

U okviru jednog projekta fotografirao sam ruke pobunjenih

and put them up and down the boarded-up buildings

te sam ih postavio na daskama obloženim zgradama

and community shops.

i lokalnim trgovinama.

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

Moj je cilj bio podići razinu svijesti i ohrabriti.

And I think, for a minute at least,

I mislim da sam barem na trenutak

it did just that.

to i postigao.

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

Tada sam pomislio da želim izložiti priče tih ljudi

I was watching being courageous in the moment.

koje sam gledao u njihovoj hrabrosti u trenutku.

And myself and my friend,

Moj prijatelj i ja,

and filmmaker and partner Sabaah Folayan

te redateljica i partnerica Sabaah Folayan,

did just that with our documentary,

to smo i učinili u našem dokumentarcu,

"Whose Streets?"

"Čije ulice?"

I kind of became a conduit

Postao sam provodnik

for all of this courage that was given to me.

za svu tu hrabrost koja mi je dana.

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

Mislim da je to dio posla umjetnika.

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

Mi trebamo prenositi hrabrost u svom radu.

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

Mi smo zid između običnih ljudi

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

i onih koji koriste svoju moć kako bi sijali strah i mržnju,

especially in times like these.

posebno u ovakvim vremenima.

So I'm going to ask you.

Zato ću vas pitati.

Y'all the movers and the shakers,

Sve moćnike,

you know, the thought leaders:

znate, predvodnike:

What are you gonna do

što ćete učiniti

with the gifts that you've been given

s darovima koji su vam dani

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

da nas oslobodite straha koji nas svaki dan sputava?

Because, see, I'm afraid every day.

Jer svakoga se dana bojim.

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

Ne mogu se sjetiti vremena kada se nisam bojao.

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

No, kada sam shvatio da me strah neće onesposobiti,

it was there to protect me,

da me štiti,

and once I figured out how to use that fear,

kada sam shvatio kako iskoristiti taj strah,

I found my power.

pronašao sam moć.

Thank you.

Hvala vam.

(Applause)

(Pljesak)