Drew Philp: My $500 house in Detroit -- and the neighbors who helped me rebuild it
Drew Philp: Mi casa de US$500 en Detroit...y los vecinos que me ayudaron a reconstruirla
Drew Philp is the author of "A $500 House in Detroit: Rebuilding an Abandoned Home and an American City," a memoir of rebuilding a former abandoned home while finding his place in his city, country, race and generation. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
in Detroit for 500 dollars.
en Detroit por 500 dólares.
no plumbing, no electricity
ni electricidad
10,000 pounds of garbage,
con casi 5000 kilos de basura,
of a Dodge Caravan,
de un Dodge Caravan,
con una sierra recíproca.
multiple times to gunshots,
de un sueño profundo,
de perros salvajes
from an abandoned school
de una escuela abandonada,
that school down.
that your hear about.
el Detroit del que escuchan hablar.
themselves everywhere.
reinventarse en cualquier parte.
necessarily adhere to conventional wisdom
se adhieren a la sabiduría convencional
boils down to two words:
de Detroit se reduce a dos palabras:
until I lived there.
hasta que viví ahí.
no job and no money,
ni trabajo, ni dinero,
like everyone else was moving out.
que todos se estaban mudando de ahí.
de la ciudad se fue.
of the elementary-aged children.
de los niños en edad escolar.
de deterioro.
was down to less than 800,000.
se redujo a menos de 800 000.
is that people didn't go very far.
es que la gente no se fue muy lejos.
metro area itself
de Detroit
since the '70s.
los años 70.
just went to the suburbs,
solo se fue a los suburbios,
of the city deteriorated,
de la ciudad se deterioraron,
as 40 square miles of abandoned land --
de tierra abandonada
and agentless "deindustrialization,"
vago y sin agente "desindustrialización",
with two structures:
con dos estructuras:
governmental subsidies
subsidios gubernamentales
infrastructure and home loans,
infraestructuras y préstamos hipotecarios,
la ciudad a voluntad,
jobs and education dollars.
la base impositiva, trabajo y educación.
only certain people could leave.
que solo ciertas personas se pudieran ir.
separate city and suburbs,
separan a la ciudad de los suburbios,
calles municipales
of racist housing practices
de racismo en el área de la vivienda
bombed 10 school buses
bombardeó 10 autobuses escolares
integrated students.
a estudiantes integrados.
the most racially segregated metro area
metropolitana con más segregación racial
blue-collar family.
I wanted to do something --
quise hacer algo
50 percent of college graduates
50 % de graduados universitarios
my fancy college education at home
educación universitaria en casa,
American philosopher named Grace Lee Boggs
americana llamada Grace Lee Boggs
that I ever did was to stay put."
fue quedarme en el mismo sitio".
indelibly tie me to the city
atarme para siempre a la ciudad
to these walls and freeways.
contra esas paredes y autopistas.
weren't available to everyone,
para todos,
to do this without them
over my childhood with power tools.
sobre mi niñez con herramientas de poder.
in a neighborhood called Poletown.
en un vecindario llamado Poletown.
had descended.
de pasto hasta la cintura
of crippled, abandoned structures
deterioradas y abandonadas
with well-kept homes.
con casas bien mantenidas.
from the baseball stadium downtown,
desde el estadio de béisbol,
cardboard boxes left in the rain;
como cajas de cartón dejadas en la lluvia;
with wide-open shells
con estructuras totalmente abiertas
I remember were the rosebushes,
que recuerdo fueron los rosales,
over tumbled-down fences,
sobre cercas caídas,
I boarded it up
and further decay.
y de un deterioro mayor.
from the county in a live auction.
en una subasta en vivo del condado.
how offensive that is.
was to add my voice to the chorus,
fue a sumar mi voz al coro,
the neighborhood hadn't died.
el vecindario no había muerto.
that was difficult to see
que era difícil de ver
to an incredibly resourceful,
de una comunidad
and incredibly resilient community.
y resiliente.
the power of radical neighborliness.
el poder de la vecindad radical.
antes de mudarme,
on my house before moving in,
inside Poletown,
dentro de Poletown,
named Paul Weertz.
y virtuoso llamado Paul Weertz.
in a Detroit public school
en una escuela pública de Detroit
the young women to raise their children
jóvenes a criar a sus hijos
for pregnant teens is about 40 percent,
de adolescentes embarazadas es del 40 %,
it was often above 90,
a menudo era de más del 90 %,
to his block in Poletown,
a su manzana en Poletown,
for more than 30 years,
when they were abandoned,
y a los vecinos a quedarse
and neighbors to stay
to buy their own and fix them up.
comprar su casa y arreglarla.
now only hold one or two houses,
ahora solo tenían una o dos casas,
resistían.
to the power of community,
del poder de una comunidad,
of one's own surroundings --
sobre sus alrededores
live next to white hipsters
viven al lado de los hípsteres blancos,
from the jungles of Belize,
de las junglas de Belice,
no era solo blanca y negra,
wasn't just black and white,
when it's encouraged.
cuando es fomentada.
for the farm animals on the block,
para los animales de granja del lugar,
a small group of people can get done
un grupo pequeño de gente
yet practical ideas.
pero prácticas.
behind Paul's block burning down,
detrás de la manzana de Paul se quema,
with trash and despair,
con basura y desesperación,
creating a giant circular garden
crean un jardín gigante circular
beehives and garden plots
colmenas y parcelas de jardín
can often be assets.
pueden ser a veces un recurso.
with renewable energy and urban farming
con energía renovable y agricultura urbana
and discoveries to others,
y descubrimientos a otros,
have to beg the government
tener que pedirle al gobierno
left her front door unlocked
su puerta sin llave
y peligrosas de América
and dangerous cities in America
whenever I needed to go to work,
cada vez que necesitaba ir a trabajar,
the beam on my own house
de levantar la viga de mi casa
recycling factory down the street
de reciclado abandonada
was left standing --
showed up to help lift it, Amish style.
vinieron para levantarla, al estilo Amish.
that grows into a worldview
que se convierte en una visión
rebuilt in ways that respect humanity
de forma que respeten a la humanidad
to create the world anew together
de crear el mundo de nuevo, juntos,
when our governments refuse.
cuando nuestros gobiernos se rehúsan.
don't hear much about.
no se oye mucho.
the ruin porn on one hand
de la pornografía por un lado
saving the city on the other.
por el otro.
the same mistakes of the past.
los mismos errores del pasado.
I didn't know I was looking for --
que estaba buscando:
back to cities are looking for.
que está regresando.
another word for true community,
para comunidad verdadera,
e historia,
built over years and irreplaceable.
construida con los años e irremplazable.
from the ashes of despair,
de la desesperación,
of those who fled are returning,
de los que huyeron están regresando,
esté llegando a la mayoría,
is reaching most Detroiters,
areas of the city.
de la ciudad.
that have been in Detroit for generations
en Detroit durante generaciones
houses in Detroit
de cada seis casas en Detroit
a violation of human rights.
una violación de los derechos humanos.
has been foreclosed in the city,
han sido embargadas en la ciudad,
about the size of Buffalo, New York.
del tamaño de Búfalo, en Nueva York.
a crisis of personal responsibility;
una crisis de responsabilidad personal;
is now returning to the city itself
esté volviendo a la ciudad misma
to go anywhere in Detroit
completely made of white people.
completamente de gente blanca.
for conventional economic resurgence.
por la resurgencia económica convencional.
two classes of citizens,
dos clases de ciudadanos,
and slick advertisements
y los avisos elegantes,
to tens of thousands of people
a decenas de miles de personas
para todos nosotros.
llega a costa de la comunidad,
comes at the cost of community,
who have lost their homes
que han perdido sus casas
of our own humanity as well.
de nuestra propia humanidad.
realmente confortable,
también lo estén.
we aren't inadvertently contributing
de que no estamos contribuyendo
on these problems for years.
en estos problemas por años.
deputizing themselves
que los ciudadanos promedio se encarguen
for those who have lost access to it.
para los que perdieron el acceso a ella.
participen en desobediencia civil
engaging in civil disobedience
que cortan el agua.
foreclosed homes for their inhabitants
las casas embargadas para sus habitantes
on forced sales through social media
en las ventas forzosas en redes sociales
manejadas por voluntarios.
to raise the beams
a levantar las vigas
those with privilege,
a los que son privilegiados,
a las comunidades actuales.
a small group of neighbors decides
de vecinos decide
in our own communities.
en nuestras propias comunidades.
of the world that you want to live in.
del mundo en el que queremos vivir.
who know the problems best --
que más conocen los problemas
because I have lived it.
porque lo he vivido.
maligned cities in the world.
del mundo.
or plumbing or carpentry --
fontanería, o carpintería
of what it means to be a neighbor.
de lo que significa ser un vecino.
abandoned house into a home.
a una casa abandonada en un hogar.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Drew Philp - Journalist, screenwriterDrew Philp is the author of "A $500 House in Detroit: Rebuilding an Abandoned Home and an American City," a memoir of rebuilding a former abandoned home while finding his place in his city, country, race and generation.
Why you should listen
Drew Philp is a freelance writer living in his rehabbed house and most often covers inequity in the Midwest for the Guardian. He has hitchhiked the Rustbelt to speak with average Americans about changing manhood and walked to Cleveland from Detroit to speak to postindustrial trump supporters in pursuit of stories. Philp has also been published in BuzzFeed, The Detroit Free Press, De Correspondent and other national and international outlets.
In 2009, Philp bought an abandoned house in Detroit with no windows, plumbing or electricity, which was filled with 10,000 pounds of trash. Living without heat for nearly two years, fighting wild packs of dogs, and harvesting materials from the often burning neighborhood, Philp repaired the house with his own hands and the help of his dynamic community. He lives there with his dog Gratiot.
Philp has also hitchhiked the US, co-taught a class on race to all white students at the University of Michigan, written scripts in the film industry and taught for many years inside prisons and juvenile justice institutions across the state. His accolades include the Stuart and Vernice Gross award for literature, an 11th Hour Food and Farming Fellowship facilitated by Michael Pollan and a 2017 Kresge Arts in Detroit fellowship.
Drew Philp | Speaker | TED.com