James A. White Sr.: The little problem I had renting a house
James White, Sr.: O probleminha que tive para alugar uma casa
James A. White Sr. believes that every person and organization has incredible potential. He works to help them understand it — and communicate it to others. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
joined the United States Air Force
entrou para a Força Aérea dos EUA
Air Force Base
da Força Aérea de Mountain Home
da polícia aérea.
the first goal that I had
and my new baby, Melanie,
e minha filhinha, Melanie,
ao departamento de recursos humanos,
the personnel office,
no departamento,
an apartment in Mountain Home, Idaho.
um apartamento em Mountain Home.
because they know if they have an airman
porque sabem que se for um aviador
one of their apartments,
of people that you can call,
de pessoas com quem você pode falar,
to select the apartment that you want."
escolher o apartamento que quiser."
and I told her what I wanted.
e eu expliquei o que queria.
available right now."
a one-bedroom or two-bedroom?"
select the apartment that you want.
que você quer.
to get your family out here right away."
já pode trazer a sua família."
and knocked on the door.
o centro da cidade e bati à porta.
the woman came to the door,
a senhora veio me atender,
"Can I help you?"
"Posso lhe ajudar?"
who called about the apartments.
perguntando sobre apartamentos.
to make my selection."
I'm really sorry,
Eu sinto muito,
and didn't tell me about them."
sem me dizer nada."
all five of them in one hour?"
em uma hora?"
and what she said was this:
o número do seu telefone,
leave your number,
I'll give you a call?"
eu te ligo?"
I did not get a call from her.
que ela nunca me ligou.
from the other people
where I could get apartments.
com apartamentos para alugar.
and feeling rejected,
to the squadron commander.
com o comandante do esquadrão.
preciso de sua ajuda."
e ele me disse o seguinte:
and here's what he said to me:
that they don't want to rent to.
a alugar para quem elas não querem.
with people in the community
desta comunidade é muito bom.
fazer algo assim:
what you should do.
that you get a 30-day leave.
spend 30 days and then come on back."
passa os 30 dias e depois volta."
resonate for me.
eu voltei para o departamento pessoal,
I went back to personnel,
ele disse:
solution for you.
and he has a trailer.
e ele tem um trailer.
all over the place.
e trailers em todo lugar.
and you'd probably get a really good deal
e, até conseguir um bom preço,
as soon as possible.
o mais rápido possível.
the solution for you."
went downtown, saw the trailer --
ao centro da cidade, vi o trailer,
que eu podia fazer.
best thing that I could do.
"Posso deixar o trailer aqui?"
"Can I just leave the trailer here,
of all my problems,
de ir pra um outro camping.
another trailer park?"
I need to check with management."
com o gerente."
que o gerente tinha dito:
to some other people."
para outras pessoas."
other slots that were open,
had promised that slot to someone else.
tinha sido prometida para alguém.
because there are a lot of trailer parks."
há muitos campings para trailers."
de todos os campings.
of going to trailer parks.
after another.
for the apartment.
quando procurava apartamentos.
that they made to me,
que as pessoas faziam,
didn't have any slots open,
não havia vagas,
why we can't rent to you,
não podemos lhe alugar o espaço,
in the trailer park."
no camping.
because I like you people."
porque eu gosto de vocês."
I chuckled, too.
will move out
os outros moradores irão embora,
that kind of a hit."
lhe alugar o espaço."
it didn't stop me.
eu não desisti,
of the town in Mountain Home,
em Mountain Home,
para trailers pequeno.
from other trailer slots.
at that moment
a lot of other options.
"We're going to make this one work."
"Vamos fazer com que tudo dê certo."
in Mountain Home, Idaho.
em Mountain Home, em Idaho.
things settled down.
de deixar Mountain Home
to move from Mountain Home, Idaho
Goose Bay em Labrador.
It was another great location. (Laughter)
Foi um outro lugar excelente. (Risos)
from Mountain Home, Idaho
minha família de Mountain Home, Idaho
had just purchased a brand-new automobile.
eu tinha acabado de comprar um carro zero.
and said she'll fly out.
que ela viria de avião,
she'll help us manage the children.
e ajudar com as crianças.
put a lot of food together for the trip.
um monte de comida para a viagem.
good conversation.
conversa boa.
we got a little bit tired,
um pouco cansados.
procuramos um motel para descansar
a motel so that we can rest
continuar a viajar?"
in the morning?"
of the motels as we drove down the road,
na estrada enquanto dirigia,
big, bright flashing light that said,
com cartazes com luzes piscando:
eu entrei no motel.
I went inside.
one contract with some folks,
de atender umas pessoas,
were coming in behind me.
para uma noite com minha família."
for the evening for my family."
I just rented the last one.
de alugar o último quarto.
until the morning."
about an hour, 45 minutes,
nesta estrada por uns 45 minutos,
'Vacancies' light on, and it's flashing."
'temo vagas' estão acesas."
and turned the light off.
No one said anything.
and went outside to the parking lot.
para o estacionamento.
and also Melanie, and I said,
minha mulher e Melanie:
drive a little bit further down the road
que continuar viajando
and pulled out of the parking lot,
do estacionamento,
Vacancies, Vacancies."
but it was secure and it was clean.
mas tinha segurança e era limpo.
kinds of experiences
to Pennsylvania,
de Idaho até a Pensilvânia,
motels and restaurants.
motéis e restaurantes.
Everyone was glad to see the kids.
estavam felizes por ver as crianças.
to Goose Bay, Labrador,
e parti para Goose Bay, Labrador,
two great-grandchildren.
one in medical school.
e um deles está fazendo medicina.
(Laughter)
(Risos)
in college now for eight years.
but he wants to be a comedian.
mas quer ser comediante.
to stay in school.
a ficar na faculdade.
does not make you a comedian, right?
não quer dizer que você é um comediante.
they're all good kids --
é que são todos jovens bons:
in high school, no crime.
na escola, sem crime.
and all the hullabaloo that was going on.
e toda a confusão que estava acontecendo.
commentators got on the air and she said,
entrou no ar e disse:
white homeowners, or white citizens."
proprietários, ou por cidadãos brancos."
it just all hit me.
aquilo me abalou.
to do these kinds of things?"
a fazer este tipo de coisa?"
what they said on TV?"
but it seems that driving while black,
mas parece que o negro dirigindo,
it's just dangerous.
é simplesmente perigoso.
that you told us to do.
conforme você nos disse.
at the 12 o'clock position.
into the glove compartment to get my I.D.'
os documentos no porta luvas.'
para nos revistarem,
para sermos revistados,
para serem revistadas,
because we know, you've told us,
porque você disse para a gente:
be the ones to challenge."
e nós é que vamos contestar."
that really bugs me:
we kind of hang together.
amigos de verdade, com quem saímos,
of things happening to us, they say,
acontecendo com a gente, eles dizem,
You need to challenge.
for their identification.'"
taught to tell them:
aprenderam a dizer para eles:
but please do not do that
mas, por favor, não o façam
are significantly different
são muito diferentes
what do I tell my grandsons?
o que é que eu digo para os meus netos?
How do I keep them alive?
Como os mantenho vivos?
come to me and said,
vêm a mim e perguntam:
of being enraged."
energy and my ideas and my experiences
energia, minhas ideias e experiências
at any point in time,
like it might be racist.
to do is to educate,
que tenho que fazer é educar,
is to unveil racism,
is do everything within my power
by any means necessary.
minha vida, de qualquer forma possível.
to their dignity,
à sua dignidade,
heinous crimes in an adverse manner.
a estes crimes hediondos de modo adverso.
of societal knowledge,
de conhecimento da sociedade,
and societal consciousness
e nível de consciência social
all of us come together,
nos reunir, todos nós juntos,
and we challenge any kind of insanity,
e protestamos qualquer tipo de insanidade,
okay to kill unarmed people,
com que seja OK matar pessoas desarmadas,
It doesn't make any sense.
Isto não faz nenhum sentido.
isso possível é através do coletivo.
is through a collective.
and Asian and Hispanic
asiáticos e hispânicos,
um passo à frente e dizer:
that kind of behavior anymore."
esse tipo de comportamento. "
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
James A. White Sr. - ConsultantJames A. White Sr. believes that every person and organization has incredible potential. He works to help them understand it — and communicate it to others.
Why you should listen
James A. White Sr. is an executive coach and management consultant. The owner and president of Performance Consulting Services in Columbus, Ohio, he helps individuals, groups and organizations recognize their potential, fine-tune their strategic messages and present them effectively.
James is dedicated to sharing his energy, passion and insight into how to overcome life’s obstacles with others. As a dyslexic student in the inner city, he dropped out of high school — and after getting his G.E.D. jumpstarted his career by joining the U.S. Air Force. He went on to positions at Xerox, Wang Laboratories and Digital Equipment Corporation and has spent the past 25 as a consultant and educator. He also aims to share his experiences of racism in order to stress the message that all races, genders and backgrounds must come together to challenge the status quo.
James A. White Sr. | Speaker | TED.com