James A. White Sr.: The little problem I had renting a house
James White Sr.: Mica problemă cu închiriatul unei locuințe
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
s-a înrolat în Forțele Aeriene Americane
Air Force Base
Mountain Home,
the first goal that I had
and my new baby, Melanie,
nevasta și fiica, Melanie,
the personnel office,
un apartament în Mountain Home, Idaho.
an apartment in Mountain Home, Idaho.
because they know if they have an airman
pentru că știu că dacă un aviator
one of their apartments,
pe care le poți suna,
of people that you can call,
to select the apartment that you want."
apartamentul dorit.”
and I told her what I wanted.
și i-am spus ce voiam.
available right now."
sau cu două?”
a one-bedroom or two-bedroom?"
select the apartment that you want.
to get your family out here right away."
am mers în centru și am bătut la ușă.
and knocked on the door.
the woman came to the door,
"Can I help you?"
„Vă pot ajuta cu ceva?”
care a sunat pentru apartament.
who called about the apartments.
to make my selection."
I'm really sorry,
și nu m-a anunțat.”
and didn't tell me about them."
all five of them in one hour?"
toate cinci într-o oră?”
and what she said was this:
leave your number,
I'll give you a call?"
I did not get a call from her.
nici un telefon de la ea.
from the other people
where I could get apartments.
pe care am primit-o.
and feeling rejected,
to the squadron commander.
am vorbit cu comandantul escadrilei.
am nevoie de ajutor.”
and here's what he said to me:
și iată ce mi-a răspuns:
să închirieze cui nu vor.
that they don't want to rent to.
with people in the community
foarte bună cu comunitatea
what you should do.
that you get a 30-day leave.
poți merge acasă la familie,
spend 30 days and then come on back."
resonate for me.
la cadre și am vorbit cu funcționarul.
I went back to personnel,
o soluție pentru tine.”
solution for you.
and he has a trailer.
și rulote peste tot.
all over the place.
and you'd probably get a really good deal
și probabil vei obține un preț bun
as soon as possible.
din oraș cât mai repede.
ar fi o soluție pentru tine.”
the solution for you."
m-am dus în centru să văd rulota.
went downtown, saw the trailer --
că e cel mai bun lucru.
best thing that I could do.
iar apoi am întrebat:
"Can I just leave the trailer here,
of all my problems,
nu mai trebuie să caut alt parc.”
another trailer park?"
trebuie să întreb conducerea.”
I need to check with management."
to some other people."
other slots that were open,
had promised that slot to someone else.
because there are a lot of trailer parks."
mai sunt multe parcuri de rulote.”
cu parcuri de rulote.
of going to trailer parks.
after another.
for the apartment.
când căutam un apartament.
that they made to me,
didn't have any slots open,
nu mai aveau locuri libere,
why we can't rent to you,
pentru care nu-ți putem închiria
de negri în parc.”
in the trailer park."
because I like you people."
mie îmi sunteți simpatici.”
I chuckled, too.
will move out
chiriași vor pleca
that kind of a hit."
it didn't stop me.
am căutat în continuare.
Mountain Home,
of the town in Mountain Home,
spațiul tău de alte rulote.
from other trailer slots.
at that moment
a lot of other options.
"We're going to make this one work."
„Ne vom descurca așa.”
Mountain Home, Idaho.
in Mountain Home, Idaho.
things settled down.
lucrurile s-au stabilizat.
to move from Mountain Home, Idaho
să mă mut din Mountain Home, Idaho,
It was another great location. (Laughter)
Alt loc excelent.
from Mountain Home, Idaho
familia din Mountain Home, Idaho,
cumpăraserăm mașină nou-nouță.
had just purchased a brand-new automobile.
and said she'll fly out.
she'll help us manage the children.
și să ne ajute cu copiii.
put a lot of food together for the trip.
multă mâncare pentru drum.
conversații plăcute...
good conversation.
we got a little bit tired,
a motel so that we can rest
ne odihnim și pornim dimineața devreme.”
in the morning?"
de la marginea drumului
of the motels as we drove down the road,
big, bright flashing light that said,
mare și sclipitor:
ei au rămas în parcare, iar eu am intrat.
I went inside.
un contract cu niște oameni,
one contract with some folks,
were coming in behind me.
o cameră pentru familia mea.”
for the evening for my family."
I just rented the last one.
tocmai am dat-o pe ultima.
until the morning."
about an hour, 45 minutes,
încă o oră, 45 de minute,
'Vacancies' light on, and it's flashing."
cu «Camere libere».”
and turned the light off.
iar eu m-am uitat la ea.
s-a uitat la ei, n-a spus nimeni nimic.
No one said anything.
și am plecat înapoi la mașină.
and went outside to the parking lot.
and also Melanie, and I said,
și Melaniei:
drive a little bit further down the road
puțin mai departe
și să ieșim din parcare,
and pulled out of the parking lot,
Vacancies, Vacancies."
but it was secure and it was clean.
dar era sigur și curat.
kinds of experiences
to Pennsylvania,
până în Pennsylvania,
motels and restaurants.
moteluri și restaurante.
Everyone was glad to see the kids.
to Goose Bay, Labrador,
în Goose Bay, Labrador,
two great-grandchildren.
one in medical school.
unul e la medicină.
(Laughter)
(Râsete)
in college now for eight years.
but he wants to be a comedian.
dar vrea să fie comediant.
to stay in school.
să rămână la școală.
does not make you a comedian, right?
ca să fii comediant, nu?
they're all good kids --
in high school, no crime.
nu delicvență.
and all the hullabaloo that was going on.
și toată zarva de acolo.
commentators got on the air and she said,
într-o emisiune a spus:
white homeowners, or white citizens."
proprietari sau cetățeni albi.”
it just all hit me.
to do these kinds of things?"
să comită asemenea lucruri?”
what they said on TV?"
ai auzit ce spun la TV?”
but it seems that driving while black,
să conduci ca negru,
it's just dangerous.
să vorbești ca negru e periculos.
that you told us to do.
punem ambele mâini pe volan, la vedere.
at the 12 o'clock position.
into the glove compartment to get my I.D.'
torpedoul să iau actele.»
because we know, you've told us,
pentru că știm, ne-ai spus:
be the ones to challenge."
noi vom fi cei care protestează.»”
that really bugs me:
we kind of hang together.
cei cu care suntem în gașcă,
of things happening to us, they say,
ne întreabă:
You need to challenge.
Trebuie să vă opuneți.
for their identification.'"
taught to tell them:
să răspundă așa:
dar vă rog să vă abțineți
but please do not do that
are significantly different
consecințele pentru noi.”
what do I tell my grandsons?
How do I keep them alive?
Cum îi țin în viață?
come to me and said,
of being enraged."
energia, ideile și experiența
energy and my ideas and my experiences
at any point in time,
like it might be racist.
to do is to educate,
is to unveil racism,
is do everything within my power
by any means necessary.
în timpul vieții mele,
către cetățenii americani.
to their dignity,
la umanitatea lor, la demnitate,
și la simțul proprietății,
heinous crimes in an adverse manner.
la aceste crime crunte.
of societal knowledge,
nivelul de cunoștințe sociale,
and societal consciousness
all of us come together,
and we challenge any kind of insanity,
combaterea oricărei nebunii,
okay to kill unarmed people,
It doesn't make any sense.
Nu are nici un sens.
face asta e colectiv.
is through a collective.
and Asian and Hispanic
asiatici și hispanici
un astfel de comportament!”
that kind of behavior anymore."
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