James A. White Sr.: The little problem I had renting a house
James White, Sr.: Težavica, ki sem jo imel pri najemu hiše
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
se je pridružil vojaškemu letalstvu ZDA
Air Force Base
Mountain Home.
the first goal that I had
and my new baby, Melanie,
in hčer, Melanie,
the personnel office,
an apartment in Mountain Home, Idaho.
stanovanje v Mountain Home, Idaho.
because they know if they have an airman
ker vedo, da če imajo letalca,
one of their apartments,
of people that you can call,
ki jih lahko pokličeš
to select the apartment that you want."
da si izbereš stanovanje, ki bi ga rad."
and I told her what I wanted.
sem povedal, kaj želim.
available right now."
štiri ali pet stanovanj."
a one-bedroom or two-bedroom?"
ali dvosobno stanovanje?"
select the apartment that you want.
to get your family out here right away."
da bo vaša družina takoj prišla sem."
and knocked on the door.
v mesto in potrkal na vrata.
the woman came to the door,
"Can I help you?"
"Vam lahko pomagam?"
who called about the apartments.
ki je klical zaradi stanovanj.
to make my selection."
I'm really sorry,
and didn't tell me about them."
ta stanovanja in mi ni povedal."
all five of them in one hour?"
da je oddal vseh pet v eni uri?"
and what she said was this:
leave your number,
I'll give you a call?"
vas bom poklicala?"
I did not get a call from her.
from the other people
where I could get apartments.
and feeling rejected,
to the squadron commander.
in govoril s komandirjem.
potrebujem pomoč."
and here's what he said to me:
in rekel mi je:
that they don't want to rent to.
oddajo stanovanje, če tega ne želijo.
with people in the community
zelo dobro razumemo
what you should do.
that you get a 30-day leave.
spend 30 days and then come on back."
preživiš tam 30 dni in prideš nazaj."
resonate for me.
I went back to personnel,
sem odšel nazaj v kadrovsko
solution for you.
mislim, da imam rešitev zate.
and he has a trailer.
in on ima prikolico.
all over the place.
in prikoličarskih naselij.
and you'd probably get a really good deal
verjetno bo zelo poceni,
as soon as possible.
the solution for you."
went downtown, saw the trailer --
šel v mesto, videl prikolico -
best thing that I could do.
kar lahko dobim.
"Lahko pustim prikolico tu
"Can I just leave the trailer here,
of all my problems,
drugega naselja?"
another trailer park?"
I need to check with management."
moram vprašati vodstvo."
to some other people."
other slots that were open,
had promised that slot to someone else.
because there are a lot of trailer parks."
veliko je še prikoličarskih naselij."
za obisk prikoličarskih naselij.
of going to trailer parks.
after another.
for the apartment.
that they made to me,
ki sem jih dobil:
didn't have any slots open,
da nimajo prostih mest,
why we can't rent to you,
"Jim, ne morem ti dati prostora,
in the trailer park."
v tem naselju."
because I like you people."
meni ste všeč."
I chuckled, too.
Zasmejal sem se.
will move out
se bodo ostali izselili
that kind of a hit."
dati prostora."
it didn't stop me.
me ni ustavilo.
of the town in Mountain Home,
v Mountain Home-u,
prikoličarsko naselje.
from other trailer slots.
od prostora drugih.
at that moment
a lot of other options.
"We're going to make this one work."
"Tole bova premagala."
in Mountain Home, Idaho.
v Mountain Home-u, Idaho.
things settled down.
to move from Mountain Home, Idaho
naj se preselim iz Idaha
It was another great location. (Laughter)
To je bila še ena odlična lokacija. (Smeh)
from Mountain Home, Idaho
iz Mountain Home-a
had just purchased a brand-new automobile.
čisto nov avtomobil.
and said she'll fly out.
da bo priletela k nama.
she'll help us manage the children.
in pomagala z otroki.
put a lot of food together for the trip.
sta pripravili veliko hrane za pot.
good conversation.
se pogovarjali.
we got a little bit tired,
smo postali malo utrujeni
a motel so that we can rest
kjer bomo lahko počivali
in the morning?"
of the motels as we drove down the road,
big, bright flashing light that said,
utripajoča luč vabila:
jaz sem šel noter.
I went inside.
one contract with some folks,
s skupino ljudi,
were coming in behind me.
for the evening for my family."
za ta večer za svojo družino."
I just rented the last one.
ravno sem oddala zadnjo.
until the morning."
about an hour, 45 minutes,
po cesti eno uro, 45 minut,
'Vacancies' light on, and it's flashing."
prižgan napis 'Proste sobe' in utripa."
and turned the light off.
No one said anything.
and went outside to the parking lot.
and also Melanie, and I said,
in tudi Melanie, rekel sem:
drive a little bit further down the road
malo dlje po cesti,
and pulled out of the parking lot,
speljali s parkirišča,
Vacancies, Vacancies."
proste sobe, proste sobe".
but it was secure and it was clean.
a bil je varen in čist.
kinds of experiences
to Pennsylvania,
motels and restaurants.
motelih in restavracijah.
Everyone was glad to see the kids.
Vsi so bili veseli, da vidijo otroke.
to Goose Bay, Labrador,
in odletel v Goose Bay, Labrador,
two great-grandchildren.
one in medical school.
diplomo, enega na medicinski fakulteti.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
in college now for eight years.
but he wants to be a comedian.
to stay in school.
does not make you a comedian, right?
še nisi komik, kajne?
they're all good kids --
in high school, no crime.
nosečnosti v srednji šoli, kriminala.
in gledal televizijo,
and all the hullabaloo that was going on.
in vsej tamkajšnji zmešnjavi.
commentators got on the air and she said,
televizijska komentatorka v eter rekla:
temnopoltih Američanov
white homeowners, or white citizens."
ali beli državljani.
it just all hit me.
me je v tistem trenutku zadelo.
to do these kinds of things?"
ljudje počnejo vse te stvari?"
what they said on TV?"
kaj so rekli na televiziji?"
but it seems that driving while black,
da je enostavno nevarno,
it's just dangerous.
that you told us to do.
kot si nas naučil.
at the 12 o'clock position.
v položaj ure ob 12-ih.
into the glove compartment to get my I.D.'
po osebno izkaznico."
za preiskavo,
because we know, you've told us,
ker vemo, ker si nam povedal:
be the ones to challenge."
in bomo mi tisti, ki bomo izzivali."
that really bugs me:
we kind of hang together.
naši kolegi, družimo se.
of things happening to us, they say,
se nam dogajajo, rečejo:
You need to challenge.
for their identification.'"
taught to tell them:
but please do not do that
ampak prosim ne delajte tega,
are significantly different
what do I tell my grandsons?
kaj naj povem svojim vnukom?
How do I keep them alive?
Kako naj jih ohranim žive?
come to me and said,
da bi bil lahko jezen
of being enraged."
energy and my ideas and my experiences
energijo, ideje in izkušnje
at any point in time,
da v vsakem trenutku nasprotujem
like it might be racist.
to do is to educate,
is to unveil racism,
is do everything within my power
by any means necessary.
še v času življenja uničim rasizem.
to their dignity,
na njihovo dostojanstvo,
heinous crimes in an adverse manner.
grozljive zločine na škodljiv način.
of societal knowledge,
družbenega znanja,
and societal consciousness
in družbene zavesti,
all of us come together,
vsi mi pridemo skupaj,
and we challenge any kind of insanity,
in dvomili v katerokoli norost,
okay to kill unarmed people,
primerno ubijati neoborožene ljudi,
It doesn't make any sense.
is through a collective.
je skozi skupnost.
and Asian and Hispanic
in Azijce in Latinoameričane,
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