ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Marc Bamuthi Joseph - Arts activist, spoken word artist
TED Fellow Marc Bamuthi Joseph is a curator of words, ideas and protagonists. His bold, poetically-driven work investigates social issues and cultural identity.

Why you should listen

Marc Bamuthi Joseph is a steadfast believer in empathy as the most valuable currency in building community, and he seeks to spark curiosity and dialogue about freedom, compassion and fearlessness through pioneering arts stewardship and education. A 2017 TEDGlobal Fellow, Bamuthi graced the cover of Smithsonian Magazine as one of America's Top Young Innovators in the Arts and Sciences; artistically directed HBO's "Russell Simmons presents Brave New Voices"; and is an inaugural recipient of the United States Artists Rockefeller Fellowship, which annually recognizes 50 of the country’s greatest living artists. Dance Magazine named him a Top Influencer in 2017.

Bamuthi's evening-length work, red black and GREEN: a blues, was nominated for a 2013 Bessie Award for "Outstanding Production (of a work stretching the boundaries of a traditional form)" and he has won numerous grants including from the National Endowment for the Arts and Creative Capital Foundation. His noted work /peh-LO-tah/ is inspired by soccer and Bamuthi's first generation American experience, intersecting global economics, cross-border fan culture and the politics of joy.

Bamuthi is the founding Program Director of the non-profit Youth Speaks, and he is a co-founder of Life is Living, a national series of one-day festivals which activate under-resourced parks and affirm peaceful urban life. His essays have been published in Harvard Education Press; he has lectured at more than 200 colleges, has carried adjunct professorships at Stanford and Lehigh, among others, and currently serves as Chief of Program and Pedagogy at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.

More profile about the speaker
Marc Bamuthi Joseph | Speaker | TED.com
TED2019

Marc Bamuthi Joseph: "You Have the Rite"

Marc Bamuthi Joseph: "Você tem o rito"

Filmed:
1,713,613 views

Em uma apresentação emocionante de poesia falada modulada pelo jazz, o bolsista TED Marc Bamuthi Joseph compartilha a sensível e dolorosa reflexão interna de um pai negro sobre o orgulho e o terror de ver seu filho entrar na idade adulta.
- Arts activist, spoken word artist
TED Fellow Marc Bamuthi Joseph is a curator of words, ideas and protagonists. His bold, poetically-driven work investigates social issues and cultural identity. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:14
Me and the boy wear the same shoe size.
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Meu filho e eu usamos
o mesmo número de calçado.
00:18
He wants a pair of
Air Jordan 4s for Christmas.
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Ele quer um par de Air Jordan 4s de Natal.
00:22
I buy them,
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Eu compro
00:23
and then I steal them from his closet,
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e depois roubo do armário dele,
00:26
like a twisted Grinch-themed
episode of "Black-ish."
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como um episódio ao avesso da série
"Black-ish" inspirado em "Grinch".
00:30
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
00:31
The kicks are totems to my youth.
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Os tênis são ícones da minha juventude.
00:34
I wear them like mercury
on my Black man feet.
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Eu os calço como Mercúrio
em meus pés de homem negro.
00:38
I can't get those young
freedom days back fast enough.
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Não posso ter de volta
aqueles dias de liberdade como gostaria.
00:42
Last time I was really fast I was 16,
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A última vez que corri muito foi aos 16,
00:44
outrunning a doorman
on the Upper East Side.
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quando fugi de um porteiro
no Upper East Side.
00:46
He caught me vandalizing his building,
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Fui pego depredando o prédio
em que ele trabalhava,
00:49
not even on some artsy stuff,
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nem mesmo por algo artístico,
00:50
just ... stupid.
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apenas... idiota.
00:53
Of all the genders,
boys are the stupidest.
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De todos os gêneros,
os garotos são os mais idiotas.
00:57
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
00:59
Sixteen was a series of
barely getting away
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Dezesseis foi a idade de uma série
de escapar por pouco
e nunca contar a meus pais.
01:02
and never telling my parents.
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01:04
I assume that my son
is stewarding this tradition well.
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Presumo que meu filho esteja
mantendo bem essa tradição.
01:08
Sixteen was "The Low End Theory"
and Marvin Gaye on repeat.
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Dezesseis foi "The Low End Theory"
e ouvir Marvin Gaye sem parar.
01:12
Sixteen is younger than Trayvon
and older than Emmett Till.
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Dezesseis é mais jovem do que Trayvon
e mais velho do que Emmett Till.
01:17
At the DMV, my boy's in line to officially
enter his prime suspect years:
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No trânsito, meu filho aguarda para entrar
oficialmente no rol dos suspeitos:
01:23
young, brown and behind the wheel,
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jovem, pardo e atrás do volante,
01:24
a moving semaphore, signaling
the threat of communities from below.
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um semáforo que muda, sinalizando
a ameaça de comunidades de baixo.
01:28
On top of the food chain,
humans have no natural predator,
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No topo da cadeia alimentar,
o homem não tem predador natural,
01:31
but America plays out something
genetically embedded and instinctual
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mas os EUA desempenham algo
geneticamente incorporado e instintivo
01:36
in its appetite for the Black body.
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no apetite pelo corpo negro.
01:38
America guns down Black bodies
and then walks around them,
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Os EUA disparam em corpos negros
e depois caminham ao redor deles,
01:42
bored,
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entediados,
01:43
like laconic lions next to
half-eaten gazelles,
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como leões lacônicos
próximos a gazelas meio devoradas,
01:46
bloody lips ...
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lábios ensanguentados...
01:48
"America and the Black Body"
on some Nat Geo shit.
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"America and the Black Body"
em algum Nat Geo.
01:53
Well, he passes his road test at the DMV.
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Ele é aprovado no exame de trânsito.
01:56
He does this strut C-Walk
broken "Fortnite" thing
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Exibe todo o seu gingado
01:59
on the way in to finish his paperwork,
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a caminho para concluir a papelada,
02:01
true joy and calibrated cool
under the eye of my filming iPhone,
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pura alegria e calma
vista pela câmera do meu iPhone,
02:04
the victory dance of someone
who has just salvaged a draw.
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a dança da vitória de alguém
que acabou de conseguir um empate.
02:07
He's earned this win, but he's so 16
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Ele venceu, mas é tão jovem
que não sabe deixar
o corpo totalmente livre.
02:10
he can't quite let his body be fully free.
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02:13
When he's three,
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Quando ele tem três anos,
02:15
I'm in handcuffs in downtown Oakland.
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estou algemado no centro de Oakland.
02:18
Five minutes ago, I was illegally parked.
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Cinco minutos antes,
estacionei em lugar proibido.
02:20
Now I'm in the back of a squad car,
considering the odds that I'm going to die
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Estou na parte de trás de uma viatura,
considerando minhas chances de morrer,
02:24
here, 15 minutes away from my son
who expects that in 18 minutes,
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a 15 minutos de distância do meu filho,
que espera que, em 18 minutos,
seu pai vá buscá-lo na pré-escola.
02:28
daddy's gonna pick him up from preschool.
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Não há câmeras
para registrar esse momento.
02:30
There are no pocket-size cameras
to capture this moment, so.
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02:34
I learned a lot of big words
when I was 16 getting ready for the SAT,
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Aprendi muitas palavras bonitas
aos 16 anos, estudando pro vestibular,
02:38
but none of them come to me now.
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mas não me lembro de nenhuma delas.
02:40
In the police car, the only thing
that really speaks is my skin.
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Na viatura da polícia, a única coisa
que realmente fala é minha pele.
02:45
I know this:
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Sei uma coisa:
estacionei num local reservado a ônibus
entre as ruas 12ª e Broadway.
02:46
I was parked on a bus zone
on 12th and Broadway,
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02:50
running to the ATM on the corner.
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Corro ao caixa eletrônico da esquina.
02:52
I pull the cash out just as
a police car pulls up behind me,
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Saco o dinheiro, quando uma viatura
para atrás do meu carro.
02:55
give him the "Aw shucks, my bad,"
that earnest Black man face.
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Faço aquela cara séria
de homem negro que diz: "Xi, foi mal".
02:58
He waits till I'm back in the car
and then hits the siren,
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Ele espera até eu voltar ao carro
e depois liga a sirene,
03:01
takes my license with his hand on the gun,
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pega minha carteira de motorista
com a mão no revólver,
03:04
comes back two minutes later, gun drawn,
another patrol car now, four cops now,
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volta dois minutos depois, arma apontada,
outra viatura e quatro policiais agora,
03:09
my face on the curb,
hands behind my back, shackled.
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meu rosto no meio-fio,
mãos atrás das costas, algemado.
03:12
I'm angry and humiliated,
only until I'm scared and then sad.
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Estou zangado e humilhado,
só até ficar assustado e depois triste.
03:16
I smell like the last gasp
before my own death.
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Percebo o último suspiro
antes de minha própria morte.
03:20
I think how long the boy will wait
before he realizes
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Penso em quanto tempo meu filho
vai esperar antes de perceber
03:23
that daddy is not on his way.
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que o pai dele não irá buscá-lo.
03:25
I think his last barely
formed memory of me
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Acho que a última lembrança
mal formada dele a meu respeito
03:29
will be the story of how
I never came for him.
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será a história
de como eu nunca fui buscá-lo.
03:32
I try to telepathically say goodbye.
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Tento me despedir por telepatia.
03:35
The silence brings me no peace.
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O silêncio não me traz paz.
03:37
The quiet makes it hard to rest.
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A quietude dificulta o descanso.
03:39
In the void there is anger mushrooming
in the moss at the base of my thoughts,
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No vazio, a raiva cresce rapidamente
no musgo da base de meus pensamentos,
03:43
a fungus growing on the spine
of my freedom attempts.
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um fungo que cresce na espinha
de minhas tentativas de liberdade.
03:46
I'm free from all except contempt,
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Estou livre de tudo, exceto do desprezo,
03:48
the spirit of an unarmed civilian
in the time of civil unrest,
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o espírito de um civil desarmado
na época de agitação civil,
03:53
no peace, just Marvin Gaye falsettos
arching like a broken-winged sparrow,
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sem paz, apenas falsetes de Marvin Gaye,
arqueando como um pardal
de asas quebradas,
03:57
competing against the empty sirens,
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competindo contra as sirenes vazias,
04:00
singing the police.
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cantando a polícia.
04:03
Apparently some cat from Richmond
had a warrant out on him,
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Parece que um cara de Richmond
tinha um mandado contra ele
04:06
and when the cop says my name to dispatch,
dude doesn't hear "Marc Joseph,"
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e, quando o policial
diz meu nome no comunicado,
o cara não ouve "Marc Joseph",
04:09
he hears "Mike Johnson."
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ele ouve "Mike Johnson".
04:11
I count seven cars and 18 cops
on the corner now,
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Conto 7 carros e 18 policiais
na esquina agora,
04:15
a pride around a pound of flesh.
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um orgulho em torno da carne.
04:18
By the grace of God,
I'm not fed to the beast today.
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Graças a Deus, não sou
jogado aos leões hoje.
04:22
Magnanimously, the first cop
makes sure to give me a ticket
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Generosamente,
o policial certifica-se de me multar
por estacionamento proibido,
04:25
for parking in a bus zone,
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antes de me liberar.
04:26
before he sets me free.
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04:29
The boy is 16.
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O garoto tem 16.
04:31
He has a license to drive
in the hollow city,
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Ele tem permissão
para dirigir na cidade vazia,
04:34
enough body to fill my shoes.
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firmeza o bastante para assumir meu posto.
04:36
I have grey in my beard,
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Tenho a barba grisalha,
04:38
and it tells the truth.
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e ela diz a verdade.
04:40
He can navigate traffic
in the age of autonomous vehicles.
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Ele sabe se orientar no trânsito
na era dos veículos autônomos.
04:44
You know, people say "the talk,"
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As pessoas dizem "a conversa",
04:46
like the thing happens just once,
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como se só acontecesse uma vez,
04:48
like my memory's been erased
and my internet is broken,
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como se apagassem minha memória
e minha internet caísse,
04:51
like I can't read today's martyred name,
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como se não pudesse ler o nome torturado,
04:53
like today's the day
that I don't love my son enough
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como se hoje não amasse meu filho
o bastante para lhe dizer:
04:56
to tell him, "Bro, I really
don't care about your rights, yo.
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"Mano, não estou nem aí com seus direitos.
Sua missão é voltar para casa.
04:59
Your mission is to get home to me.
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05:01
Live to tell me the story, boy.
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Viva para me contar a história, garoto.
05:03
Get home to me."
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Volte para casa".
05:06
Today's talk is mostly
happening in my head
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A palestra de hoje acontece
principalmente em minha mente
05:08
as he pulls onto the freeway
and Marvin Gaye comes on the radio.
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quando ele entra na via expressa,
e começa a tocar Marvin Gaye no rádio.
05:12
I'm wearing the boy's shoes,
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Estou usando os tênis do garoto,
05:14
and the tune in my head is the goodbye
that I almost never said,
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e a melodia em minha cabeça
é o adeus que eu quase nunca disse,
05:18
a goodbye the length of a requiem,
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um adeus com a duração de um réquiem,
05:20
a kiss, a whiff of his neck,
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um beijo, um cheiro de seu pescoço,
05:22
the length of a revelation
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o comprimento de uma revelação
05:24
and a request flying high
in the friendly sky
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e um pedido voando alto no céu amistoso
05:27
without ever leaving the ground.
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sem nunca ter saído do chão.
05:29
My pain is a walking bass line,
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Minha dor é uma linha de baixo,
05:31
a refrain, placated stress
against the fading baseline.
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um refrão, uma ênfase aplacada
contra a linha de base efêmera.
05:34
Listen, this is not to be romantic,
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Escutem, isso não é para ser romântico,
05:37
but to assert a plausible scenario
for the existential moment.
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mas para afirmar um cenário plausível
para o momento existencial.
05:42
Driving while Black
is its own genre of experience.
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Dirigir sendo negro
é seu próprio gênero de experiência.
05:46
Ask Marvin.
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Perguntem a Marvin.
05:47
It may not be the reason
why you sing like an angel,
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Pode não ser a razão pela qual
você canta como um anjo,
05:50
but it surely has something to do with
why heaven bends to your voice.
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mas certamente tem algo a ver
com por que o céu se inclina à sua voz.
05:55
The boy driving,
the cop in the rearview mirror
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O garoto dirigindo,
o policial no espelho retrovisor
é um ingresso para viajar ou morrer.
05:59
is a ticket to ride or die.
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06:01
When you give a Black boy "the talk,"
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Quando "a conversa" é com um garoto negro,
06:03
you pray he is of the faction
of the fraction that survives.
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rezamos para que ele seja
da facção da fração que sobrevive.
06:07
You pitch him the frequency
of your telepathic goodbye,
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Sintonizamos na frequência
de um adeus por telepatia,
06:10
channel the love sustained
in Marvin's upper register
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canalizamos o amor sustentado
no registro superior de Marvin
06:13
under his skullcap.
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sob seu solidéu.
06:15
Black music at its best
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A música negra em seu melhor
06:17
is an exploded black hole
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é um buraco negro explodido
06:19
responding to the call
of America at its worst.
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que reage ao apelo dos EUA em seu pior.
06:23
Strike us down, the music lives,
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Derrubem-nos, a música vive,
06:25
dark, like tar or tobacco
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escura, como alcatrão, tabaco
06:28
or cotton in muddy water.
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ou algodão em água barrenta.
06:30
Get home to me, son.
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Volte para casa, filho.
06:33
Like a love supreme, a god as love,
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Como um amor supremo, um deus como amor,
06:37
a love overrules,
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um amor que prevalece
06:39
feathers for the angelic lift
of the restless dead,
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e cresce para a elevação angelical
dos mortos irrequietos,
06:42
like a theme for trouble man,
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como um tema para o homem problemático,
06:44
or a 16-year-old boy, free to make
mistakes and live through them,
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ou um garoto de 16 anos,
livre para cometer erros
e viver por meio deles,
06:49
grow from them,
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crescer a partir deles.
06:51
holy, holy, mercy, mercy me,
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Santo, santo, misericórdia,
misericórdia de mim,
06:56
mercy,
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misericórdia,
06:57
mercy.
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misericórdia.
07:02
Thank you.
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Obrigado.
07:03
(Applause)
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(Aplausos) (Vivas)
Translated by Maurício Kakuei Tanaka
Reviewed by Flávia Pires

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Marc Bamuthi Joseph - Arts activist, spoken word artist
TED Fellow Marc Bamuthi Joseph is a curator of words, ideas and protagonists. His bold, poetically-driven work investigates social issues and cultural identity.

Why you should listen

Marc Bamuthi Joseph is a steadfast believer in empathy as the most valuable currency in building community, and he seeks to spark curiosity and dialogue about freedom, compassion and fearlessness through pioneering arts stewardship and education. A 2017 TEDGlobal Fellow, Bamuthi graced the cover of Smithsonian Magazine as one of America's Top Young Innovators in the Arts and Sciences; artistically directed HBO's "Russell Simmons presents Brave New Voices"; and is an inaugural recipient of the United States Artists Rockefeller Fellowship, which annually recognizes 50 of the country’s greatest living artists. Dance Magazine named him a Top Influencer in 2017.

Bamuthi's evening-length work, red black and GREEN: a blues, was nominated for a 2013 Bessie Award for "Outstanding Production (of a work stretching the boundaries of a traditional form)" and he has won numerous grants including from the National Endowment for the Arts and Creative Capital Foundation. His noted work /peh-LO-tah/ is inspired by soccer and Bamuthi's first generation American experience, intersecting global economics, cross-border fan culture and the politics of joy.

Bamuthi is the founding Program Director of the non-profit Youth Speaks, and he is a co-founder of Life is Living, a national series of one-day festivals which activate under-resourced parks and affirm peaceful urban life. His essays have been published in Harvard Education Press; he has lectured at more than 200 colleges, has carried adjunct professorships at Stanford and Lehigh, among others, and currently serves as Chief of Program and Pedagogy at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.

More profile about the speaker
Marc Bamuthi Joseph | Speaker | TED.com

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