James A. White Sr.: The little problem I had renting a house

Translator: Nika Kotnik Reviewer: Klavdija Cernilogar

An 18-year-old, African-American male joined the United States Air Force

18-letni temnopolti Američan se je pridružil vojaškemu letalstvu ZDA

and was assigned to Mountain Home Air Force Base

in poslali so ga v letalsko bazo Mountain Home.

and was a part of the air police squadron.

Bil je del eskadrilje letalske policije.

Upon first arriving there, the first goal that I had

Ko sem prišel tja, je bil moj prvi cilj

was for me to identify an apartment,

najti stanovanje,

so I could bring my wife and my new baby, Melanie,

kamor bi lahko pripeljal svojo ženo in hčer, Melanie,

out to join me in Idaho.

da bi se mi pridružili v Idahu.

I immediately went to the personnel office,

Odšel sem do kadrovske službe,

and talking with the guys in personnel,

govoril sem z njimi

they said, "Hey, no problem finding an apartment in Mountain Home, Idaho.

in rekli so mi: "Hej, ni problem najti stanovanje v Mountain Home, Idaho.

The people down there love us because they know if they have an airman

Ljudje tam nas imajo radi, ker vedo, da če imajo letalca,

who is coming in to rent one of their apartments,

ki bo prišel najet eno izmed stanovanj,

they'll always get their money."

bodo vedno dobili svoj denar."

And that was a really important thing.

In to je bila res pomembna stvar.

He said, "So here is a list of people that you can call,

Rekli so: "Tu je seznam ljudi, ki jih lahko pokličeš

and then they will then allow you to select the apartment that you want."

in ti bodo dovolili, da si izbereš stanovanje, ki bi ga rad."

So I got the list; I made the call.

Dobil sem seznam. Poklical sem.

The lady answered on the other end and I told her what I wanted.

Gospe, ki se je oglasila, sem povedal, kaj želim.

She said, "Oh, great you called.

Rekla je: "Super, da ste poklicali.

We have four or five apartments available right now."

Sedaj imamo na voljo štiri ali pet stanovanj."

She said, "Do you want a one-bedroom or two-bedroom?"

Rekla je: "Želite enosobno ali dvosobno stanovanje?"

Then she said, "Let's not talk about that.

Potem je dodala: "Ne govoriva o tem.

Just come on down, select the apartment that you want.

Kar pridite sem in si izberite stanovanje.

We'll sign the contract

Podpisala bova pogodbo

and you'll have keys in your hand to get your family out here right away."

imeli boste ključe v rokah, da bo vaša družina takoj prišla sem."

So I was excited.

Bil sem vznemirjen.

I jumped in my car. I went downtown and knocked on the door.

Skočil sem v avto, se odpravil v mesto in potrkal na vrata.

When I knocked on the door, the woman came to the door,

Ko sem potrkal, je k vratom prišla ženska,

and she looked at me, and she said, "Can I help you?"

me pogledala in rekla: "Vam lahko pomagam?"

I said, "Yes, I'm the person who called about the apartments.

Dejal sem: "Da, jaz sem tisti, ki je klical zaradi stanovanj.

I was just coming down to make my selection."

Prišel sem, da bi si eno izbral."

She said, "You know what? I'm really sorry,

Rekla je: "Veste kaj? Zelo mi je žal,

but my husband rented those apartments and didn't tell me about them."

ampak moj mož je že oddal ta stanovanja in mi ni povedal."

I said, "You mean he rented all five of them in one hour?"

Vprašal sem: "Hočete reči, da je oddal vseh pet v eni uri?"

She didn't give me a response, and what she said was this:

Ni mi odgovorila, dejala je le:

She said, "Why don't you leave your number,

"Zakaj mi ne pustite svoje številke

and if we have some openings, I'll give you a call?"

in če bo katero prosto, vas bom poklicala?"

Needless to say, I did not get a call from her.

Seveda me ni poklicala.

Nor did I get any responses from the other people

Niti nisem dobil odgovora od drugih ljudi,

that they gave me on the list where I could get apartments.

ki so bili na seznamu za stanovanja.

So as a result of that, and feeling rejected,

Zaradi tega in zaradi občutka zavrnitve

I went back to the base, and I talked to the squadron commander.

sem šel nazaj v bazo in govoril s komandirjem.

His name was McDow, Major McDow.

Ime mu je bilo McDow, major McDow.

I said, "Major McDow, I need your help."

Rekel sem: "Major McDow, potrebujem pomoč."

I told him what happened, and here's what he said to me:

Povedal sem mu, kaj se je zgodilo, in rekel mi je:

He said, "James, I would love to help you.

"James, rad bi ti pomagal.

But you know the problem:

A saj poznaš problem:

We can't make people rent to folks that they don't want to rent to.

Ne morem prisiliti ljudi, da nekomu oddajo stanovanje, če tega ne želijo.

And besides, we have a great relationship with people in the community

Poleg tega se z ljudmi v skupnosti zelo dobro razumemo

and we really don't want to damage that."

in tega res ne želimo uničiti."

He said, "So maybe this is what you should do.

Dodal je: "Mogoče bi lahko naredil to.

Why don't you let your family stay home,

Zakaj ne bi tvoja družina ostala doma,

because you do know that you get a 30-day leave.

saj veš, da dobiš 30 dni dopusta.

So once a year,

Tako da enkrat letno

you can go home to your family, spend 30 days and then come on back."

lahko greš domov k družini, preživiš tam 30 dni in prideš nazaj."

Needless to say, that didn't resonate for me.

Seveda mi to ni bilo preveč všeč.

So after leaving him, I went back to personnel,

Ko sva se poslovila, sem odšel nazaj v kadrovsko

and talking to the clerk,

in govoril sem z uslužbencem,

he said, "Jim, I think I have a solution for you.

ki je menil: "Jim, mislim, da imam rešitev zate.

There's an airman who is leaving and he has a trailer.

Nek drugi letalec odhaja in on ima prikolico.

If you noticed, in Mountain Home,

Mogoče si opazil, v Mountain Home-u

there are trailer parks and trailers all over the place.

je polno prikolic in prikoličarskih naselij.

You can buy his trailer, and you'd probably get a really good deal

Lahko kupiš njegovo prikolico, verjetno bo zelo poceni,

because he wants to get out of town as soon as possible.

saj želi oditi iz mesta čim prej.

And that would take care of your problem,

In to bi rešilo tvoj problem

and that would provide the solution for you."

in tvoje težave."

So I immediately jumped in my car, went downtown, saw the trailer --

Nemudoma sem skočil v avto, šel v mesto, videl prikolico -

it was a small trailer,

bila je majhna,

but under the circumstances,

a v teh okoliščinah

I figured that was the best thing that I could do.

se mi je to zdelo najboljše, kar lahko dobim.

So I bought the trailer.

Tako sem kupil prikolico.

Nato sem ga vprašal: "Lahko pustim prikolico tu

And then I asked him, "Can I just leave the trailer here,

and that would take care of all my problems,

in bodo moji problemi rešeni

I wouldn't have to find another trailer park?"

ter mi ne bo treba iskati drugega naselja?"

He said, "Before I say yes to that, I need to check with management."

Odvrnil je: "Preden rečem ja, moram vprašati vodstvo."

So I get back to the base,

Šel sem nazaj v bazo,

he called me back and management said,

poklical me je in vodstvo je reklo:

"No, you can't leave the trailer here

"Ne, prikolice ne morete imeti tu,

because we had promised that slot to some other people."

ker smo to mesto obljubili drugim ljudem."

And that was strange to me

Zdelo se mi je čudno,

because there were several other slots that were open,

ker so bila prosta še druga mesta,

but it just so happened that he had promised that slot to someone else.

a ravno to so obljubili nekomu drugemu.

So, what I did --

Kaj sem naredil -

and he said, "You shouldn't worry, Jim, because there are a lot of trailer parks."

rekel mi je: "Ne skrbi, Jim, veliko je še prikoličarskih naselij."

So I put out another exhaustive list of going to trailer parks.

Naredil sem si še en izčrpen seznam za obisk prikoličarskih naselij.

I went to one after another, after another.

Šel sem v enega za drugim.

And I got the same kind of rejection there

Povsod so me zavrnili,

that I received when I was looking for the apartment.

tako kot so me pri iskanju stanovanja.

And as a result, the kind of comments that they made to me,

In kot rezultat tega še komentarji, ki sem jih dobil:

in addition to saying that they didn't have any slots open,

poleg tega, da so mi rekli, da nimajo prostih mest,

one person said, "Jim, the reason why we can't rent to you,

je nekdo dejal: "Jim, ne morem ti dati prostora,

we already have a Negro family in the trailer park."

ker že imamo črnsko družino v tem naselju."

He said, "And it's not me, because I like you people."

Rekel je: "Pa ne zaradi mene, meni ste všeč."

(Laughs)

(Smeh)

And that's what I did, too. I chuckled, too.

In to sem naredil tudi jaz. Zasmejal sem se.

He said, "But here's the problem:

Rekel je: "Ampak tu je problem:

If I let you in, the other tenants will move out

Če tebe spustim noter, se bodo ostali izselili

and I can't afford to take that kind of a hit."

in tega si ne morem privoščiti."

He said, "I just can't rent to you."

Dejal je: "Enostavno ti ne morem dati prostora."

Even though that was discouraging, it didn't stop me.

Čeprav to ni bilo spodbudno, me ni ustavilo.

I kept looking,

Še naprej sem iskal

and I looked at the far end of the town in Mountain Home,

in pogledal sem na konec mesta v Mountain Home-u,

and there was a small trailer park.

kjer je bilo majhno prikoličarsko naselje.

I mean, a really small trailer park.

Mislim, res majhno.

It didn't have any paved roads in it,

Ni imelo tlakovanih cest,

it didn't have the concrete slabs,

ni imelo tlakovcev,

it didn't have fencing

ni imelo ograje,

to portion off your trailer slot from other trailer slots.

ki bi ločevala prostor tvoje prikolice od prostora drugih.

It didn't have a laundry facility.

Ni imelo pralnice.

But the conclusion I reached at that moment

A takrat sem prišel do zaključka,

was that I didn't have a lot of other options.

da nimam veliko drugih možnosti.

So I called my wife, and I said, "We're going to make this one work."

Poklical sem ženo in ji rekel: "Tole bova premagala."

And we moved into it

Preselila sva se vanjo

and we became homeowners in Mountain Home, Idaho.

in postala sva lastnika doma v Mountain Home-u, Idaho.

And of course, eventually things settled down.

In seveda, sčasoma so se stvari umirile.

Four years after that, I received papers to move from Mountain Home, Idaho

Štiri leta po tem sem dobil papirje, naj se preselim iz Idaha

to a place called Goose Bay, Labrador.

v kraj imenovan Goose Bay, Labrador.

We won't even talk about that. It was another great location. (Laughter)

O tem ne bom govoril. To je bila še ena odlična lokacija. (Smeh)

So my challenge then was to get my family from Mountain Home, Idaho

Moj izziv je bilo spraviti družino iz Mountain Home-a

to Sharon, Pennsylvania.

v Sharon v Pensilvaniji.

That wasn't a problem because we had just purchased a brand-new automobile.

To ni bil problem, ker sva pravkar kupila čisto nov avtomobil.

My mother called and said she'll fly out.

Moja mama je klicala, da bo priletela k nama.

She'll be with us as we drive, she'll help us manage the children.

Z nama bo, ko bova vozila, in pomagala z otroki.

So she came out, her and Alice put a lot of food together for the trip.

Prišla je in z Alice sta pripravili veliko hrane za pot.

That morning, we left at about 5 a.m.

Odšli smo okrog petih zjutraj.

Great trip, having a great time, good conversation.

Čudovito potovanje, lepo smo se imeli, se pogovarjali.

Somewhere around 6:30, 7 o'clock, we got a little bit tired,

Nekje okrog pol sedmih, sedmih smo postali malo utrujeni

and we said, "Why don't we get a motel so that we can rest

in rekli smo: "Pojdimo v motel, kjer bomo lahko počivali

and then have an early start in the morning?"

in potem zjutraj zgodaj odšli na pot."

So we were looking at a number of the motels as we drove down the road,

Med vožnjo smo videli veliko motelov

and we saw one, it was a great big, bright flashing light that said,

in na enem je velika utripajoča luč vabila:

"Vacancies, Vacancies, Vacanies."

"Proste sobe, proste sobe, proste sobe."

So we stopped in.

Zato smo se ustavili.

They were in the parking lot, I went inside.

Ostali so bili na parkirišču, jaz sem šel noter.

When I walked inside,

Ko sem stopil noter,

the lady was just finishing up one contract with some folks,

je gospa ravno zaključevala s skupino ljudi,

some other people were coming in behind me.

nekaj ljudi pa je prihajalo noter za mano.

And so I walked to the counter,

Tako sem stopil do pulta

and she said, "How can I help you?"

in rekla je: "Kako vam lahko pomagam?"

I said, "I would like to get a motel for the evening for my family."

Dejal sem: "Rad bi najel sobo za ta večer za svojo družino."

She said, "You know, I'm really sorry, I just rented the last one.

Menila je: "Veste, zelo mi je žal, ravno sem oddala zadnjo.

We will not have any more until the morning."

Nič ne bo prosto do jutra."

She said, "But if you go down the road about an hour, 45 minutes,

In dodala: "Če se peljete po cesti eno uro, 45 minut,

there's another trailer park down there."

je doli še eno prikoličarsko naselje."

I said, "Yeah, but you still have the 'Vacancies' light on, and it's flashing."

Rekel sem: "Ja, ampak še vedno imate prižgan napis 'Proste sobe' in utripa."

She said, "Oh, I forgot."

"Oh, pozabila sem," je dejala.

And she reached over and turned the light off.

Obrnila se je in ugasnila luč.

She looked at me and I looked at her.

Pogledala me je in jaz sem pogledal njo.

There were other people in the room.

Še drugi ljudje so bili v sobi.

She kind of looked at them. No one said anything.

Pogledala jih je. Nihče ni rekel nič.

So I just got the hint and I left, and went outside to the parking lot.

Dojel sem in odšel na parkirišče.

And I told my mother and I told my wife and also Melanie, and I said,

Povedal sem mami in ženi in tudi Melanie, rekel sem:

"It looks like we're going to have to drive a little bit further down the road

"Očitno se bomo morali peljati malo dlje po cesti,

to be able to sleep tonight."

da bomo lahko nocoj spali."

And we did drive down the road,

In smo se odpeljali,

but just before we took off and pulled out of the parking lot,

a malo preden smo speljali s parkirišča,

guess what happened?

veste, kaj se je zgodilo?

The light came back on.

Luč se je spet prižgala.

And it said, "Vacancies, Vacancies, Vacancies."

In pisalo je: "Proste sobe, proste sobe, proste sobe".

We were able to find a nice place.

Uspeli smo najti prijeten kraj.

It wasn't our preference, but it was secure and it was clean.

Ni bil naš najljubši, a bil je varen in čist.

And so we had a great sleep that night.

Tako smo se tisto noč lepo naspali.

The piece that's important about that

Kar je pomembno tu, je,

is that we had similar kinds of experiences

da smo imeli podobne izkušnje

from Idaho all the way through to Pennsylvania,

od Idaha vse do Pensilvanije,

where we were rejected from hotels, motels and restaurants.

kjer so nas zavrnili v hotelih, motelih in restavracijah.

But we made it to Pennsylvania.

A prišli smo v Pensilvanijo.

We got the family settled. Everyone was glad to see the kids.

Z družino smo se namestili. Vsi so bili veseli, da vidijo otroke.

I jumped on a plane and shot off to Goose Bay, Labrador,

Skočil sem na letalo in odletel v Goose Bay, Labrador,

which is another story, right?

kar pa je že druga zgodba, kajne?

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

Here it is, 53 years later,

Tukaj sem 53 let kasneje,

I now have nine grandchildren, two great-grandchildren.

imam devet vnukov in dva pravnuka.

Five of the grandchildren are boys.

Pet vnukov je fantov.

I have master's, Ph.D., undergrad, one in medical school.

Imamo magisterij, doktorat, diplomo, enega na medicinski fakulteti.

I have a couple that are trending.

Nekaj jih je "v trendu".

They're almost there but not quite. (Laughter)

So skoraj tam, a ne še čisto. (Smeh)

Eden je na fakulteti že osem let.

I have one who has been in college now for eight years.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

He doesn't have a degree yet, but he wants to be a comedian.

Nima še diplome, a hoče biti komik.

So we're just trying to get him to stay in school.

Želimo samo doseči, da ostane v šoli.

Because you never know,

Ker nikoli ne veš,

just because you're funny at home, does not make you a comedian, right?

samo zato, ker si zabaven doma, še nisi komik, kajne?

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

But the thing about it, they're all good kids --

A dobri otroci so -

no drugs, no babies in high school, no crime.

nobenih drog, nosečnosti v srednji šoli, kriminala.

So with that being the backdrop,

S tem v mislih

I was sitting in my TV room watching TV,

sem sedel v dnevni sobi in gledal televizijo,

and they were talking about Ferguson and all the hullabaloo that was going on.

ko so govorili o Fergusonu in vsej tamkajšnji zmešnjavi.

And all of a sudden, one of the news commentators got on the air and she said,

Naenkrat je neka televizijska komentatorka v eter rekla:

"In the last three months,

"V zadnjih treh mesecih

eight unarmed African-American males

je osem neoboroženih temnopoltih Američanov

have been killed by police, white homeowners, or white citizens."

ubila policija, beli lastniki domov ali beli državljani.

For some reason, at that moment it just all hit me.

Iz nekega razloga me je v tistem trenutku zadelo.

I said, "What is it? It is so insane.

Rekel sem: "Kaj je to? To je tako noro.

What is the hatred that's causing people to do these kinds of things?"

Kaj to sovraštvo, zaradi katerega ljudje počnejo vse te stvari?"

Just then, one of my grandsons called.

Takrat je poklical eden mojih vnukov.

He said, "Granddad, did you hear what they said on TV?"

Rekel je: "Dedek, si slišal, kaj so rekli na televiziji?"

I said, "Yes, I did."

Odvrnil sem: "Ja, sem."

He said, "I'm just so confused.

"Tako zmeden sem," je dejal.

We do everything we do, but it seems that driving while black,

"Vse počnemo kot vedno, a zdi se, da je enostavno nevarno,

walking while black, talking while black, it's just dangerous.

voziti, hoditi, govoriti, če si temnopolt.

What can we do? We do everything that you told us to do.

Kaj naj naredimo? Vse delamo tako, kot si nas naučil.

When stopped by the police,

Ko nas ustavi policija,

we place both hands on the steering wheel at the 12 o'clock position.

damo obe roki na volan v položaj ure ob 12-ih.

If asked to get identification,

Če zahtevajo identifikacijo,

we tell them, 'I am slowly reaching over into the glove compartment to get my I.D.'

jim povemo: "Počasi segam v predal po osebno izkaznico."

When pulled out of the car to be searched,

Ko nas potegnejo ven, da bi nas preiskali,

when laid on the ground to be searched,

ko ležimo na tleh, da bi nas preiskali,

when our trunks are opened to be searched,

ko so naši prtljažniki odprti za preiskavo,

we don't push back, we don't challenge because we know, you've told us,

se ne upiramo, ne izzivamo, ker vemo, ker si nam povedal:

'Don't you challenge the police.

Ne izzivaj policije.

After it's over, call us and we'll be the ones to challenge."

Ko bo vsega konec, nas pokliči, in bomo mi tisti, ki bomo izzivali."

He said, "And this is the piece that really bugs me:

Rekel je še: "To pa me zares moti:

Our white friends, our buddies, we kind of hang together.

naši beli prijatelji, naši kolegi, družimo se.

When they hear about these kinds of things happening to us, they say,

In ko slišijo, kakšne stvari se nam dogajajo, rečejo:

'Why do you take it?

Zakaj to prenašate?

You need to push back. You need to challenge.

Upreti se morate. Oporekati morate.

You need to ask them for their identification.'"

Morate zahtevati, da se identificirajo."

And here's what the boys have been taught to tell them:

In to sem naučil fante, naj jim rečejo:

"We know that you can do that, but please do not do that

"Vemo, da vi lahko to storite, ampak prosim ne delajte tega,

while we're in the car

medtem ko smo mi v avtu,

because the consequences for you are significantly different

ker so posledice za vas zelo drugačne,

than the consequences for us."

kot so posledice za nas."

And so as a grandparent, what do I tell my grandsons?

In tako, kot dedek, kaj naj povem svojim vnukom?

How do I keep them safe? How do I keep them alive?

Kako naj jih obvarujem? Kako naj jih ohranim žive?

As a result of this, people have come to me and said,

Zaradi vsega tega me ljudje sprašujejo:

"Jim, are you angry?"

"Jim, si jezen?"

And my response to that is this:

In moj odziv je:

"I don't have the luxury of being angry,

"Nimam tega razkošja, da bi bil lahko jezen

and I also know the consequences of being enraged."

in prav tako poznam posledice jeze."

Tako je edina stvar, ki jo lahko storim,

So therefore, the only thing that I can do

is take my collective intellect and my energy and my ideas and my experiences

da vzamem svojo pamet, energijo, ideje in izkušnje

and dedicate myself to challenge, at any point in time,

in se posvetim temu, da v vsakem trenutku nasprotujem

anything that looks like it might be racist.

čemerkoli, kar bi lahko bilo rasistično.

So the first thing I have to do is to educate,

Najprej moram izobraziti,

the second thing I have to do is to unveil racism,

nato moram razkriti rasizem

and the last thing I need to do is do everything within my power

in nazadnje moram narediti vse, kar lahko,

to eradicate racism in my lifetime by any means necessary.

da s kakršnimikoli sredstvi še v času življenja uničim rasizem.

The second thing I do is this:

Druga stvar, ki jo storim, je to:

I want to appeal to Americans.

Rad bi pozval Američane.

I want to appeal to their humanity, to their dignity,

Rad bi se skliceval na njihovo človečnost, na njihovo dostojanstvo,

to their civic pride and ownership

njihov državljanski ponos,

to be able to not react to these heinous crimes in an adverse manner.

naj ne odreagirajo na te grozljive zločine na škodljiv način.

But instead, to elevate your level of societal knowledge,

Naj namesto tega dvignejo svojo raven družbenega znanja,

your level of societal awareness and societal consciousness

svojo raven družbenega zavedanja in družbene zavesti,

to then collectively come together, all of us come together,

da nato pridemo skupaj, vsi mi pridemo skupaj,

to make sure that we speak out against and we challenge any kind of insanity,

da bi nasprotovali in dvomili v katerokoli norost,

any kind of insanity that makes it okay to kill unarmed people,

katerokoli norost, zaradi katere se zdi primerno ubijati neoborožene ljudi,

regardless of their ethnicity,

ne glede na njihovo etničnost,

regardless of their race,

ne glede na njihovo raso,

regardless of their diversity makeup.

ne glede na njihovo raznolikost.

We have to challenge that. It doesn't make any sense.

Temu moramo nasprotovati. Nima smisla.

The only way I think we can do that is through a collective.

Edini način, da to storimo, je skozi skupnost.

We need to have black and white and Asian and Hispanic

Imeti moramo črne in bele, in Azijce in Latinoameričane,

just to step forward and say,

ki bodo stopili naprej in rekli:

"We are not going to accept that kind of behavior anymore."

"Takega obnašanja ne sprejemamo več."

In s tem se vam zahvaljujem.

(Aplavz)