How we're honoring people overlooked by history | Amy Padnani

Translator: Ivana Korom Reviewer: Krystian Aparta

Prevoditelj: Martina Peraic Recezent: Senzos Osijek

My name is Amy Padnani,

Zovem se Amy Padnani,

and I'm an editor on the obituaries desk at the "New York Times."

urednica sam u odjelu za osmrtnice u New York Timesu.

Or, as some friends call me, the angel of death.

Ili kako me neki prijatelji zovu, anđeo smrti.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

In fact, people will ask me,

Zapravo, ljudi bi me pitali,

"Isn't it depressing, working on obituaries

"Nije li depresivno raditi na osmrtnicama

and thinking about death all the time?"

i misliti na smrt cijelo vrijeme?"

But you know what I tell them?

Znate li što im kažem?

Obits aren't about death, they're about life,

Osmrtnice ne govore o smrti, nego o životu,

they're interesting, they're relatable.

zanimljive su, s njima se možemo povezati.

Often about something you never knew.

Često vam kažu nešto što ranije niste znali.

Recently, for example,

Nedavno, naprimjer,

we had the obit for the inventor of the sock puppet.

imali smo osmrtnicu za izumitelja lutke od čarape.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

Everyone knows what a sock puppet is,

Svatko zna što je lutka od čarape,

but have you ever thought about who created it,

ali jeste li ikada razmišljali o tome tko ju je stvorio

or what their life was like?

ili kakav je bio život te osobe?

Obits are a signature form of journalism.

Osmrtnice su prepoznatljiv oblik novinarstva.

An art form, if you will.

Pa i neki oblik umjetnosti.

It's an opportunity for a writer to weave the tale of a person's life

To je prilika za pisca da isplete priču o životu osobe

into a beautiful narrative.

u obliku lijepog narativa.

Since 1851,

Od 1851. godine

the "New York Times" has published thousands of obituaries.

New York Times je objavio tisuće osmrtnica.

For heads of state, famous celebrities,

Za poglavare država, slavne osobe,

even the person who came up with the name on the Slinky.

čak i za osobu koja je izmislila ime za igračku Slinky.

There's just one problem.

Ali postoji problem.

Only a small percentage of them

Tek mali postotak osmrtnica

chronicle the lives of women and people of color.

bilježi živote žena i osoba nebijelih rasa.

That's the impetus behind a project I created

To je bio poticaj za projekt koji sam osmislila,

called "Overlooked,"

a koji se zove "Previđeni",

which tells the stories of marginalized groups of people

koji priča priče marginaliziranih skupina ljudi

who never got an obit.

koji nikada nisu dobili osmrtnicu.

It's a chance for the newspaper to revisit its 168-year existence

To je prilika da novine preispitaju svoje 168-godišnje postojanje

and fill in the gaps

i popuni praznine

for people who were, for whatever reason, left out.

za ljude koji su, iz različitih razloga, bili izostavljeni.

It's a chance to right the wrongs of the past,

To je prilika da se isprave nepravde iz prošlosti

and to refocus society's lens on who is considered important.

i da se promijeni pogled društva na to koga bi trebalo smatrati važnim.

I came up with the idea when I first joined Obituaries in 2017.

Došla sam na ovu ideju kada sam se pridružila odjelu osmrtnica 2017. godine.

The Black Lives Matter movement was at a rolling boil,

Pokret "Crnački životi su bitni" bio je na vrhuncu,

and the conversation on gender inequality had just started bubbling up again.

a razgovor o spolnoj nejednakosti se opet počeo zahuktavati.

And at the same time, I wondered, as a journalist and as a woman of color,

U isto vrijeme, pitala sam se, kao novinarka i nebijela žena,

what could I do to help advance this conversation.

što mogu učiniti kako bih pridonijela ovom razgovoru.

People were coming out of the shadows

Ljudi su izlazili iz sjene

to tell stories of injustices that they had faced,

kako bi pričali o nepravdama na koje su nailazili

and I could feel their pain.

i mogla sam osjetiti njihovu bol.

Primijetila sam kako bi mi povremeno stizali emailovi od čitatelja

So I noticed we would get these emails, sometimes, from readers,

saying, "Hey, why don't you have more women and people of color

govoreći, "Zašto nema više žena i osoba nebijelih rasa

in your obituaries?"

u vašim osmrtnicama?"

And I thought, "Yeah, why don't we?"

Pomislila bih, "Da, zašto?"

Since I was new to the team, I asked my colleagues,

Kako sam bila nova u odjelu, pitala sam kolege,

and they said, "Well, the people who are dying today

a oni su rekli, "Pa, ljudi koji danas umiru

are from a generation when women and people of color

dolaze iz generacije kada žene i osobe nebijelih rasa

weren't invited to the table to make a difference.

nisu bile dobrodošle pridonositi društvu.

Perhaps in a generation or two,

Možda za jednu do dvije generacije

we'll start to see more women and people of color in our obituaries."

počnemo viđati više žena ili osoba nebijelih rasa u našim osmrtnicama."

That answer just wasn't satisfying at all.

To uopće nije bio zadovoljavajuć odgovor.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

I wanted to know: Where are all the dead women?

Željela sam znati: gdje su sve te mrtve žene?

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

So I started thinking about how we hear about people who have died, right?

Pa sam počela razmišljati kako saznamo za ljude koji su umrli, je li?

Number one way is through reader submissions.

Jedan način je putem prijave čitatelja.

And so I thought,

Pa sam mislila,

"Well, what if we were to look at international newspapers

"Što ako pogledamo u svjetske novine

or scour social media?"

ili pročešljamo društvene mreže?"

It was around this time when ...

Otprilike u to vrijeme...

Everything was swirling in my mind,

Sve mi je to vrvjelo u glavi

and I came across a website about Mary Outerbridge.

i naišla sam na web stranicu o Mary Outerbridge.

She was credited with introducing tennis to America in 1874.

Ona je bila zaslužna za dovođenje tenisa u Ameriku 1874. godine.

And I thought, wow, one of the biggest sports in America

Pomislila sam, wow, jedan od najvažnijih sportova u Americi

was introduced by a woman?

uvela je žena?

Does anyone even know that?

Zna li to itko?

And did she get a New York Times obituary?

I je li ona dobila osmrtnicu u New York Timesu?

Spoiler alert -- she did not.

Iznenađenje -- nije ju dobila.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

So then I wondered who else we missed.

Pitala sam se koga smo još izostavili.

And it sent me on this deep dive through the archives.

Što me poslalo u dubok zaron kroz arhive.

There were some surprises.

Bilo je iznenađenja.

The pioneering journalist Ida B. Wells,

Jedna od prvih novinarki Ida B. Wells,

who started the campaign against lynching.

koja je započela borbu protiv linča.

The brilliant poet Sylvia Plath.

Briljantna pjesnikinja Sylvia Plath.

Ada Lovelace, a mathematician

Matematičarka Ada Lovelace,

now recognized as the first computer programmer.

priznata kao prva računalna programerka.

So I went back to my team and I said,

Vratila sam se svom timu i rekla,

"What if we were to tell their stories now?"

"Kako bi bilo da sada ispričamo ove priče?"

It took a while to get buy-in.

Potrajalo je dok se ideja nije primila.

There was this concern that, you know,

Postojala je zabrinutost, znate,

the newspaper might look bad

novine bi se moglo prikazati u lošem svjetlu

because it didn't get it right the first time.

zato što nismo učinili pravu stvar u odgovarajuće vrijeme.

It was also a little weird to sort of look back at the past,

I bilo je malo čudno gledati u prošlost

rather than cover news stories of our day.

umjesto pratiti dnevne priče.

But I said, "Guys, I really think this is worthwhile."

Ali rekla sam, "Doista mislim da je ovo vrijedno."

And once my team saw the value in it,

I kada je i moj tim uočio tu vrijednost,

they were all in.

svesrdno su to prihvatili.

And so, with the help of a dozen writers and editors,

I tako smo, uz pomoć 12-ero pisaca i urednika,

we launched on March 8, 2018,

otpočeli projekt 8. ožujka 2018. godine

with the stories of 15 remarkable women.

pričama o 15 iznimnih žena.

And while I knew that the work my team was doing was powerful,

Znala sam da je rad mog tima prodoran,

I didn't expect the response to be equally powerful.

ali nisam očekivala da će dobiti podjednako snažne reakcije.

I had hundreds of emails.

Primala sam stotine mailova ljudi

They were from people who said,

koji bi rekli,

"Thank you for finally giving these women a voice."

"Hvala što ste napokon dali glas ovim ženama."

They were from readers who said,

Od čitatelja koji bi rekli,

"I cried on my way to work, reading these stories,

"Plakala sam na putu do posla čitajući te priče

because I felt seen for the first time."

jer sam se prvi put osjetila primijećenom."

And they were from colleagues of mine, who said,

Bili su od kolega koji bi rekli,

"I never thought a woman of color

"Nikada ne bih pomislio da bi nebijeloj ženi

would be allowed to achieve something like this

bilo dozvoljeno da postigne ovako nešto

at the 'New York Times.'"

u New York Timesu."

I also got about 4,000 reader submissions

Dobila sam i oko 4 tisuće prijava čitatelja

suggesting who else we might have overlooked.

predlažući koga smo još vjerojatno izostavili.

And some of those are my favorite stories in the project.

Ovo su neke od mojih najdražih priča iz ovog projekta.

My all-time favorite is Grandma Gatewood.

Najdraža mi je Baka Gatewood.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

She survived 30 years of domestic violence at the hands of her husband.

Preživjela je 30 godina obiteljskog nasilja od svog supruga.

Jednog dana ju je tako gadno prebio, do neprepoznatljivosti,

One day, he beat her so badly, beyond recognition,

he even broke a broomstick over her head,

čak je slomio držač od metle na njezinoj glavi,

and she threw flour in his face in response.

a ona mu je bacila brašno u lice kao odgovor na to.

But when the police arrived, they arrested her, not him.

Ali kada je došla policija, uhitili su nju, a ne njega.

The mayor saw her in jail and took her into his own home

Gradonačelnik ju je posjetio u zatvoru i odveo je u svoj dom

until she could get back on her feet.

dok se nije oporavila.

Then, one day, she read this article in "National Geographic"

Jednog dana pročitala je članak u National Geographicu

about how no woman had ever hiked

kako nijedna žena dotad nije prehodala

the Appalachian Trail in its entirety alone.

Apalačijansku stazu u cijelosti sama.

And she said, "You know what? I'm going to do it."

Rekla je, "Znate što? Ja ću to učiniti."

Reporters caught wind of the old grandma who is hiking through the woods.

Izvjestitelji su čuli za baku koja hoda šumama.

And at the finish, they asked her,

Na kraju su je pitali,

"How did you survive so rough a place?"

"Kako ste uspjeli preživjeti na tako grubom mjestu?"

But they had no idea what she had survived before that.

Ali nisu imali pojma što je preživjela prije toga.

So, "Overlooked" has become wildly successful.

"Previđeni" su postali iznimno uspješni.

It's becoming a TV show now, on Netflix.

Uskoro će postati TV-emisija na Netflixu.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

(Applause)

(Pljesak)

I cannot wait to see this thing come to life.

Jedva čekam da vidim kako ova stvar postaje živom.

Something like 25 different publishers have reached out to me

Oko 25 različitih izdavača me je kontaktiralo

with interest in turning "Overlooked" into a book.

sa zanimanjem da pretvore "Previđene" u knjigu.

All of this clearly shows how timely and necessary this project is.

Sve ovo jasno pokazuje kako je projekt pravovremen i potreban.

It's also a reminder of how newspapers

Također služi kao podsjetnik kako novine

document what's happening in our world every single day,

bilježe događaje u svijetu svakog pojedinog dana,

and we have to make sure not to leave out key people.

a mi moramo osigurati da ne izostave ključne osobe.

That's why, even though it's been so meaningful to look back in the past,

Zbog toga, iako je bilo toliko značajno pogledati u prošlost,

I'm plagued with the lingering question:

proganja me pitanje:

"What about the future of obituaries --

"Što je s budućnošću osmrtnica --

how do I diversify those?"

kako ih možemo učiniti raznovrsnijima?"

That was my original problem, right?

To je bio moj prvotni problem, zar ne?

So to start answering this question, I wanted to gather some information.

Kako bih odgovorila na to pitanje, htjela sam skupiti neke podatke.

I went down to the sub-sub-basement level of the New York Times Building,

Otišla sam nekoliko razina ispod podruma zgrade New York Timesa,

to the archives.

u arhive.

We call it the morgue.

Mi to zovemo mrtvačnicom.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

And I asked for some guidance from our archivist there.

Zatražila sam ondje pomoć od našeg arhivista.

He pointed me to a book called "New York Times Obituaries Index."

Pokazao mi je knjigu "Indeks osmrtnica New York Timesa".

So we handed it to the New York Genealogical Society,

Ustupili smo je njujorškom Genealoškom društvu

and they digitized it for us.

koji su je digitalizirali za nas.

And then a programmer wrote up a program that scanned all those headlines

Programer je napisao program koji bi pretražio sve naslove

for "Mr.," Mrs.," "Lady," "Sir," all the sort of gender-defining terms.

tražeći "Gosp.", "Gđa", "Dama", "Gospodin", sve te spolno određene nazive.

And what we found was that from 1851 to 2017,

Otkrili smo da je od 1851. do 2017. godine

only about 15 to 20 percent of our obits were on women.

samo 15 do 20 posto osmrtnica bilo objavljeno ženama.

So next, I worked with a programmer to build this tool,

Zatim sam radila s programerom da napravimo alat

called the diversity analysis tool.

zvan alat za analizu raznovrsnosti.

It's a very dry name, but bear with me, it's super helpful.

To je vrlo suhoparan naziv, ali vjerujte mi, vrlo je koristan.

It breaks down the percentage of our obits month to month, women to men.

Razlaže postotak naših osmrtnica mjesec za mjesecom, žene naspram muškaraca.

OK, if that doesn't sound like much to you,

Ako vam to ne predstavlja mnogo,

this is how I used to calculate it before.

ovako sam to izračunavala ranije.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

So I asked this programmer to program in a goal,

Zamolila sam programera da programira unutar cilja,

and that goal was 30 percent.

a taj cilj bio je 30 posto.

From the year of "Overlooked's" launch, March of 2018,

Od godine početka "Previđenih", ožujka 2018. godine,

to March of 2019,

do ožujka 2019. godine,

I was hoping we could get to 30 percent of our obits on women.

nadala sam se da ćemo dobiti 30 posto osmrtnica ženama.

It was a number we hadn't achieved in a 168 years,

Taj broj nismo uspjeli dostići 168 godina

and I'm happy to say we did it -- we got to 31 percent.

i sretna sam što vam mogu reći da smo to postigli - 31 posto.

(Applause)

(Pljesak)

It's awesome, but it's not enough.

To je sjajno, ali to nije dovoljno.

Next we're hoping to get to 35 percent,

Nadamo se postići 35 posto,

and then 40 percent, until we achieve parity.

a zatim 40 posto, sve dok ne dostignemo ravnopravan odnos.

And then I'm hoping to partner with this programmer again,

Zatim se nadam da ću se ponovo udružiti s ovim programerom

to build a similar tool to measure people of color in our obits.

da izgradimo sličan alat kako bismo izmjerili nebijele ljude u osmrtnicama.

That was something I wanted to do with "Overlooked" too,

To sam htjela također učiniti s "Previđenima",

to include men of color,

uključiti nebijele muškarce,

i konačno sam to uspjela učiniti u posebnom odjeljku

and I finally got to do it with a special section

for Black History Month,

za Mjesec crnačke povijesti,

where we told the stories of about a dozen black men and women.

gdje smo ispričali priče dvanaestak crnaca i crnkinja.

Again, it was a really powerful experience.

Opet, bilo je to snažno iskustvo.

Many of these people had been slaves

Mnogi od tih ljudi bili su robovi

or were a generation removed from slavery.

ili generacija nakon ukidanja ropstva.

A lot of them had to make up stories about their past

Mnogi su morali izmisliti priče o svojoj prošlosti

just to get ahead in life.

samo kako bi se probijali kroz život.

And there were these patterns of their struggles

Postojale su šablone njihovih borbi

that came up again and again.

koje su se počele pojavljivati.

Elizabeth Jennings, for instance,

Primjerice, Elizabeth Jennings

had to fight for her right to ride

morala se boriti za pravo da se vozi

on segregated street cars in New York City --

u rasno odvojenim tramvajima grada New Yorka --

a hundred years before Rosa Parks did the exact same thing with buses.

stotinu godina prije negoli je Rosa Parks učinila isto s autobusima.

It was just a reminder of how far we've come,

To je samo podsjetnik koliko smo napredovali

and how much more we still have left to do.

i koliko puno toga još moramo učiniti.

"Overlooked" is including other marginalized people as well.

"Previđeni" uključuju i ostale marginalizirane ljude.

Recently, we had the obit for the computer programmer Alan Turing.

Nedavno smo imali osmrtnicu za računalnog programera Alana Turinga.

Believe it or not, this brilliant man never got an obituary,

Vjerovali ili ne, ovaj briljantni čovjek nikada nije dobio osmrtnicu,

even though his work

iako nam je njegov rad

decoding German messages during World War II

na dešifriranju njemačkih poruka tijekom Drugog svjetskog rata

helps end the war.

pomogao da okončamo rat.

Instead, he died a criminal for his sexual orientation,

Umjesto toga, umro je kao kriminalac zbog svoje spolne orijentacije

and he was forced to endure chemical castration.

i bio je prisiljen na kemijsku kastraciju.

Great things, like this obits project, do not come easily.

Velike stvari, poput ovog projekta osmrtnica, ne ostvaruju se lako.

There were a lot of fits and starts

Bilo je puno uspona i padova

as I worked hard to convince people it was worth getting it off the ground.

dok sam naporno radila da uvjerim ljude da ga vrijedi postaviti na noge.

There were moments when I faced great self-doubt.

Bilo je trenutaka kada sam se suočavala s velikom sumnjom u sebe.

I wondered if I was crazy or if I was all alone,

Pitala sam se jesam li luda ili jesam li sama u ovome,

and if I should just give up.

trebam li jednostavno odustati.

When I've seen the reaction to this project,

Kada sam vidjela reakcije na projekt,

I know I'm not at all alone.

znala sam da uopće nisam sama.

There's so many people who feel the way I do.

Toliko je ljudi koji se osjećaju poput mene.

And so yeah, not many people think about obituaries.

Da, ljudi ne razmišljaju previše o osmrtnicama.

But when you do, you realize they're a testament to a human life.

Ali kada razmišljate, shvatite da su one svjedočanstvo ljudskog života.

They're the last chance to talk about somebody's contribution on the world.

One su posljednja prilika da pričamo o nečijem doprinosu ovom svijetu.

They were also an example of who society deemed important.

Također služe kao primjer za to koga naše društvo smatra važnim.

A hundred years from now,

Za sto godina

somebody could be looking into the past to see what our time was like.

netko bi mogao gledati u prošlost da vidi kakvo je bilo naše doba.

I'm lucky, as a journalist,

Imam sreću da kao novinarka

to have been able to have used this form of storytelling

mogu koristiti ovaj način pričanja priča

to help shift a narrative.

kako bih promijenila narativ.

I was also able to get an established institution

Uspjela sam postići da ugledna institucija

to question its own status quo.

preispita svoj status quo.

Little by little, I'm hoping I can keep doing this work,

Korak po korak, nadam se da ću moći nastaviti ovaj posao

and continue refocusing society's lens

i nastaviti preusmjeravati pogled društva,

so that nobody else gets overlooked.

kako nitko više ne bi ostao previđen.

Thank you.

Hvala.

(Applause)

(Pljesak)