Courage is contagious | Damon Davis

Prevodilac: Mirjana Čutura Lektor: Ivana Krivokuća

Bojim se.

So, I'm afraid.

Right now,

Upravo sada,

on this stage,

na ovoj bini,

I feel fear.

osećam strah.

In my life, I ain't met many people

U svom životu, nisam upoznao mnogo ljudi koji će spremno priznati kada se boje.

that will readily admit when they are afraid.

And I think that's because deep down,

Mislim da je to zato što duboko u sebi znaju kako se to lako širi.

they know how easy it spreads.

See, fear is like a disease.

Vidite, strah je kao bolest.

When it moves, it moves like wildfire.

Kada se širi, širi se kao šumski požar.

But what happens when,

Ali šta se desi kada,

even in the face of that fear,

čak i uprkos tom strahu,

you do what you've got to do?

radite ono što treba da radite?

That's called courage.

To se zove hrabrost.

And just like fear,

Baš kao i strah,

courage is contagious.

hrabrost je zarazna.

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

Ja sam iz Istočnog Sent Luisa u Ilinoisu.

That's a small city

To je mali grad prekoputa reke Misisipi od Sent Luisa u Misuriju.

across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri.

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

Živim u Sent Luisu i njegovoj okolini ceo svoj život.

When Michael Brown, Jr.,

Kada je Majkla Brauna mlađeg, običnog tinejdžera,

an ordinary teenager,

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

policija ubila 2014. godine u Fergusonu u Misuriju -

another suburb, but north of St. Louis --

drugom predgrađu, ali severno od Sent Luisa -

I remember thinking,

sećam se da sam pomislio

he ain't the first,

da on nije prvo

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

i da neće biti poslednje dete koje će izgubiti život zbog policije.

But see, his death was different.

Ali vidite, njegova smrt je bila drugačija.

When Mike was killed,

Kada je Majk ubijen,

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

sećam se sila koje su pokušavale da koriste strah kao oružje.

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

Odgovor policije ožalošćenoj zajednici

je bio da koristi silu na nametne strah:

to impose fear:

fear of militarized police,

strah od militarizovane policije,

imprisonment,

zarobljavanja,

fines.

novčanih kazni.

Mediji su čak pokušali da učine da se bojimo jedni drugih

The media even tried to make us afraid of each other

by the way they spun the story.

načinom na koji su predstavili tu priču.

And all of these things have worked in the past.

Sve ove stvari su uspevale u prošlosti.

But like I said, this time it was different.

Ali kao što sam rekao, ovaj put je bilo drugačije.

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

Smrt Majkla Brauna i ophođenje prema zajednici koje je usledilo

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

su doveli do niza protesta u Fergusonu, Sent Luisu i njihovoj okolini.

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

Kada sam se pridružio tim protestima četvrtog ili petog dana,

it was not out of courage;

nije to bilo zbog hrabrosti -

it was out of guilt.

bilo je to zbog griže savesti.

See, I'm black.

Vidite, ja sam crnac.

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

Ne znam da li ste to primetili.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

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

Ali nisam mogao sedeti u Sent Luisu, nekoliko minuta udaljenom od Fergusona,

and not go see.

a da ne odem da vidim.

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

Zato sam ustao sa dupeta da to proverim.

When I got out there,

Kada sam stigao tamo,

I found something surprising.

našao sam nešto iznenađujuće.

I found anger; there was a lot of that.

Našao sam bes; bilo ga je mnogo.

But what I found more of was love.

Ali ono čega sam našao više bila je ljubav.

People with love for themselves.

Ljudi sa ljubavlju jedni prema drugima.

Love for their community.

Ljubavlju prema njihovoj zajednici.

And it was beautiful --

I bilo je lepo -

until the police showed up.

dok policija nije došla.

Then a new emotion was interjected into the conversation:

Onda je nova emocija ubačena u razgovor:

fear.

strah.

Now, I'm not going to lie;

Neću da lažem;

when I saw those armored vehicles,

kada sam video ta oklopna vozila,

and all that gear

svu tu opremu,

and all those guns

sve to oružje

and all those police

i sve te policajce,

I was terrified --

bio sam prestrašen -

personally.

lično.

And when I looked around that crowd,

Kada sam pogledao unaokolo po masi,

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

video sam puno ljudi kojima se isto to dešavalo.

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

Ali sam takođe video ljude sa nečim drugim u sebi.

That was courage.

Bila je to hrabrost.

See, those people yelled,

Vidite, ti ljudi su vikali

and they screamed,

i vrištali

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

i nisu bili spremni da se povuku ispred policije.

They were past that point.

Prevazišli su to.

And then I could feel something in me changing,

Onda sam mogao osetiti da se nešto u meni menja,

so I yelled and I screamed,

pa sam vikao i vrištao,

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

i primetio sam da su svi oko mene radili istu stvar.

And there was nothing like that feeling.

Ništa nije moglo da se uporedi sa tim osećajem.

So I decided I wanted to do something more.

Odlučio sam da želim da uradim nešto više.

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

Otišao sam kući i pomislio sam: „Ja sam umetnik. Ja pravim stvari.“

So I started making things specific to the protest,

Počeo sam da pravim stvari vezane za protest,

things that would be weapons in a spiritual war,

stvari koje će biti 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.

i stvari koje će ih ojačati za put koji je pred njima.

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

Napravio sam projekat gde sam fotografisao šake protestanata

and put them up and down the boarded-up buildings

i postavio sam fotografije na zgrade i lokalne prodavnice

and community shops.

koje su bile obložene daskama.

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

Moj cilj je bio da podignem svest i moral.

And I think, for a minute at least,

I mislim, makar na minut,

it did just that.

da je upravo to postignuto.

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

Onda sam pomislio da želim da uzdignem priče ovih ljudi

I was watching being courageous in the moment.

koje sam gledao dok su bili hrabri u tom momentu.

And myself and my friend,

Ja i moj prijatelj, režiser i partner, Saba Folijan,

and filmmaker and partner Sabaah Folayan

did just that with our documentary,

smo upravo to uradili sa našim dokumentarnim filmom

"Whose Streets?"

„Čije ulice?"

I kind of became a conduit

Nekako sam postao provodnik

for all of this courage that was given to me.

za svu ovu hrabrost koja mi je bila data.

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

I mislim da je to deo našeg posla kao umetnika.

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

Mislim da treba da budemo prenosioci hrabrosti u svom radu.

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

I mislim da smo mi zid između normalnog naroda

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

i ljudi koji koriste svoju moć da šire strah i mržnju,

especially in times like these.

naročito u ovakvim vremenima.

So I'm going to ask you.

Zato ću vam postaviti pitanje.

Y'all the movers and the shakers,

Svi ste vi nosioci promena,

you know, the thought leaders:

to jest, idejne vođe.

What are you gonna do

Šta ćete uraditi

with the gifts that you've been given

sa talentima koji su vam dani

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

da nas oslobodite straha koji nas svakodnevno sputava?

Because, see, I'm afraid every day.

Jer, vidite, ja se bojim svaki dan.

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

Ne sećam se vremena kada se nisam bojao.

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

Ali kada sam shvatio da strah nije ubačen u mene da me onesposobi,

it was there to protect me,

bio je tu da me zaštiti

and once I figured out how to use that fear,

i kada sam shvatio kako da koristim taj strah,

I found my power.

pronašao sam svoju moć.

Thank you.

Hvala vam.

(Aplauz)

(Applause)