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

譯者: Lilian Chiu 審譯者: Vera LIN

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

2009 年，我在底特律買了 一間房子，價格是 500 美元。

It had no windows, no plumbing, no electricity

這間房子沒有窗戶、 沒有抽水馬桶、沒有電力，

and it was filled with trash.

裡面還滿是垃圾。

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

一樓就有近 4500 公斤的垃圾，

and that included the better part of a Dodge Caravan,

其中包括一輛道奇 Caravan 比較好的部分，

cut into chunks with a reciprocating saw.

但它被電鋸分割成了數塊。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

I lived nearly two years without heat,

我住了近兩年沒暖氣，

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

多次在沉睡中被槍聲驚醒，

was attacked by a pack of wild dogs

被野狗群攻擊，

and ripped my kitchen cabinets from an abandoned school

我的櫥櫃是從一間廢棄學校拿來的，

as they were actively tearing that school down.

當時他們正積極地拆除學校。

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

當然，這是你們聽說的底特律。

Make no mistake, it's real.

沒有錯，這是真的。

But there's another Detroit, too.

但也還有另一個底特律。

Another Detroit that's more hopeful,

那個底特律更有希望、

more innovative,

更創新，

and may just provide some of the answers

或可提供一些答案

to cities struggling to reinvent themselves everywhere.

給各地正在努力自我改造的城市。

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

然而，這些答案不見得會 符合大家對於

「好的開發」的傳統認知。

about good development.

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

我認為底特律的優點 可以歸結為五個字：

radical neighborliness.

積極的睦鄰。

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

而在我住到那裡之前， 我都無法看見這一點。

About a decade ago,

大約在 10 年前，

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

我搬到底特律，沒有朋友、 沒有工作、沒有錢，

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

那個時候，似乎所有人 都在搬出底特律。

Between 2000 and 2010,

2000 至 2010 年間，

25 percent of the city's population left.

全市人口有 25 % 離開了。

This included about half of the elementary-aged children.

其中約包括一半的小學年紀的學童。

This was after six decades of decline.

這發生在長達 60 年的衰退之後。

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

這座城市是為了容納 200 萬人 建造，現在卻只剩下 80 萬人。

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

我們通常不會聽到的是， 大家並沒有走遠。

The population of the Detroit metro area itself

底特律市區本身的人口

has largely remained steady since the '70s.

在 70 年代之後就大致上穩定了。

Most people who left Detroit just went to the suburbs,

大部分離開底特律的人 只是搬到近郊去，

while the 139 square miles of the city deteriorated,

但城市有 22 萬平方公尺的 面積都惡化了，

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

估計約有高達 6 萬平公尺 的廢棄土地，

about the size of San Francisco.

這大約是舊金山市的大小。

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

除了模糊且不負責任的 「反工業化」陳詞濫調，

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

底特律大量的人口外移 可以用兩種結構來總結：

freeways and walls.

高速公路和牆壁。

The freeways,

高速公路，

coupled with massive governmental subsidies

透過基礎建設和家庭貸款，

for the suburbs via infrastructure and home loans,

和政府對近郊的大量補助綁在一起，

allowed people to leave the city at will,

讓大家能夠自由地離開城市，

taking with it tax base, jobs and education dollars.

把稅金、工作和教育基金一起帶走。

The walls made sure only certain people could leave.

牆壁則是確保只有某些人能夠離開，

In multiple places,

在許多地方，

brick and concrete walls separate city and suburbs,

磗頭和水泥牆阻隔了城市與近郊，

white and black,

黑人與白人，

running directly across municipal streets

跨越過城市的街道、

and through neighborhoods.

穿過社區。

They're mere physical manifestations of racist housing practices

它們是種族主義的真實呈現，

such as redlining,

比如畫紅線、 【拒絕提供服務、房貸給有色人種】

[Denying services to people of color]

restrictive covenants

限制契約 【屋主、建商和市政組織 達成共識，拒絕賣房給有色人種】

and outright terror.

和徹頭徹尾的恐怖。 【炸彈攻擊、縱火和謀殺】

In 1971, the Ku Klux Klan bombed 10 school buses

1971 年，3Ｋ黨炸了十台校車，

rather than have them transport integrated students.

只因為學生沒有實行種族隔離，

All these have made Detroit the most racially segregated metro area

這一切讓底特律成為全美 種族主義最興盛的都市。

in the United States.

I grew up in a small town in Michigan,

我在密西根的一個小鎮長大，

the son of a relatively blue-collar family.

我的家庭屬於藍領階層。

And after university, I wanted to do something --

大學畢業後，我想要做點什麼──

probably naïvely --

可能很天真──

to help.

我想協助。

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

當時有近 50% 的大學生 畢業後選擇到其他州發展，

leaving the state at the time,

我不想要成為其中之一，

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

我想我可以用得來不易的大學教育

for something positive.

在家鄉做些正面的事。

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

我一直在閱讀偉大的美國哲學家

葛莉絲 ‧ 李 ‧ 博格斯的作品，

who happened to live in Detroit,

她剛好住在底特律，

and she said something I can't forget.

她說了一段話讓我永遠無法忘懷，

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

「我所做過最激進的事情， 就是維持現狀。」

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

我心想，買一間房子可能會 讓我不得不與這城市有所連結，

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

於此同時我也實際地向 這些牆壁和高速公路抗議。

Because grants and loans weren't available to everyone,

因為補助金和貸款並非人人可得，

I decided I was going to do this without them

我決定不用它們來買房子，

and that I would wage my personal fight

我要展開一場個人的戰鬥，

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

對抗這個使用權力工具 讓我的童年籠罩在陰霾的城市。

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

我終於在一個叫做波爾鎮的社區 找到了一間廢棄的房子。

It looked like the apocalypse had descended.

波爾鎮看起來好像是 世界末日降臨似的。

The neighborhood was prairie land.

這附近是草原土地。

A huge, open expanse of waist-high grass

一大片開闊、雜草及腰的草地上，

cluttered only by a handful of crippled, abandoned structures

只有少數殘缺的廢棄建築物

and a few brave holdouts with well-kept homes.

和幾間保存完好的房屋勇敢挺立著。

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

儘管騎腳踏車到鬧區的 棒球場只要 15 分鐘，

the neighborhood was positively rural.

這區全然和鄉下一樣。

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

剩下的房屋看起來 像雨中殘留的紙箱。

two-story monstrosities with wide-open shells

兩層樓高的怪物，屋殼大開、

and melted porches.

門廊傾頹倒塌。

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

我所記得最震撼的東西之一 就是薔薇花叢，

forgotten and running wild over tumbled-down fences,

它們被遺忘，無節制地生長， 爬過殘破不堪的籬笆，

no longer cared for by anyone.

不再有任何人在乎。

This was my house on the day I boarded it up

這是我初登家門的那一天，

to protect it from the elements and further decay.

我去保護它不進一步朽爛。

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

我最終在一場拍賣會上 向政府買下了它。

I'd assumed the neighborhood was dead.

我假定這個小區已死，

That I was some kind of pioneer.

我算是某種先鋒。

Well, I couldn't have been more wrong.

然而我錯到不能再錯了，

I was in no way a pioneer,

我完全不是先鋒者，

and would come to understand how offensive that is.

且我漸漸了解到那樣的 想法有多麼冒犯。

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

我最先學到的幾件事之一， 是要把我的聲音加到合唱團裡，

not overwrite what was already happening.

而不是把已發生的事情重寫。

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

（聲音斷續）因為這個小區還沒死。

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

它只是變樣了，而它轉變的方式，

若不是住在那裡是很難看見的。

if you didn't live there.

Poletown was home to an incredibly resourceful,

波爾鎮是一個非常有資源、

incredibly intelligent and incredibly resilient community.

非常有智慧，且非常有韌性的社區。

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

在那裡，我初次體驗到 「積極的睦鄰」的力量。

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

在搬進去之前，我花了 一年整修我的房子，

I lived in a microcommunity inside Poletown,

那段期間我就住在 波爾鎮裡的一個微型社區內，

founded by a wild and virtuous farmer named Paul Weertz.

它由一位狂野且正直的 農夫保羅 ‧ 沃茲創立，

Paul was a teacher in a Detroit public school

保羅在底特律一所 公立學校擔任老師，

for pregnant and parenting mothers,

教導懷孕和帶孩子的母親，

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

他的想法是，若要教導 年輕女性養育她們的孩子，

by first raising plants and animals.

就要先教她們養育動物和植物。

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

全國懷孕青少女的 平均畢業率是 40 % ，

at Catherine Ferguson Academy it was often above 90,

在凱瑟琳費格遜中學卻超過 90 % ，

in part due to Paul's ingenuity.

部分原因就是保羅的獨創性。

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

保羅把許多創新的概念帶回到 他在波爾鎮的街區，

which he'd stewarded for more than 30 years,

他在那裡至少服務了 30 年，

purchasing houses when they were abandoned,

在房子被廢棄時將它們買下來，

convincing his friends to move in and neighbors to stay

說服朋友搬進去、遊說鄰居留下，

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

以及協助想要買自己房子的人安頓。

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

在這個小區，有許多街區現在 都只剩一間或兩間房子了，

all the homes on Paul's block stand.

但在保羅的街區， 所有的家園都還在。

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

這充分證明了社區的力量，

to staying in one place

待在一個地方──

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

掌控自己的環境，

of simply doing it yourself.

單純的靠自己動手。

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

在那裡，黑人醫生家的隔壁 住著時髦白人

next to immigrant mothers from Hungary

及來自匈牙利的移民母親，

or talented writers from the jungles of Belize,

或是來自貝里斯叢林的天才作家，

showing me Detroit wasn't just black and white,

這讓我見識到， 底特律不只是黑與白，

and diversity could flourish when it's encouraged.

當它的多樣性受到鼓勵時，它會興盛。

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

每年，鄰居們會一起將乾草打成捆， 供街區的牧場動物用，

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

這教導了我， 當一小群人通力合作時

when they work together,

能完成多少的事，

and the magnetism of fantastical yet practical ideas.

以及荒誕卻又實際的 想法有多吸引人。

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

「積極的睦鄰」是當保羅住的街區 後面的每間房子都燒毀，

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

他選擇不讓土地堆滿垃圾和絕望，

Paul and the surrounding community creating a giant circular garden

偕同周圍的社區一同 建造一座圍繞著果樹、蜂窩

ringed with dozens of fruit trees, beehives and garden plots

以及花圃的巨大圓形花園，

for anyone that wants one,

提供給任何想要的人，

helping me see that our challenges can often be assets.

這讓我見識到，我們的 挑戰通常也會是種資產。

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

在那裡，居民正在實驗 創造再生能源和城市農場，

and offering their skills and discoveries to others,

並提供他們的技能與發現給其他人，

illustrating we don't necessarily have to beg the government

這說明了我們不見得非得要求政府

to provide solutions.

提供解決方案。

We can start ourselves.

我們可以自己開始。

It's where, for months,

在那裡，數月來

one of my neighbors left her front door unlocked

我一位鄰居的前門都沒上鎖，

in one of the most violent and dangerous cities in America

在美國最暴力且危險的城市之一，

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

她不鎖門，以讓我上工前 能隨時去她家淋浴，

as I didn't yet have one.

因為我家沒有。

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

當到了我自己的房子要把支撐結構的

that holds the structure aloft --

樑柱抬起到高處時，

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

那樑柱是我從同條街上

沒有一面牆壁還立著的廢棄 回收工廠取得的──

when not a single wall was left standing --

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

波爾鎮十多名居民協助我抬樑柱，

門諾會艾美許人的方式。

Radical neighborliness is a zygote that grows into a worldview

積極的睦鄰如同一顆 承載著美好價值的受精卵，

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

它最終會成長為以尊重人性與環境

為重建基礎的家園和社區，

and the environment.

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

我們了解到，我們可以 同心協力創造出新世界，

and to do it ourselves when our governments refuse.

在政府拒絕的時候， 我們可以自己動手。

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

這是各位很少聽到的底特律。

The Detroit between the ruin porn on one hand

這個底特律，一邊是廢墟般的場景，

and the hipster coffee shops

另一邊則是時髦咖啡廳

and billionaires saving the city on the other.

和拯救城市的百萬富翁。

There's a third way to rebuild,

還有第三種重建的方式，

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

且它避免讓我們犯下 和過去相同的錯誤。

While building my house,

重建我的房子時，

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

我找到了我不知道我在尋找的東西，

what a lot of millennials

那是許多千禧世代

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

以及搬回城市的人在尋找的東西。

Radical neighborliness is just another word for true community,

積極的睦鄰其實就是 真正的社區的同義詞，

the kind bound by memory and history,

連結著記憶與故事， 相互信任感與熟悉感，

mutual trust and familiarity built over years and irreplaceable.

建立在經年累月不可替代的基礎上。

And now, as you may have heard,

你們可能有聽說過，

Detroit is having a renaissance

底特律有項復興運動，

and pulling itself up from the ashes of despair,

將它自己從絕望的灰燼當中拉起來，

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

逃離者的孩子與孫子都回來了，

which is true.

這是真的。

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

但有件事不是真的：這項復興 觸及了底特律大部分地方，

or even more than a small fraction of them

可以說它其實只觸及了底特律

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

非中心區域一小部分的人們。

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

這些人是世世代代住在底特律的人，

and are mostly black.

大多數是黑人。

In 2016 alone,

光在 2016 年，

just last year,

只是去年，

(Voice breaking) one in six houses in Detroit

（抽蓄聲）在底特律，六間房子中

had their water shut off.

就有一間遭到斷水。

Excuse me.

抱歉。

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

聯合國稱之為違反人權。

And since 2005, one in three houses --

從 2005 年起， 三間房子中就有一間──

think about this, please --

請想想這一點──

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

在這個城市中，三間房子 就有一間的贖回權被取消，

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

這些人數大約等同 紐約水牛城的人口數。

(Sniffles)

（吸氣聲）

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

三間房子就有一間的贖回權被取消， 這不是個人責任的危機，

it is systemic.

是體制的危機。

Many Detroiters, myself included,

許多底特律人，包括我自己，

are worried segregation is now returning to the city itself

擔心種族隔離又會跟隨著這波復興

on the coattails of this renaissance.

回到這個城市中。

Ten years ago,

十年前，

it was not possible to go anywhere in Detroit

在底特律，不論走到任何地方，

and be in a crowd completely made of white people.

都不可能身處在全是白人的人群中。

Now, troublingly, that is possible.

現在卻有可能了，這點讓人擔憂。

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

這是我們為了傳統 經濟復甦付出的代價。

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

我們在創造兩個底特律，兩種市民，

cracking the community apart.

把社區分裂。

For all the money and subsidies,

為了所有的金錢和補助，

for all the streetlights installed,

街燈的安裝費用，

the dollars for new stadiums and slick advertisements

新體育館、浮誇廣告，

and positive buzz,

以及激勵人心的話題，

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

我們停止供水給

就住在五大湖邊上的數萬人，

living right on the Great Lakes,

the world's largest source of it.

五大湖是世界上最大的水源。

Separate has always meant unequal.

分離通常都表示不平等。

This is a grave mistake for all of us.

對我們所有人而言，這都是個大錯。

When economic development comes at the cost of community,

當經濟發展的代價要由社區承擔時，

it's not just those who have lost their homes

受到傷害的人，不只是失去家園的人

or access to water who are harmed,

或是被斷水的人，

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

我們自身的人性也會隨之被粉碎。

None of us can truly be free,

我們沒有人能夠真正自由，

none of us can truly be comfortable,

我們沒有人能夠真正舒適，

until our neighbors are, too.

除非我們的鄰居也能。

For those of us coming in,

對於我們這些進來的人而言，

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

那意味著我們要確保 我們不會不小心造成

to the destruction of community again,

社區的再次毀滅，

and to follow the lead

並要追隨多年來

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

一直努力在解決 這些問題的人的領導。

In Detroit, that means average citizens deputizing themselves

在底特律，那意著一般市民 要成為自己的代理人，

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

建立供水站以及輸水服務 給被斷水的人。

Or clergy and teachers engaging in civil disobedience

神職人員及老師 要參與市民違抗行動，

to block water shutoff trucks.

阻擋來斷水的卡車。

It's organizations buying back foreclosed homes for their inhabitants

是組織幫居民把他們 失去贖回權的家買回來，

or fighting misinformation on forced sales through social media

並透過社交媒體及志工服務熱線

and volunteer-run hotlines.

對抗強迫讓售的錯誤資訊。

For me, it means helping others to raise the beams

對我來說，那意味著協助他人

on their own formerly abandoned houses,

在他們先前廢棄的家園裡撐起樑柱，

or helping to educate those with privilege,

或協助教育那些有特權的人，

now increasingly moving into cities,

越來越多這類人正在搬到城市，

how we might come in and support

告訴他們我們該如何 支持既有的社區，

rather than stress existing communities.

而不是施壓於它們。

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

當一群鄰居決定要買回 一個失去贖回權的家，

to buy back a foreclosed home

並將方屋契約交還給居住者時，

and return the deeds to the occupants.

與他們共同出資。

And for you, for all of us,

對你們、我們所有人而言，

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

那意味著要在我們自己的社區中 找到一個角色來扮演。

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

那意味著要把你們的生活 轉化成你真正喜歡的樣子。

It means trusting those who know the problems best --

那意味著信任那些最清楚問題的人──

the people who live them --

活在問題中的人──

with solutions.

相信他們能解決。

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

我知道有第三種可行的方式， 因為我親身經歷過。

I live it right now

我正在經歷中，

in a neighborhood called Poletown

在叫做波爾鎮的小區，

in one of the most maligned cities in the world.

它位在世界上最 惡名昭彰的城市之一。

If we can do it in Detroit,

若我們在底特律能做到，

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

不論你來自何方，你可以做到。

What I've learned over the last decade,

在過去十年我所學到的是，

building my house,

建造我的房子

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

重點不在於電線、 抽水馬桶，或木工──

although I did learn these things --

雖然我的確有學到這些──

is that true change, real change,

重點在於真實的改變、真正的改變，

starts first with community,

從社區開始，

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

帶著對於「鄰居」 含意的根本理解開始。

It turned at least one abandoned house into a home.

它至少能夠將一間 廢棄的房子轉變成一個家。

Thank you.

謝謝。

(Applause)

（掌聲）