ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Carvens Lissaint - Performance artist
Carvens Lissaint is a slam poet, performance artist, and member of the Hip Hopera Theater troupe.

Why you should listen

Carvens Lissaint is a Haitian American performance artist. Raised in Upper West Side Harlem, New York, he lives in Washington Heights. He established himself as a spoken word artist in 2006 and went on to win multiple poetry slams across the country and coach award-winning teams. He made his transition into musical theater in 2007 as a part of the Hip Hopera Theater troupe, working with Edward A. Reynolds West Side High School in collaboration with the Metropolitan Theater Opera Guild. He also debuted his high-energy one-man show Walk (directed and co-developed by Queen God-Is, choreographed by Nicco Anann) at Dance Theater Workshop and off Broadway at the 2009 Hip Hop Theater Festival. Carvens lives, eats and breathes art hoping to share his light and become a better being of the Universe.

More profile about the speaker
Carvens Lissaint | Speaker | TED.com
TEDYouth 2011

Carvens Lissaint: "Put the financial aid in the bag"

Filmed:
367,402 views

At TEDYouth 2011, performance artist Carvens Lissaint shows how to use language, metaphor and imagery to express a powerful idea -- as in this spoken-word performance, a stirring plea to make college education more accessible.
- Performance artist
Carvens Lissaint is a slam poet, performance artist, and member of the Hip Hopera Theater troupe. Full bio

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

00:15
(Music)
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(Música)
00:28
I want everyone to put their hands on top of their head.
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Quero que todos coloquem as mãos na cabeça.
00:33
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Put your hands on top of your head.
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É, é, é. Coloquem as mãos na cabeça.
00:36
Just relax. Just stay calm. Everything will be nice
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Relaxem. Apenas fiquem calmos.
Tudo ficará bem
00:39
and smooth if you just participate and just relax, okay?
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e tranquilo se apenas
cooperarem e relaxarem, ok?
00:42
Yeah. All right, now put your hands down.
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Beleza, abaixem as mãos.
00:45
Don't be no hero. Put your hands down. Okay?
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Não seja herói. Abaixem as mãos, Ok?
Sim. Beleza. Legal.
00:48
All right. Now. Cool. Good.
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00:51
I want you to run all that financial aid.
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Quero que todos deem um auxílio financeiro.
00:56
Yeah, sucka, put the scholarships in the bag, yeah, yeah.
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Sim, mano, coloquem
suas bolsas de estudo na sacola, é, é.
01:00
Put the scholarships in the bag. Yeah, you too, yeah, yeah, yeah.
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Coloquem suas bolsas de estudos na sacola.
Sim, você também, é, é, é.
01:02
Yeah, you. Yeah, yeah. You over there, go put the Pell Grants in the bag.
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Sim, você. Sim, é. Você aí,
coloque a bolsa de estudos na sacola.
01:05
Put the Pell Grants in there too. Yeah, you. Go. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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Coloque sua bolsa [de estudos] aí também.
Sim, você também, sim, sim, sim.
01:08
You, go over to that booth and get me some of them subsidized, some of them subsidized loans.
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Você, entre na cabine e me arrume um dos
subsídios, algum dos empréstimos subsidiados.
01:12
It ain't a game no more. I know you're hiding the money somewhere here.
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01:15
With all this tuition you got me and my homies payin' --
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Sem brincadeira. Eu sei
que estão escondendo grana aí.
01:18
Woo! -- I'm about to get gangster-scholar up in here.
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Com toda esse auxilio que têm
e eu e meus manos pagando -
01:21
Up in here. I'm about to go N.W.A. meets Beastie Boys
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Uau. Tô para me tornar
um bandido-acadêmico aqui.
E aqui. Tô pra entrar pro NWA
encontrar o Beastie Boys
01:24
if I don't see the cash, man.
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se eu não ver a grana, cara.
01:26
Cause we're not gonna take it. ♪ Oh ...
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Porque tu não vai pegar. Oh
01:29
Oh, you thought I was playing.
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Vocês pensaram que eu estava brincando.
01:32
Oh, you thought this was a game. Back up, back up. Mind your business, that's all.
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Pensaram que era um jogo. Para trás, para trás.
Se metam com seus problemas, só isso.
01:35
What do you, think this is a game? What?
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Ah, você acha que isso é um jogo? O quê?.
01:38
Huh? You don't even know me.
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Hum? Vocês nem me conhecem.
01:41
I'll say something else. Don't call me crazy.
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Vou dizer mais uma coisa.
Não me chame de maluco.
01:43
Do not call me -- Rives, tell 'em don't call me crazy before I go crazy.
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Não me chame -- Rives, diga a eles para não
me chamarem de maluco antes que fique um.
01:46
I'm telling you, now I'm about to go crazy. I'm about to go Tupac Thug Life in here.
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Tô falando para vocês, tô para ficar doido.
Tô para me juntar ao Tupac Thug aqui.
01:49
Like, "I ain't a killer but don't push me. Revenge is like the sweetest joy --" Woo!
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Tipo, "não sou um assassino mas não me pressione.
A vingança é como a alegria mais doce." Uau!
01:52
I'm about to go Biggie Smalls Brooklyn type, like,
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Estou quase virando
Biggie Smalls Brooklyn aqui.
01:56
"Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis. When I was dead broke --"
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"Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis.
Quando estou quebrado --"
01:59
Woo! I'm about to go KRS-One
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Uau! Estou quase virando KRS-One (rapper)
02:02
cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs-type wild.
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maluco por cereal Cocoa Puffs.
02:05
Like, "Wa da da dang, wa da da da dang,
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Tip, "ra da da da da, ra da da da da.
02:08
listen to my nine millimeter go bang." You know what?
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ouça o barulho da
minha nove milímetros. Quer saber?
02:11
You are dumb. You are really dumb.
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Tu é mané, realmente mané.
02:13
Hide your kids, hide your wife, 'cause we gettin' financial aid
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Esconda seus filhos, esconda sua mulher,
"tamo conseguindo" auxilio financeiro
02:16
all up and in and around here. You think this is a game?
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de todo lado por aqui.
Tu acha que é um jogo?
Tu acha que eu queria
estar aqui fazendo isso?
02:19
You think I want to be out here doing this?
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02:22
Do you know how hard it was to find these guns?
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Tu tem noção como foi difícil
descolar essas armas?
02:24
All right, I'm sorry. You understand?
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Tudo bem. Desculpe. Entende?
02:27
I'm just trying to get my education. You know what I mean?
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Tô apenas tentado ter minha educação.
Entende o que quero dizer?
02:29
I'm just trying to fight for the opportunity that my great-great-great-grandfather died for, you know what I'm saying?
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Tento lutar pela chance que meu ta-ta-tataravô
morreu, entende o que quero dizer?
02:35
You know how my ancestors did sit-ins,
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Sabem como meus antepassados faziam greve,
02:40
just so I can sit in a classroom.
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apenas para eu me sentar
em uma sala de aula.
02:43
And all these years, all y'all been doing
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E todos esses anos, tudo o que têm feito
02:47
is strangling the life out of my bank statement,
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é estrangular a vida de meu extrato bancário,
02:51
leaving my pockets as vacant as parking lots.
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deixando meus bolsos vazios
como vagas em estacionamentos.
02:54
Professor Willie Lynch taught you well, huh?
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O professor Willie Lynch ensinou
vocês bem, hum?
02:59
Keep the body, take the money.
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Fique com o corpo, pegue o dinheiro.
03:02
Force feed my people deception and failure.
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Alimente forçadamente meu povo
decepção e fracasso.
03:06
Condition our brains to malfunction at the sight
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Condiciona nossas mentes
ao mal-funcionamento à vista
03:09
of success. Just keep the cycle going.
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do sucesso. Apenas mantenha o ciclo girando
03:12
Make us pay for an education that will end up failing us.
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Nos faça pagar por uma educação
que vai acabar falhando.
03:15
Put us in debt so we're giving back
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Nos coloque em dívida e estamos devolvendo
03:18
the money we earned from our back-breaking work.
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o dinheiro que ganhamos de
nosso trabalho pesado.
03:20
This seems all too familiar.
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Isso tudo parece familiar.
03:23
Sounds like the rust of shackles locking their way onto my degree.
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Parece como ferrugem das correntes
trancando nosso acesso ao diploma.
03:27
Sounds like the Thirteenth Amendment in reverse.
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Parece como a Décimo Terceiro Emenda
ao contrário.
03:30
Lecture halls shouldn't feel like cotton fields,
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Salões de conferência não deveriam
parecer como campos de algodão.
Não deveriam parecer
como abafadas canções de liberdade
03:33
shouldn't sound like muffled freedom songs trapped
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presa nas mandíbulas de sonhos de gerações.
Oh, oh, tudo isso faz sentido.
03:36
in the jaws of a generation's dreams. Oho! Oh, it all makes sense.
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03:39
Give us enough to get by but not enough to provide for ourselves.
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Nos dê o suficiente para sobreviver
mas não o suficiente para mantermos a nós mesmos.
03:42
Keep us psychologically feeble so we lose our purpose in the process.
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Nos mantenham psicologicamente fracos e assim
nos perdemos a proposta no processo.
03:46
Stop thieving our aspirations out of our sleep.
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Parem de roubar nossas aspirações do nosso sono.
03:50
Don't call it financial aid
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Não chame isso de auxílio financeiro
03:53
if you're not helping anyone with it.
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se você não está ajudando ninguém com isso.
03:56
We have fought.
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Nós lutamos.
03:59
We have fought way too hard
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Nós lutamos muito
04:03
to let green paper build a barricade in front of our futures.
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para deixar que o dinheiro construa
uma barricada na frente do nosso futuro.
04:07
I will not let you potentially rob food out of my children's stomach.
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Eu não deixarei que vocês roubem
comida da boca de meus filhos.
04:12
Best believe I'm going out blasting.
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Melhor acreditar,
vou continuar fazendo barulho.
04:14
I ain't no killer, but don't push me.
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Não sou um assassino, mas não me pressione.
04:17
I wish it didn't come to this, but I have to for my cousins
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Gostaria que não tivesse chegado nesse ponto,
mas tive que fazer pelos meus primos
04:20
in Haiti who don't even know what a college looks like,
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no Haiti que sequer sabem
o que é uma faculdade,
04:23
for my best friend Raymond sitting in cell block nine
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para o meu melhor amigo Raymond
sentado numa cela no bloco nove
04:26
instead of a university,
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em vez de em uma universidade.
04:28
for the nooses hanging my GPA by its neck.
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Para as forças pendurando
minhas notas pelo pescoço.
04:31
There is no other option.
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Não há outra opção.
04:34
There is no other way.
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Não há outro caminho.
04:38
Just, please, put the money in the bag.
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Só, por favor, ponham a grana na sacola.
04:42
Put the money in the bag. I just want to go to school, man.
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Ponham a grana na sacola.
Eu só quero ir para a escola, cara.
04:47
I just want to get my education. I just want to learn. I just want to grow.
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Só quero ter educação.
Quero apenas aprender. Quero apenas crescer.
04:51
Put the money in the bag, please.
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Coloquem o dinheiro na sacola, por favor.
04:54
Just put the money in the bag.
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Apenas coloquem o dinheiro na sacola.
Translated by Wanderley Jesus
Reviewed by Gislene Kucker Arantes

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Carvens Lissaint - Performance artist
Carvens Lissaint is a slam poet, performance artist, and member of the Hip Hopera Theater troupe.

Why you should listen

Carvens Lissaint is a Haitian American performance artist. Raised in Upper West Side Harlem, New York, he lives in Washington Heights. He established himself as a spoken word artist in 2006 and went on to win multiple poetry slams across the country and coach award-winning teams. He made his transition into musical theater in 2007 as a part of the Hip Hopera Theater troupe, working with Edward A. Reynolds West Side High School in collaboration with the Metropolitan Theater Opera Guild. He also debuted his high-energy one-man show Walk (directed and co-developed by Queen God-Is, choreographed by Nicco Anann) at Dance Theater Workshop and off Broadway at the 2009 Hip Hop Theater Festival. Carvens lives, eats and breathes art hoping to share his light and become a better being of the Universe.

More profile about the speaker
Carvens Lissaint | Speaker | TED.com

Data provided by TED.

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