My $500 house in Detroit -- and the neighbors who helped me rebuild it | Drew Philp

翻译人员: Tianji (Homer) Li 校对人员: Gabriella Hu

In 2009, I bought a house in Detroit for 500 dollars.

2009年，我花了500美元 在底特律买了一套房子。

It had no windows, no plumbing, no electricity

房子里没有窗户， 没有排水管，没有电，

and it was filled with trash.

而且到处都是垃圾。

The first floor held nearly 10,000 pounds of garbage,

一楼就有将近一万磅的垃圾，

and that included the better part of a Dodge Caravan,

其中包括残缺的道奇车部件，

cut into chunks with a reciprocating saw.

不过已经被电锯大卸八块了。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

I lived nearly two years without heat,

我在没有暖气的条件下 度过了将近两年，

woke up out of a dead sleep multiple times to gunshots,

几次在熟睡中被枪声惊醒，

was attacked by a pack of wild dogs

甚至还被一群野狗袭击过。

and ripped my kitchen cabinets from an abandoned school

我的橱柜是从一所 废弃的学校中搞来的，

as they were actively tearing that school down.

趁着他们把那所学校拆掉的时候。

This, of course, is the Detroit that your hear about.

当然了，这正是 你们平时听说到的底特律。

Make no mistake, it's real.

没错，这是真的。

But there's another Detroit, too.

但是还有另一个底特律。

Another Detroit that's more hopeful,

那个底特律更加充满希望，

more innovative,

充满创造力，

and may just provide some of the answers

可能为其他在复苏中挣扎的城市

to cities struggling to reinvent themselves everywhere.

提供了一些答案。

These answers, however, do not necessarily adhere to conventional wisdom

但是这些答案不一定 遵从关于良性发展的

about good development.

常规认知。

I think Detroit's real strength boils down to two words:

我认为底特律真正的长处 可以归结为寥寥几字：

radical neighborliness.

激进的睦邻关系。

And I wasn't able to see it myself until I lived there.

我住在那里之后， 才切身感受了到那种关系。

About a decade ago,

大概十年前，

I moved to Detroit with no friends, no job and no money,

我搬到了底特律，没有朋友， 没有工作，也没什么钱，

at a time when it seemed like everyone else was moving out.

那时候似乎其他所有人 都在搬离这座城市。

Between 2000 and 2010,

2000年到2010年之间，

25 percent of the city's population left.

25%的城市人口离开了这里，

This included about half of the elementary-aged children.

其中包括一半的小学学龄儿童。

This was after six decades of decline.

这一切发生在六十年的衰退之后。

A city built for almost two million was down to less than 800,000.

一座可容纳两百万人的都市， 人口却锐减至不足八十万。

What you usually don't hear is that people didn't go very far.

但人们通常不了解的是， 那些人并没有走远。

The population of the Detroit metro area itself

整个底特律都会区的人口，

has largely remained steady since the '70s.

自70年代以来基本保持稳定。

Most people who left Detroit just went to the suburbs,

大多数人只是离开了 市中心来到了城郊，

while the 139 square miles of the city deteriorated,

当这座城市139平方英里的 土地都在衰退，

leaving some estimates as high as 40 square miles of abandoned land --

包括40平方英里的废弃土地——

about the size of San Francisco.

大概相当于一个旧金山的面积。

Aside from platitudes such as the vague and agentless "deindustrialization,"

除了泛泛而谈的 “去工业化”这样的陈词滥调，

Detroit's exodus can be summed up with two structures:

人口从底特律撤出的动机 可以被归结于两种结构：

freeways and walls.

高速公路和墙。

The freeways,

对于高速公路，

coupled with massive governmental subsidies

政府通过建设基础设施 和发放家庭贷款，

for the suburbs via infrastructure and home loans,

对城郊提供了大量的补助，

因此人们可以任意离开城市，

allowed people to leave the city at will,

taking with it tax base, jobs and education dollars.

离开的同时可以带着税基， 工作以及教育资金。

The walls made sure only certain people could leave.

墙壁则确保了 只有特定的人可以离开。

In multiple places,

在一些地方，

brick and concrete walls separate city and suburbs,

砖墙和水泥墙分隔了城市和城郊，

以及白人和黑人，

white and black,

running directly across municipal streets

它们直接横穿市政道路和街区，

and through neighborhoods.

穿过近邻社区。

They're mere physical manifestations of racist housing practices

这些安置划分案例只是 种族主义的一种实际表现而已，

such as redlining,

诸如划红线注销，

[Denying services to people of color]

[拒绝向有色人种提供服务]

restrictive covenants

限制性条约，

and outright terror.

还有彻头彻尾的恐怖威胁。

In 1971, the Ku Klux Klan bombed 10 school buses

1971年， 3K党炸毁了十辆校车，

rather than have them transport integrated students.

就为了不让它们接送有色学生。

All these have made Detroit the most racially segregated metro area

这一切把底特律变成了 美国种族隔离现象

in the United States.

最严重的都会区。

I grew up in a small town in Michigan,

我在密歇根的一座小镇长大，

the son of a relatively blue-collar family.

家庭成员属于蓝领阶级。

And after university, I wanted to do something --

大学后，我想过做些什么——

probably naïvely --

可能是很天真的想法——

来提供帮助。

to help.

I didn't want to be one of the almost 50 percent of college graduates

有将近百分之五十的毕业生 会离开密歇根，

但我不想成为其中之一。

leaving the state at the time,

并且我觉得我可以 用我光鲜的教育背景，

and I thought I might use my fancy college education at home

for something positive.

在家里做些积极的事情。

I'd been reading this great American philosopher named Grace Lee Boggs

我当时一直在读伟大的美国哲学家 格蕾丝 · 李 · 博格斯的著作，

who happened to live in Detroit,

正巧她就住在底特律，

and she said something I can't forget.

她说过一句令我永生难忘的话。

"The most radical thing that I ever did was to stay put."

“我所做过的最激进的事情， 就是维持现状。"

I thought buying a house might indelibly tie me to the city

我觉得买房可能会把我 牢牢地与这座城市绑在一起，

while acting as a physical protest to these walls and freeways.

实质上这样做也有 反对这些墙和高速公路的意思。

Because grants and loans weren't available to everyone,

因为这些补助和贷款 并不是面向每一个人的，

I decided I was going to do this without them

所以我决定不用这笔钱买房。

我要以个人的名义

and that I would wage my personal fight

against the city that had loomed over my childhood with power tools.

与这座利用权力工具 困扰了我童年的城市对抗。

I eventually found an abandoned house in a neighborhood called Poletown.

最终我在一块叫波尔镇的街区 找到了一处废弃的房子。

It looked like the apocalypse had descended.

房子看上去就像是 经历了天启浩劫一样。

The neighborhood was prairie land.

这块街区简直就是片牧场，

A huge, open expanse of waist-high grass

一块广袤，杂草及腰的开阔地，

上面堆着残破的废弃建筑，

cluttered only by a handful of crippled, abandoned structures

还有寥寥几位仍在坚持着的人， 和他们维护得还不错的家。

and a few brave holdouts with well-kept homes.

Just a 15-minute bike ride from the baseball stadium downtown,

到市区的垒球场骑自行车 只需要十五分钟，

the neighborhood was positively rural.

这里的街区和乡下一样。

What houses were left looked like cardboard boxes left in the rain;

余下的房子就像是 雨中的硬纸箱一样，

two-story monstrosities with wide-open shells

两层的畸形结构，外露的墙壁，

and melted porches.

还有难以分辨的走廊。

One of the most striking things I remember were the rosebushes,

我印象最深的是那些 被人遗忘的玫瑰丛，

forgotten and running wild over tumbled-down fences,

在倒塌的围栏上狂野生长，

no longer cared for by anyone.

却又无人在意。

This was my house on the day I boarded it up

这就是我用木板把房子 遮起来的样子，

to protect it from the elements and further decay.

以减轻天气的影响和进一步侵蚀。

I eventually purchased it from the county in a live auction.

最后我从州政府手里 通过拍卖买下了它。

I'd assumed the neighborhood was dead.

我认为这块街区已经毫无生机，

That I was some kind of pioneer.

而我也算是个拓荒者。

Well, I couldn't have been more wrong.

然而，我大错特错了。

I was in no way a pioneer,

我根本不是什么拓荒者，

and would come to understand how offensive that is.

同时也意识到了这种想法有多鲁莽。

One of the first things I learned was to add my voice to the chorus,

我最先知道的几件事之一， 便是能在社区管理中占有一席之地，

not overwrite what was already happening.

而不是重写这里的历史。

(Voice breaking) Because the neighborhood hadn't died.

（声音颤抖地） 因为这街区并没有消逝，

It had just transformed in a way that was difficult to see

它已经通过一种方式转变了， 而如果你没有在这里住过

if you didn't live there.

就很难察觉。

Poletown was home to an incredibly resourceful,

波尔镇属于一个资源极其丰富，

incredibly intelligent and incredibly resilient community.

人们极其聪明，富有生机的社区。

It was there I first experienced the power of radical neighborliness.

那是我第一次感受到 激进的睦邻力量。

During the year I worked on my house before moving in,

在搬过来前，我在房子里 办公的那段时间，

I lived in a microcommunity inside Poletown,

我生活在波尔镇中的一个小街区，

founded by a wild and virtuous farmer named Paul Weertz.

那个街区是由保罗 · 威兹， 一个粗犷但善良的农场主建起的。

Paul was a teacher in a Detroit public school

保罗曾经是底特律公立学校的一名教师，

为怀孕并且需要教育子女的母亲们授课。

for pregnant and parenting mothers,

and his idea was to teach the young women to raise their children

他的想法是：让年轻妇女养育子女前，

by first raising plants and animals.

先让她们养育植物和动物。

While the national average graduation rate for pregnant teens is about 40 percent,

当时全国孕妇的平均毕业率 仅有40%左右，

相比之下，凯瑟琳 · 弗格森学院的 毕业率却经常高于90%。

at Catherine Ferguson Academy it was often above 90,

in part due to Paul's ingenuity.

这要部分归功于保罗的独创性。

Paul brought much of this innovation to his block in Poletown,

保罗将这样的创新 带到了他的波尔镇街区，

which he'd stewarded for more than 30 years,

他管理了30多年的地方，

purchasing houses when they were abandoned,

当房子被遗弃时， 保罗买下了它们，

convincing his friends to move in and neighbors to stay

一边说服他的朋友搬过来， 一边劝说邻居们留下。

and helping those who wanted to buy their own and fix them up.

此外还帮助那些想购买 私人房屋的人们进行规划。

In a neighborhood where many blocks now only hold one or two houses,

在一个每条街区只留下了 一到两个房屋的社区内，

all the homes on Paul's block stand.

保罗所在的街区却依然充满生机。

这对于社区的能力 是一个艰难的考验。

It's an incredible testament to the power of community,

to staying in one place

你呆在一个地方，

and to taking ownership of one's own surroundings --

却需要对你周边的 地区履行所有权——

of simply doing it yourself.

而且仅仅由你自己实现。

It's the kind of place where black doctors live next to white hipsters

这里充斥着形形色色的人。 黑人医生们与白人嬉皮士，

next to immigrant mothers from Hungary

匈牙利的移民母亲为邻，

或者伯利兹城雨林中 才华横溢的作家，

or talented writers from the jungles of Belize,

showing me Detroit wasn't just black and white,

向我展现了一个 不仅只有黑人和白人，

and diversity could flourish when it's encouraged.

和促进多样性过程中所衍生出的 欣欣向荣的底特律。

Each year, neighbors assemble to bale hay for the farm animals on the block,

每年，家家户户聚在一起 为街区牧场里的动物们捆干草，

teaching me just how much a small group of people can get done

同时也使我懂得 当一群人共同努力时

所能实现的成绩，

when they work together,

and the magnetism of fantastical yet practical ideas.

以及充满幻想而又实际的 想法的吸引力。

Radical neighborliness is every house behind Paul's block burning down,

激进的睦邻关系是，当保罗街区后的 所有房屋被焚烧后，

and instead of letting it fill up with trash and despair,

保罗和临近社区的居民并没有 让垃圾和失望充斥其中，

Paul and the surrounding community creating a giant circular garden

而是为任何想要花园的人

ringed with dozens of fruit trees, beehives and garden plots

建起了一个巨大的圆形花园， 一个被几十棵果树，蜂巢以及园地

for anyone that wants one,

所环绕的地方，

helping me see that our challenges can often be assets.

这使我理解了挑战经常也 可以成为我们的财富。

It's where residents are experimenting with renewable energy and urban farming

保罗的社区是一个居民们尝试 使用新型能源和城市农耕，

and offering their skills and discoveries to others,

并且将他们的技能和发现 提供给他人的地方。

illustrating we don't necessarily have to beg the government

这体现了我们并不需要乞求政府

来为我们出谋划策。

to provide solutions.

We can start ourselves.

我们可以自力更生。

It's where, for months,

在这里，几个月来，

one of my neighbors left her front door unlocked

在全美最暴力 且危险的一座城市中，

我的一位邻居却常常不锁前门，

in one of the most violent and dangerous cities in America

so I could have a shower whenever I needed to go to work,

就是为了我可以在 需要去工作的时候冲个澡，

as I didn't yet have one.

因为当时我家里没有淋浴。

It was when it came time to raise the beam on my own house

激进的睦邻关系也是， 当我给自己的房子装上横梁，

来支撑高处的架构——

that holds the structure aloft --

a beam that I cut out of an abandoned recycling factory down the street

横梁是我从街边一个 废品回收工厂中找到的，

when not a single wall was left standing --

那时这个工厂已经快成废墟了——

a dozen residents of Poletown showed up to help lift it, Amish style.

十几个波尔镇居民赶来， 以孟诺教派的风格来帮助升起它。

Radical neighborliness is a zygote that grows into a worldview

激进的睦邻关系是一颗种子，

that ends up in homes and communities rebuilt in ways that respect humanity

它会变成一种世界观，最终 以尊重人类和环境的方式

and the environment.

重建家园和社区。

It's realizing we have the power to create the world anew together

毋庸置疑，我们有能力重建这个世界，

并且当政府拒绝重建时， 将由我们自己实现。

and to do it ourselves when our governments refuse.

This is the Detroit that you don't hear much about.

这是一个你从未听闻的底特律。

The Detroit between the ruin porn on one hand

一面是颓废的景象，

and the hipster coffee shops

另一面则有时尚咖啡店

and billionaires saving the city on the other.

和亿万富翁在拯救着这个城市。

There's a third way to rebuild,

还有第三种重建的方法，

and it declines to make the same mistakes of the past.

它已经走向没落， 重复犯着过去的错误。

While building my house,

当我建造我的房子时，

I found something I didn't know I was looking for --

发现了一些我不知道 自己正在寻找的东西——

what a lot of millennials

也是许多千禧一代

和搬至城市的人正在寻找的。

and people who are moving back to cities are looking for.

Radical neighborliness is just another word for true community,

激进的睦邻关系只是 另一个描述真实社区的词汇，

被记忆和历史，

the kind bound by memory and history,

mutual trust and familiarity built over years and irreplaceable.

以及几年前相互建立起的，愈发 无可替代的信任和熟悉感牢牢拴在一起。

And now, as you may have heard,

现在，你也许已经听说，

Detroit is having a renaissance

底特律正在复兴，

and pulling itself up from the ashes of despair,

走出那片绝望的灰烬，

and the children and grandchildren of those who fled are returning,

那些离开的子子孙孙们 也正在归途中，

which is true.

这是真的。

What isn't true is that this renaissance is reaching most Detroiters,

然而，这股复兴潮 并未席卷每个底特律人，

or even more than a small fraction of them

或者说只有一小部分的 底特律人参与了复兴，

that don't live in the central areas of the city.

但却没有体现在 中心市区的人们身上。

These are the kind of people that have been in Detroit for generations

这便是已世世代代 生活在底特律的人们，

and are mostly black.

大多数是黑人。

In 2016 alone,

单是2016年，

just last year,

就是去年，

(Voice breaking) one in six houses in Detroit

（声音颤抖地）在底特律， 每六个房子中就有一个

had their water shut off.

被停水。

Excuse me.

对不起。

The United Nations has called this a violation of human rights.

这种行为已被联合国称作违反人权。

And since 2005, one in three houses --

不仅如此，自从2005年， 每三个房子中就有一个 ——

think about this, please --

请想象一下 ——

one in every three houses has been foreclosed in the city,

每三个房子中就有一个 被撤销了抵押品赎回权。

representing a population about the size of Buffalo, New York.

相当于纽约州水牛城的人口数量。

(Sniffles)

（抽噎）

One in three houses foreclosed is not a crisis of personal responsibility;

被取消了抵押品赎回权的房屋中有 三分之一并不是因为个人危机造成，

it is systemic.

这是系统性的。

Many Detroiters, myself included,

许多底特律人，包括我自己，

are worried segregation is now returning to the city itself

在复兴之初从原来担心种族隔离，

到现在回到了城市。

on the coattails of this renaissance.

Ten years ago,

十年前，

it was not possible to go anywhere in Detroit

在底特律自还不可能找到

and be in a crowd completely made of white people.

一个完全由白人组成的群体。

Now, troublingly, that is possible.

令人忧心的是，现在 这已经已成为了可能。

This is the price that we're paying for conventional economic resurgence.

这是我们为传统经济复苏付出的代价。

We're creating two Detroits, two classes of citizens,

我们正在创造两个底特律， 两个阶级的市民，

cracking the community apart.

将这个社区分解。

For all the money and subsidies,

为了所有的钱和救助金，

for all the streetlights installed,

为了所有装配的路灯，

the dollars for new stadiums and slick advertisements

为了用于新体育馆和 华而不实的广告的美元，

and positive buzz,

还有良好的口碑，

we're shutting off water to tens of thousands of people

我们在给上万人停水，

living right on the Great Lakes,

而他们就是住在五大湖旁的人，

the world's largest source of it.

五大湖是世界上最大的水源。

Separate has always meant unequal.

隔离总代表着不平等。

This is a grave mistake for all of us.

对我们来说这是一个严重的错误。

When economic development comes at the cost of community,

当经济在以社区为代价进行发展，

it's not just those who have lost their homes

受害的不仅仅是那些失去了房子的人，

或者那些房子靠近水源的人。

or access to water who are harmed,

but it breaks little pieces of our own humanity as well.

它也将我们自己的人性 弄得支离破碎。

None of us can truly be free,

我们无法做到绝对自由，

none of us can truly be comfortable,

我们无法做到绝对舒适，

until our neighbors are, too.

直到我们的邻居也加入进来。

For those of us coming in,

对于我们那些搬过来的人，

it means we must make sure we aren't inadvertently contributing

我们必须保证我们不是间接地

to the destruction of community again,

再次毁坏这里的社区，

and to follow the lead

而是要跟随着那些

of those who have been working on these problems for years.

已经花了数年解决这些问题的人。

In Detroit, that means average citizens deputizing themselves

在底特律，那意味着 市民们要代表他们自己，

to create water stations and deliveries for those who have lost access to it.

来为水资源匮乏和交通不便的 地方建造水站和运输站。

Or clergy and teachers engaging in civil disobedience

或者牧师和教师们 通过非暴力抗争，

to block water shutoff trucks.

来阻止切断水源的卡车。

It's organizations buying back foreclosed homes for their inhabitants

一些组织们为他们的居民 买回了取消抵押品赎回权的房屋，

or fighting misinformation on forced sales through social media

或者通过社会媒体和志愿者热线

and volunteer-run hotlines.

与强制销售的错误信息做斗争。

For me, it means helping others to raise the beams

在我看来，这意味着帮助 其他人将横梁升起，

on their own formerly abandoned houses,

放到他们之前丢弃的房屋上，

or helping to educate those with privilege,

或者教育那些有特权的人，

now increasingly moving into cities,

他们正在大量的向其他城市搬迁，

how we might come in and support

要让他们知道如何扶持既有的社区，

rather than stress existing communities.

而不是对其施以压力。

It's chipping in when a small group of neighbors decides

这也意味着，一些邻居们决定一起出钱

to buy back a foreclosed home

去买回一个已被撤销 抵押品赎回权的房子，

and return the deeds to the occupants.

并将房产契归还给原房产所有者。

And for you, for all of us,

对于你，对于我们所有人，

it means finding a role to play in our own communities.

它意味着我们要在 自己的社区中发挥作用。

It means living your life as a reflection of the world that you want to live in.

也意味着你生活中的一举一动都会 反映出你所期待的世界的样子。

It means trusting those who know the problems best --

这意味着相信那些 最了解这些问题的人——

the people who live them --

那些身陷这些问题中的人——

with solutions.

有着最好的解决方案。

I know a third way is possible because I have lived it.

我知道有可能存在第三种方法， 因为我亲身经历过。

I live it right now

我正身处一个叫

in a neighborhood called Poletown

‘波尔镇’的社区，

in one of the most maligned cities in the world.

世界上受到最多诽谤的城市之一。

If we can do it in Detroit,

如果我们可以在底特律做到，

you can do it wherever you're from, too.

无论你来自何处， 你同样可以做到。

What I've learned over the last decade,

这是我前十年所学到的：

建造我的房子，

building my house,

wasn't so much about wiring or plumbing or carpentry --

并不全是装电线， 装水管或做木工一类的事情，

although I did learn these things --

不过我也的确学会了这些东西——

is that true change, real change,

那些真正的改变

starts first with community,

从社区开始，

with a radical sense of what it means to be a neighbor.

发扬着一种激进的观念： 如何做一个好邻居。

It turned at least one abandoned house into a home.

它至少将一个被遗弃的 房屋变成了温馨的家。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）