James A. White Sr.: The little problem I had renting a house
James White, Sr.: O pequeno problema que eu 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
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joined the United States Air Force
entrou para a Força Aérea dos EUA
Air Force Base
da Força Aérea,
the first goal that I had
and my new baby, Melanie,
e a minha bebé recém-nascida, Melanie,
the personnel office,
eles disseram:
an apartment in Mountain Home, Idaho.
um apartamento em Mountain Home, Idaho.
because they know if they have an airman
porque sabem
a alugar o seu apartamento,
one of their apartments,
of people that you can call,
com quem pode falar,
to select the apartment that you want."
o apartamento que quiser".
e eu disse-lhe o que queria. Ela disse:
and I told her what I wanted.
available right now."
apartamentos disponíveis.
a one-bedroom or two-bedroom?"
select the apartment that you want.
o apartamento que quiser.
to get your family out here right away."
a sua família imediatamente".
and knocked on the door.
dirigi-me à baixa e bati à porta.
the woman came to the door,
olhou para mim e disse:
"Can I help you?"
who called about the apartments.
por causa dos apartamentos.
to make my selection."
I'm really sorry,
and didn't tell me about them."
e não me disse nada".
all five of them in one hour?"
todos os cinco numa hora?"
and what she said was this:
leave your number,
I'll give you a call?"
I did not get a call from her.
nenhuma chamada dela.
from the other people
where I could get apartments.
onde eu podia arranjar um apartamento.
and feeling rejected,
e por me sentir rejeitado,
to the squadron commander.
com o comandante do esquadrão.
preciso da sua ajuda".
and here's what he said to me:
e ele disse-me o seguinte:
that they don't want to rent to.
elas não querem alugar.
with people in the community
com as pessoas desta comunidade
isso de forma alguma.
what you should do.
a sua família em casa?
that you get a 30-day leave.
pode ir a casa ter com a sua família,
spend 30 days and then come on back."
que não me agradou nada,
resonate for me.
I went back to personnel,
voltei ao pessoal
ele disse:
solution for you.
and he has a trailer.
e que tem uma caravana.
all over the place.
e caravanas por toda a parte.
and you'd probably get a really good deal
e até é capaz de fazer um bom negócio,
o mais depressa possível.
as soon as possible.
the solution for you."
went downtown, saw the trailer --
fui até à baixa, vi a caravana
best thing that I could do.
Depois, perguntei:
"Can I just leave the trailer here,
of all my problems,
de outro parque de caravanas.
another trailer park?"
I need to check with management."
que ir perguntar à gerência".
to some other people."
a outra pessoa".
other slots that were open,
had promised that slot to someone else.
estavam prometidos a outras pessoas.
because there are a lot of trailer parks."
há muitos parques de caravanas".
of going to trailer parks.
de parques de caravanas.
after another.
for the apartment.
à procura dum apartamento.
that they made to me,
didn't have any slots open,
nenhum lote livre, uma pessoa disse-me:
why we can't rent to you,
in the trailer park."
de negros no parque.
because I like you people."
I chuckled, too.
se eu o deixo entrar,
will move out
that kind of a hit."
it didn't stop me.
não desisti.
of the town in Mountain Home,
da cidade de Mountain Home
from other trailer slots.
dos lotes das outras caravanas.
at that moment
a lot of other options.
"We're going to make this one work."
"Vamos pôr isto a funcionar".
in Mountain Home, Idaho.
em Mountain Home, Idaho.
things settled down.
por correr bem.
to move from Mountain Home, Idaho
para sair de Mountain Home, Idaho,
Goose Bay, no Labrador.
It was another great location. (Laughter)
Era mais um sítio ótimo.
from Mountain Home, Idaho
de Mountain Home, Idaho,
had just purchased a brand-new automobile.
porque tínhamos comprado
and said she'll fly out.
e disse que ia connosco.
she'll help us manage the children.
ajudar-nos-ia a tomar conta das crianças.
put a lot of food together for the trip.
montes de comida para a viagem.
por volta das 5 da manhã.
good conversation.
divertimo-nos, conversámos.
we got a little bit tired,
um pouco cansados e dissemos:
a motel so that we can rest
para um motel descansar
in the morning?"
of the motels as we drove down the road,
à medida que continuávamos na estrada
big, bright flashing light that said,
com luzes brilhantes que dizia:
Quartos livres".
I went inside.
de fazer um contrato com outras pessoas,
one contract with some folks,
were coming in behind me.
uma noite com a minha família".
for the evening for my family."
I just rented the last one.
acabo de alugar o último.
until the morning."
about an hour, 45 minutes,
mais uma hora, ou 45 minutos,
'Vacancies' light on, and it's flashing."
de 'Quartos vagos' ligada, a piscar".
and turned the light off.
No one said anything.
and went outside to the parking lot.
Fui ao parque de estacionamento.
and also Melanie, and I said,
e também a Melanie, e disse:
drive a little bit further down the road
mais um bocado na estrada
and pulled out of the parking lot,
do parque de estacionamento,
Vacancies, Vacancies."
Quartos vagos".
but it was secure and it was clean.
mas tinha segurança e era limpo.
kinds of experiences
to Pennsylvania,
desde Idaho até à Pensilvânia,
motels and restaurants.
de hotéis, motéis e restaurantes.
e instalar a família.
Everyone was glad to see the kids.
por ver as crianças.
to Goose Bay, Labrador,
e parti para Goose Bay, Labrador,
two great-grandchildren.
one in medical school.
outro anda em medicina,
(Laughter)
in college now for eight years.
já há oito anos.
but he wants to be a comedian.
mas quer ser comediante.
to stay in school.
que ele se mantenha na escola.
does not make you a comedian, right?
não quer dizer que se seja comediante, não é?
they're all good kids --
é que são uns miúdos porreiros
in high school, no crime.
durante o secundário, sem crime.
and all the hullabaloo that was going on.
e de todo o alarido sobre isso.
commentators got on the air and she said,
das comentadoras que disse:
white homeowners, or white citizens."
ou por cidadãos brancos".
it just all hit me.
aquilo atingiu-me e eu disse:
to do these kinds of things?"
a fazerem estas coisas?"
what they said on TV?"
but it seems that driving while black,
mas parece que um negro a conduzir,
it's just dangerous.
é uma coisa muito perigosa.
that you told us to do.
Fazemos tudo o que nos disse para fazermos.
at the 12 o'clock position.
na posição do meio dia.
dizemos-lhe:
into the glove compartment to get my I.D.'
para tirar o meu BI'.
para nos apalparem,
para nos apalparem,
para serem investigadas,
because we know, you've told us,
porque o avô disse-nos:
be the ones to challenge."
e nós é que os vamos contestar'".
that really bugs me:
we kind of hang together.
os nossos camaradas,
of things happening to us, they say,
que nos acontecem, dizem:
You need to challenge.
for their identification.'"
taught to tell them:
foram ensinados a dizer?
but please do not do that
mas, por favor, não o façam
are significantly different
as consequências são muito diferentes
what do I tell my grandsons?
o que é que eu digo aos meus netos?
How do I keep them alive?
Como é que os mantenho vivos?
come to me and said,
of being enraged."
as consequências de estar furioso".
energy and my ideas and my experiences
e nas minhas experiências
at any point in time,
sempre que puder,
like it might be racist.
to do is to educate,
que fazer é educar,
is to unveil racism,
é denunciar o racismo
is do everything within my power
é fazer tudo o que puder
by any means necessary.
durante a minha vida,
to their dignity,
à sua dignidade,
heinous crimes in an adverse manner.
a estes crimes hediondos de modo adverso,
of societal knowledge,
o vosso nível de conhecimento social,
and societal consciousness
e de consciência social
all of us come together,
and we challenge any kind of insanity,
e contestamos todo o tipo de insanidade
okay to kill unarmed people,
torna aceitável matar pessoas desarmadas,
It doesn't make any sense.
is through a collective.
é através dum coletivo.
and Asian and Hispanic
asiáticos e hispânicos,
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