Michael Tubbs: The political power of being a good neighbor
Michael Tubbs: El poder político de ser un buen vecino
Michael Tubbs is the youngest mayor in the history of the US to represent a city with a population of more than 100,000 residents. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
one thing I have in common with dentists.
una cosa en común con los dentistas.
the holiday of Halloween.
la festividad de Halloween.
not from a dislike of cavities,
de que no me gusten las caries,
from a particular incident
I was 20 years old,
with mayors and councilors nationwide.
y concejales de todo el país.
began just like any other day.
comenzó como todos los días.
and prepared to write my news clips.
y estaba listo para escribir las noticias.
which isn't that out the norm,
que era normal para ella ya que le gusta
email, Facebook, Instagram, all that.
Facebook, Instagram, todas esas cosas.
to hear maybe some church gossip,
hablaría de chismes de la iglesia,
she had discovered.
que acababa de descubrir.
anything I had ever heard from my mother.
que nunca había escuchado.
still, muffled tone
muy suave, casi apagado,
was murdered last night,
in this country,
dealing with anger, rage, nihilism,
el enojo, la rabia, el nihilismo,
between action and apathy.
entre la acción y la apatía.
to put purpose to this pain.
para canalizar este dolor.
with feelings of survivor's guilt.
de culpa de sobreviviente.
being at Stanford,
of me being at the White House
quite literally.
estaba muriéndose, literalmente,
a little selfish and say,
un poco egoísta preguntándome:
to make the world a better place?
que el mundo sea un lugar mejor?
of all the opportunities given to me
las oportunidades que se me han dado
cantidad de dinero posible,
and my immediate family is comfortable.
y que mi familia cercana también lo esté.
as a senior in college,
como lo había hecho en la facultad,
for a couple of reasons,
por varios motivos,
is far from a political dynasty.
una dinastía política.
have been incarcerated than in college.
fueron a la cárcel que a la universidad.
my father is still incarcerated.
mi padre sigue preso.
we had warm feelings from.
neighborhoods I grew up in.
con muchas tiendas de alcohol
and no grocery stores,
and concentrated poverty.
y un foco de pobreza.
la guerra contra la droga
far too many people in our country.
a demasiada gente en nuestro país.
that created the school funding formulas,
cómo dar fondos a las escuelas,
receive less per pupil spending
menos dinero por cada alumno
that made it likely for me to choose
a ser un actor en el gobierno.
a government actor.
Stockton was a very unlikely place.
improbable para ello.
a city of 320,000 people.
y tiene 320 000 habitantes.
people run from, rather than come back to.
del cual uno se marcha y no al revés.
35 percent white,
10 percent African American,
in the country at that time
per capita than Chicago.
por cápita que en Chicago.
beyond the scope of any 21-year-old.
fuera del alcance de alguien de 21.
when I feel overwhelmed,
cuando me siento superado,
were far bigger than me
de Stockton eran bastante mayores que yo
a little divine intervention.
un poco de ayuda divina.
for my first council meeting,
reunión del concejo,
my grandmother taught me.
the governing frame we're using
que estamos usando
my grandmother told me
en la escuela dominical,
"Who was my neighbor?
preguntado a Jesús: ¿Quién es mi vecino?
Jesus replied with a parable.
Jesús contestó con una parábola.
left on the side of the road,
and left to die.
y lo dejaron por muerto.
saw the man on the side of the road,
vio al hombre tirado en el camino,
prayers that he gets better.
de este grupo particular,
this particular group
there's nothing I can do to change it.
sin poder cambiar nada.
maybe a politician walked by.
quizás pasó un político.
and saw how beat up the man was,
y vio como lo habían golpeado,
of violence, or fleeing violence.
o que se escapaba de una violencia.
"You know what?
let's build a wall.
construimos un muro?
to be on the side of the road."
estar tirado por el camino".
by his bootstraps,
and there's nothing I could do."
no hay nada que yo pueda hacer".
a good Samaritan came by,
pasó un buen samaritano,
no fueron siglos de odio
because things are changing."
a reflection of himself.
he saw his common humanity.
he did something about it,
el hombre estuviera bien,
at that nice Fairmont,
le hizo lugar en Fairmont,
the diversity of Stockton,
por la diversidad de Stockton,
will be to again answer the same question:
era responder la misma pregunta:
was tied up in everyone.
de nuestra ciudad depende de todos.
on the side of the road.
que quedaron por el camino.
that charity isn't justice,
la caridad no es justicia,
is necessary but not sufficient,
es necesario, pero no suficiente,
Jericho Road, has a nickname.
Camino de Jericó, tiene un sobrenombre,
the Ascent of Red,
"la subida roja",
is structured for violence.
está hecho para la violencia.
it's conducive for ambushing.
perfecto para coartadas.
of the road wasn't abnormal.
en ese camino no era inusual.
that was structured to happen,
planificado para que ocurriera,
violence in our society.
en nuestra sociedad.
is the avoidable impairment
es un impedimento evitable
about structural violence
de la violencia estructural
our policies, our culture
nuestras políticas, nuestra cultura
some people and disadvantage others.
a algunas personas y perjudican a otras.
much like the road in Jericho,
de Stockton, a su modo,
for the outcomes we complain about.
los resultados de los que nos quejamos.
don't do well in school,
no les fuera bien en la escuela
to see wealth gaps by race and ethnicity.
económicas por raza y por etnia.
income pay disparities between genders,
la disparidad salarial entre los géneros,
historically, has been structured to do,
históricamente nuestra sociedad,
y empecé a trabajar.
I want to share,
figured everything out,
no hemos descubierto todo,
conservative members in our community
más conservadoras de la comunidad
for undocumented people
para personas indocumentadas
and I loved it.
lifetime membership pin.
a "O'Reilly Factor", de por vida.
what he did to get such a gift.
I had no idea how he got it.
o hacer para obtenerlo.
to open a health clinic,
juntos para abrir esta clínica
for undocumented people,
gratuita a personas indocumentadas,
this is for my neighbors."
at least in that instance.
por lo menos en este caso.
I decided to run for mayor,
una candidatura para alcalde,
councilman wasn't enough
de tiempo parcial no alcanzaba
changes we need to see in Stockton,
que Stockton necesitaba,
by looking at the data.
estudiando los datos.
where I grew up,
from a more affluent district.
zip code 95205 and 95219
códigos postales 95205 y 95219
de vida de 10 años,
people are making.
to live in an unsafe community
en una comunidad insegura
than grocery stores in the community.
de alcohol que de comestibles.
but that's the reality.
estructural que quería ver,
I wanted to see,
in the rate of unemployment,
en la tasa de desempleo del 30 %,
difference in income,
was not going to cut it.
on the robbers and the road.
en los ladrones y el camino.
with violent crime.
por crímenes violentos.
to run for office in the first place.
decidir a postularme.
was helping our community
fue ayudar a que la comunidad
victimized by violence
who enact pain in our society,
causan dolor en nuestra sociedad,
and contributing to gun violence,
y contribuyen a la violencia por armas,
they have been shot at,
de traumas, reciben tiros,
but it helps explain it,
pero ayuda a entenderlo,
we have to see these folks as us, too.
como parte de nuestra comunidad.
we've been working on two strategies:
estuve trabajando en dos estrategias:
as much attention, as much love
tanta atención, afecto,
from opportunities, from tattoo removals,
de borrado de tatuajes,
a 40 percent reduction in homicides
40 % menos homicidios
in violent crime.
en crímenes violentos.
has a 23 percent poverty rate.
tiene una tasa de pobreza del 23 %.
it's a personal issue for me.
este es un asunto personal para mí.
wouldn't just do a program,
solo un programa,
to go around the edges,
the very structure
we launched a basic income demonstration,
un proyecto de ingresos básicos
randomly selected,
se eligieron 130 familias al azar,
the median income of the city,
al de los ingresos medios de la ciudad,
for a couple of reasons.
wrong in America,
en la estructura de EE. UU.
can't afford one 400-dollar emergency.
no puede cubrir una emergencia de USD 400.
that something is structurally wrong
de que la estructura no funcionaba
six percent between 1979 and 2013.
un 6 % desde 1979 a 2013.
something is structurally wrong
de que la estructura no funcionaba
dos o tres trabajos
no one in here wants to do,
que no le gustan a nadie,
esenciales como el alquiler
like childcare.
las guarderías.
we have real issues.
tenemos un verdadero problema.
about the homelessness issue,
sobre la cuestión de la falta de vivienda,
we're still experiencing.
we would be wise to go back
deberíamos retornar
we were taught growing up,
de cuando éramos pequeños,
each other as neighbors,
a nosotros mismos como vecinos,
different from us,
our anxieties, our insecurities,
nuestras ansiedades, nuestra inseguridad,
our biases -- but we should see ourselves.
sesgos, y, vernos a nosotros mismos.
of restructuring the road.
importante de restructurar el camino.
some listening are saying,
structural violence and structural this,
estructural, y de ese tipo de estructuras,
if you could come up from poverty,
tan malas si Ud. viene de la pobreza,
si ha estudiado en Stanford,
y llegó a ser alcalde".
the term for that is exceptionalism.
eso es algo excepcional.
for people to escape the structures.
poder escaparse de esas estructuras.
in our world are by design.
en el mundo fue diseñado.
nuestras tareas como TEDores,
just people, moral people,
gente justa, gente con principios,
of not just joining hands as neighbors,
nuestras manos como vecinos,
para reestructurar el camino,
to restructure our road,
rooted in things like white supremacy.
de cosas como la supremacía blanca.
has been rooted in things like misogyny.
for far too many people.
we have a chance to change that.
tenemos la posibilidad de cambiarlo.
and I'll end with one.
nueve años y terminaré con otra.
to go on the Freedom Rides
de las marchas de la libertad
de la libertad originales.
about restructuring the road.
la restructuración del camino.
Bob Singleton, asked me a question
me hizo esta pregunta
Alabama, and he said, "Michael,"
me dijo: "Michael,"
on August 4, 1961.
el 4 de agosto 1961.
we wouldn't be on this bus.
no estaría en este bus.
we wouldn't have the rights we enjoy."
los derechos que disfrutamos".
y replicó: "No, hijo".
Barack Obama was born."
that the choice he made
que la decisión que tomó
un ciudadano de segunda clase,
a cup of water at a counter,
en el mostrador,
50 years later, to be president.
50 años después, de llegar a presidente.
to be president?"
pueda llegar a ser presidente?
the question before us today.
con que nos enfrentamos hoy día.
recently isn't abnormal
no es fuera de lo común,
that's been structured
aren't acts of God
no son actos de Dios
they're policy choices,
son elecciones políticas,
approved by voters like you.
aprobados por votantes como Uds.
and the awesome opportunity
What are we prepared to do today,
¿Qué estamos dispuestos a hacer hoy
50 years from now
dentro de 50 años,
rooted in white supremacy;
en una supremacía blanca;
riddled with misogyny;
with homophobia and transphobia
la homofobia y la transfobia sean normales
and Islamophobia and ableism,
y el nivel de capacidad de las personas,
que terminan en -ismo?
that's structured
estructurado para reflejar
to be self-evident?
with certain unalienable rights,
inalienables del Creador,
and the pursuit of happiness.
y la búsqueda de la felicidad.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Michael Tubbs - Mayor of the City of Stockton, CaliforniaMichael Tubbs is the youngest mayor in the history of the US to represent a city with a population of more than 100,000 residents.
Why you should listen
On November 8, 2016, Michael Tubbs was elected to serve as the mayor of the City of Stockton, California. Upon taking office in January 2017, Michael Tubbs became both Stockton’s youngest mayor and the city’s first African-American mayor.
Included in Fortune's 2018 "40 under 40," Forbes' 2018 list of the "30 Under 30" and The Root's 100, Tubbs's leadership, paired with an ambitious agenda, has received national recognition.
Tubbs has secured over $20 million in philanthropic capital to launch the Stockton Scholars, a place-based scholarship that aims to triple the number of Stockton students entering and graduating from college. Tubbs also brought Advance Peace to Stockton, a data-driven program that works to reduce gun violence in communities. Additionally, with an innovative public-private partnership supported by a $1,000,000 seed grant from the Economic Security Project, Tubbs launched the nation’s first municipal level basic income pilot, the Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration.
Before becoming mayor, Tubbs served as Stockton's District 6 City Councilmember. Elected at age 22 in 2013, he became one of the youngest city councilmembers in the country. As a councilmember, Tubbs created the Reinvent South Stockton Coalition, championed the creation of the City's Office of Violence Prevention and was part of the council that led the city out of bankruptcy as Chair of the Audit and Legislative Committee.
Tubbs graduated from Stanford University in 2012 with a bachelor's and master's degree with honors. He has been a college course instructor for Aspire Public Schools and a Fellow at the Stanford Institute of Design and the Emerson Collective. He is a Stockton native and product of Stockton public schools.
Michael Tubbs | Speaker | TED.com