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

Prevodilac: Ljubica Samardžić Lektor: Tijana Mihajlović

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

Afroamerikanac od 18 godina se pridružio Američkom ratnom vazduhoplovstvu,

and was assigned to Mountain Home Air Force Base

dodeljen je vazduhoplovnoj bazi Mauntin Houm

and was a part of the air police squadron.

i postao je član eskadrile vazduhoplovne policije.

Upon first arriving there, the first goal that I had

Čim sam stigao tamo,

moj prvi cilj bio je da nađem stan,

was for me to identify an apartment,

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

kako bih mogao da dovedem svoju ženu i našu novorođenu bebu Melani

out to join me in Idaho.

da mi se pridruže u Ajdahu.

I immediately went to the personnel office,

Odmah sam otišao do kancelarije za osoblje

i članovi osoblja su mi rekli:

and talking with the guys in personnel,

„Hej, nećeš imati problema da nađeš stan u Mountin Houmu u Ajdahu.

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

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

Ljudi nas tamo vole

jer znaju da će, ako imaju vazduhoplovca koji dolazi da iznajmi neki njihov stan,

who is coming in to rent one of their apartments,

they'll always get their money."

uvek moći da naplate."

A to je bilo vrlo važno.

And that was a really important thing.

Jedan mi je rekao: „Evo liste ljudi koje možeš nazvati,

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

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

a onda će ti oni dopustiti da odabereš stan po želji.“

So I got the list; I made the call.

Tako sam dobio listu i obavio sam poziv.

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

Javila mi se neka žena i rekao sam joj šta želim.

She said, "Oh, great you called.

Rekla je: „O, divno što ste nazvali.

Trenutno imamo četiri ili pet raspoloživih stanova."

We have four or five apartments available right now."

Rekla je: „Da li želite jednosoban ili dvosoban stan?“

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

A onda je dodala: „Hajde da ne pričamo o tome.

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

Samo dođite i odaberite stan koji vam se sviđa.

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

We'll sign the contract

Potpisaćemo ugovor

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

i dobićete ključeve, pa ćete odmah moći da dovedete porodicu.“

So I was excited.

Bio sam uzbuđen.

Uskočio sam u auto. Odvezao se do centra grada i pokucao na vrata.

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

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

Kada sam pokucao na vrata, žena se pojavila,

pogledala me i rekla: „Da li mogu da vam pomognem?“

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

Rekao sam: „Da, sa mnom ste pričali o stanovima za iznajmljivanje.

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

Došao sam da odaberem stan za sebe.“

I was just coming down to make my selection."

Ona je rekla: „Znate šta? Zaista mi je žao,

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

ali moj muž je izdao te stanove i nije mi ništa rekao.“

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

Rekao sam: „Hoćete da kažete da je izdao svih pet stanova za sat vremena?“

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

Nije mi odgovorila, ali mi je rekla sledeće:

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

„Zašto ne ostavite broj telefona

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

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

i ako budemo imali slobodan stan, ja ću Vas nazvati?“

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

Nije ni potrebno da vam kažem da me nikada nije nazvala.

Niti sam dobio odgovor od ostalih ljudi

Nor did I get any responses from the other people

koji su bili na dobijenoj listi osoba koje izdaju stanove.

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

So as a result of that, and feeling rejected,

Zbog svega toga osećao sam se odbačeno,

otišao sam nazad u bazu i popričao sa komandantom eskadrile.

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

His name was McDow, Major McDow.

Ime mu je bilo Mekdau, major Mekdau.

Rekao sam: „Majore Mekdau, treba mi Vaša pomoć.“

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

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

Rekao sam mu šta se desilo, a on mi je ovako odgovorio.

Rekao je: „Džejms, voleo bih da ti pomognem,

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

But you know the problem:

ali znaš u čemu je problem?

Ne možemo da nateramo ljude da izdaju stan onima kojima ne žele da izdaju.

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

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

Osim toga, imamo odličan odnos sa ljudima iz ove zajednice

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

i ne želimo da ga pokvarimo.“

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

Rekao je: „Stoga možda treba ovako da uradiš.

Zašto ne ostaviš porodicu kod kuće,

Why don't you let your family stay home,

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

jer i sam znaš da ćeš dobiti jedan mesec odsustva.

So once a year,

Tako, jednom godišnje

možeš da posetiš porodicu kod kuće, provedeš s njima 30 dana i vratiš se.“

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

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

Ne moram ni da kažem da mi se to nije dopalo.

So after leaving him, I went back to personnel,

Posle razgovora s njim, vratio sam se kod osoblja

and talking to the clerk,

i jedan službenik mi je rekao:

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

„Džim, mislim da imam rešenje za tebe.

Poznajem jednog pilota koji odlazi, a ima ovde prikolicu.

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

Ako si primetio, u Mauntin Houmu svuda ima prikolica i parkinga za njih.

If you noticed, in Mountain Home,

there are trailer parks and trailers all over the place.

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

Možeš da kupiš njegovu prikolicu, a verovatno će biti jeftina,

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

jer on želi da ode iz grada što pre.

To bi ti rešilo problem

And that would take care of your problem,

i bilo rešenje koje ti treba.“

and that would provide the solution for you."

Odmah sam uskočio u auto, odvezao se u centar, pogledao prikolicu.

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

Bila je to mala prikolica,

it was a small trailer,

ali pod takvim okolnostima,

but under the circumstances,

računao sam da je to najbolje što mogu da uradim.

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

Tako sam kupio prikolicu

So I bought the trailer.

i onda ga pitao: „Da li mogu da je ostavim ovde?

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

and that would take care of all my problems,

To bi mi rešilo sve probleme,

jer ne bih morao da tražim novi parking.“

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

Rekao je: „Pre nego što pristanem, moram da pitam upravu.“

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

So I get back to the base,

Tako sam se vratio u bazu,

he called me back and management said,

pozvao me i rekao da je uprava kazala:

„Ne, ne možeš da ostaviš prikolicu tu

"No, you can't leave the trailer here

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

jer smo obećali to mesto nekim drugim ljudima.“

To mi je bilo čudno

And that was strange to me

because there were several other slots that were open,

jer je bilo još nekoliko slobodnih mesta,

a on je obećao baš to mesto nekom.

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

Tako sam -

So, what I did --

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

A onda je dodao: „Ne brini, Džim, ovde ima dosta parkinga za prikolice.“

Tako sam sastavio još jednu iscrpnu listu odlazaka na parkinge za prikolice.

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

I went to one after another, after another.

Išao sam od jednog do drugog.

And I got the same kind of rejection there

Na isti način su me odbili

kao kada sam tražio stan.

that I received when I was looking for the apartment.

Kao rezultat, pored njihovih komentara

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

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

i toga što su govorili da nema slobodnih mesta,

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

jedna osoba je rekla: „Džim, razlog zbog kog ne možemo da ti izdamo

je to što već imamo jednu crnačku porodicu ovde.“

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

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

Rekao je: „To nije zbog mene, jer se meni vi sviđate.“

(Laughs)

(Smeh)

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

To sam i ja uradio. Zacerekao sam se.

He said, "But here's the problem:

Rekao je: „Međutim, problem je u tome

što, ako te pustim da dođeš, ostali zakupci će se iseliti,

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

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

a ne mogu da priuštim da dozvolim takav gubitak.“

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

Rekao je: „Prosto ne mogu da ti iznajmim.“

Iako je ovo bilo obeshrabrujuće, nije me zaustavilo.

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

I kept looking,

Nastavio sam potragu

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

i tražio sam u udaljenom kraju grada u Mauntin Houmu,

gde je bio jedan mali parking za prikolice,

and there was a small trailer park.

a pod tim mislim baš mali parking.

I mean, a really small trailer park.

Nije bilo asfaltiranih puteva,

It didn't have any paved roads in it,

nije bilo betonskih ploča,

it didn't have the concrete slabs,

nije bilo ograde da razdvoji jedno mesto za parkiranje od ostalih.

it didn't have fencing

to portion off your trailer slot from other trailer slots.

Nije bilo perionice veša.

It didn't have a laundry facility.

But the conclusion I reached at that moment

Ipak, u tom trenutku sam zaključio

da nemam baš puno opcija,

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

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

pa sam pozvao ženu i rekao joj: „Potrudićemo se da uspemo.“

And we moved into it

Uselili smo se i postali vlasnici kuće u Mauntin Houmu u Ajdahu.

and we became homeowners in Mountain Home, Idaho.

Naravno, s vremenom su se stvari sredile.

And of course, eventually things settled down.

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

Četiri godine kasnije sam dobio papire da se preselim iz Mauntin Houma u Ajdahu

to a place called Goose Bay, Labrador.

u mesto pod imenom Gus Bej u Labradoru.

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

Nećemo ni pričati o tome. Bila je to još jedna sjajna lokacija.

(Smeh)

Moj zadatak je tada bio da premestim porodicu iz Mauntin Houma u Ajdahu

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

to Sharon, Pennsylvania.

u Šeron u Pensilvaniji.

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

To nije bio problem jer smo nedavno kupili skroz nov auto.

Moja majka je nazvala i rekla da će doći kod nas.

My mother called and said she'll fly out.

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

Biće s nama na putu, pomoći će nam oko dece.

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

Tako je došla, ona i Alis su spremile dosta hrane za put.

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

Tog jutra smo krenuli oko 5 ujutro.

Great trip, having a great time, good conversation.

Sjajno putovanje, zabava, fini razgovori.

Negde oko pola sedam, sedam uveče smo se malo umorili

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

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

i rekao sam: „Zašto ne nađemo neki motel i odmorimo

and then have an early start in the morning?"

kako bismo rano ujutro nastavili?“

Videli smo više motela pored puta dok smo se vozili

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

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

i onda ugledali jedan koji je imao veliki, treperavi natpis:

„Slobodna mesta. Slobodna mesta.“

"Vacancies, Vacancies, Vacanies."

So we stopped in.

Zaustavili smo se.

They were in the parking lot, I went inside.

Oni su ostali na parkingu, ja sam ušao.

When I walked inside,

Kada sam ušao, službenica je upravo zaključivala ugovor sa nekim ljudima,

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

a neki su dolazili iza mene.

some other people were coming in behind me.

And so I walked to the counter,

Prišao sam recepciji, a ona je rekla: „Izvolite.“

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

Rekao sam: „Hteo bih da iznajmim sobu za svoju porodicu na jedno veče.“

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

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

Rekla je: „Znate, veoma mi je žao, ali upravo sam izdala poslednju.

Nećemo imati drugih do ujutro.“

We will not have any more until the morning."

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

Rekla je: „Ali ako produžite oko 45 minuta ili sat niz put,

there's another trailer park down there."

postoji još jedan parking za prikolice.“

Rekao sam: „Da, ali i dalje vam je uključen znak za slobodna mjesta.“

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

She said, "Oh, I forgot."

Rekla je: „Oh, zaboravila sam.“

Ispružila je ruku i ugasila svetlo.

And she reached over and turned the light off.

She looked at me and I looked at her.

Onda me je pogledala i ja sam pogledao u nju.

There were other people in the room.

Bilo je i drugih u sobi.

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

Pogledala je ka njima. Niko nije progovorio.

Shvatio sam nagoveštaj i izašao na parking.

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

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

Rekao sam majci, ženi i Melaniji:

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

„Izgleda da ćemo morati da se vozimo još malo dalje niz put

da bismo se naspavali noćas.“

to be able to sleep tonight."

And we did drive down the road,

I nastavili smo da se vozimo,

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

ali tek što smo se isparkirali i izašli sa parkinga,

guess what happened?

znate šta se desilo?

The light came back on.

Znak se ponovo uključio.

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

Pisalo je: „Slobodna mesta. Slobodna mesta.“

We were able to find a nice place.

Uspeli smo da nađemo fino mesto.

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

Nije bilo prvi izbor, ali bilo je sigurno i čisto,

And so we had a great sleep that night.

te smo se odlično naspavali to veče.

The piece that's important about that

Ono što je bitno je to što smo imali sličnih iskustava

is that we had similar kinds of experiences

from Idaho all the way through to Pennsylvania,

od Ajdaha sve do Pensilvanije,

where we were rejected from hotels, motels and restaurants.

gde su nas odbijali u hotelima, motelima i restoranima.

But we made it to Pennsylvania.

Ipak, uspeli smo da stignemo do Pensilvanije.

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

Moja porodica se smestila. Svima je bilo drago da vide decu.

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

Uskočio sam na avion i odleteo u Gus Bej u Labradoru,

što je druga priča, zar ne?

which is another story, right?

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

Here it is, 53 years later,

Evo nas, 53 godine kasnije.

I now have nine grandchildren, two great-grandchildren.

Sada imam devetoro unučadi, dvoje praunučadi.

Petoro unučadi su dečaci.

Five of the grandchildren are boys.

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

Neki su na masteru, doktorskim, osnovnim studijama, jedan studira medicinu.

Neki nisu ni tu ni tamo.

I have a couple that are trending.

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

Skoro su tu, ali ne skroz.

(Smeh)

Jedan studira već osam godina.

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.

Nije još diplomirao, ali želi da postane komičar,

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

pa se trudimo da ga zadržimo u školi.

Because you never know,

Nikad ne znate;

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

to što zasmejavaš porodicu, ne znači da si komičar, zar ne?

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

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

Ali ono što je bitno je da su svi dobra deca.

Nema droge, beba u srednjoj školi, nema kriminala.

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

So with that being the backdrop,

S tim kao pozadinom priče,

I was sitting in my TV room watching TV,

sedeo sam u sobi i gledao TV,

a pričali su o Fergusonu i galami koja je to pratila.

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

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

Onda, odjednom, jedna od reporterki je došla uživo i rekla:

„U poslednja tri meseca,

"In the last three months,

eight unarmed African-American males

osam nenaoružanih Afroamerikanaca

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

ubijeno je od strane policije,

belih građana ili belih vlasnika kuća."

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

Iz nekog razloga me sve to tada odjednom pogodilo.

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

Rekao sam: „Šta je ovo? Ovo je ludilo.

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

Kakva to mržnja tera ljude da ovo rade?“

Just then, one of my grandsons called.

I upravo tada me pozvao jedan od unuka.

Rekao je: „Deko, jesi li čuo šta su upravo rekli na televiziji?“

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

I said, "Yes, I did."

Rekao sam: „Jesam.“

He said, "I'm just so confused.

Rekao je: „Potpuno sam zbunjen.

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

Radimo sve kako treba, ali izgleda da je voziti auto kad si crnac,

hodati kad si crnac, pričati kad si crnac - prosto opasno.

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

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

Šta možemo da uradimo? Radimo sve što si nam rekao da radimo.

When stopped by the police,

Kada nas zaustavi policija,

stavimo obe ruke ravno na volan.

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

Ako nam traže dokumenta,

If asked to get identification,

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

kažemo: 'Polako ću otvoriti kasetu da uzmem ličnu.'

When pulled out of the car to be searched,

Kada nas zaustave da pregledaju auto,

when laid on the ground to be searched,

kada nas spuste na zemlju da nas pretraže,

when our trunks are opened to be searched,

kada nam otvaraju gepek da ga pretraže,

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

ne provociramo, ne suprotstavljamo se, jer znamo, jer si nam rekao:

'Don't you challenge the police.

„Ne izazivajte policiju.

Kada bude gotovo, pozovi nas i mi ćemo biti ti koji će se suprotstaviti.“

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

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

Rekao je: „A onda me ovo zaista muči.

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

Naši prijatelji belci, naši drugari, ljudi s kojima se družimo,

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

kada čuju da nam se ovo dešava, kažu nam:

'Zašto to trpite?

'Why do you take it?

You need to push back. You need to challenge.

Morate da odreagujete. Morate da se suprotstavite.

You need to ask them for their identification.'"

Morate vi njima da tražite identifikaciju.'“

Ovo smo naučili momke da im kažu:

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

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

„Znamo da vi to možete da uradite,

ali molim vas da to ne radite dok smo i mi u autu,

while we're in the car

jer su posledice po vas značajno drugačije od posledica po nas.“

because the consequences for you are significantly different

than the consequences for us."

od posledica po nas."

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

Kao deda, šta treba da kažem svojim unucima?

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

Kako da ih zaštitim? Kako da sprečim da poginu?

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

Zbog ovog mi je više ljudi prišlo i pitalo me:

"Jim, are you angry?"

„Džim, da li si ljut?“

And my response to that is this:

A moj odgovor je ovo:

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

„Nemam taj luksuz da budem ljut,

a takođe znam posledice ljutnje.“

and I also know the consequences of being enraged."

Tako je jedino što mogu da uradim

So therefore, the only thing that I can do

da iskoristim sav svoj um, energiju, ideje i iskustva

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

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

i posvetim se tome da se suprotstavim, u svakom trenutku,

anything that looks like it might be racist.

svemu što mi izgleda rasistički.

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

Prva stvar koju moram da uradim je da edukujem,

druga stvar koju moram da uradim je da razotkrijem rasizam

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

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

i poslednje što treba da radim je da uradim sve što mogu,

to eradicate racism in my lifetime by any means necessary.

kako bih iskorenio rasizam dok sam živ, na bilo koji način.

The second thing I do is this:

Druga stvar koju radim je ovo.

I want to appeal to Americans.

Želim da apelujem na Amerikance.

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

Želim da apelujem na njihovu humanost, na njihovo dostojanstvo,

to their civic pride and ownership

na njihov građanski ponos i pravo svojine

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

kako bih mogao da ne reagujem

na ove odvratne zločine na loš način,

But instead, to elevate your level of societal knowledge,

već, umesto toga, da podignem vaš nivo znanja o društvu,

nivo društvene svesti i društvene svesnosti,

your level of societal awareness and societal consciousness

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

da bismo se združili, svi zajedno,

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

da preispitamo i suprotstavimo se svakom vidu ludila,

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

svakom vidu ludila koji čini da je u redu ubijati nenaoružane ljude,

regardless of their ethnicity,

bez obzira na njihovo poreklo,

bez obzira na njihovu rasu,

regardless of their race,

regardless of their diversity makeup.

bez obzira na njihovu različitost.

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

Moramo tome da se suprotstavimo. To nema nikakvog smisla.

Jedini način na koji mislim da ovo možemo da uradimo je kao zajednica.

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

Moramo da skupimo i belce i crnce i Azijate i Špance,

We need to have black and white and Asian and Hispanic

just to step forward and say,

da istupe i kažu:

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

„Nećemo više tolerisati takvo ponašanje.“

Hvala vam.

(Aplauz)