租房記

五十三年前，本文作者James A. White Sr.是一名美國空軍，但作為一名非裔美國人，他幾經(jīng)周折才終于得以在其駐地租下一間房子，他以幽默生動的方式向我們講述了這段經(jīng)歷，揭露了當(dāng)時美國嚴(yán)重的種族歧視現(xiàn)象。然而，時至今日，這種歧視依然以一些隱晦的形式存在著……

An 18-year-old， African-American male joined the United States Air Force and was assigned to Mountain Home Air Force Base and was a part of the air police squadron. Upon first arriving there， the first goal that I had was for me to identify an apartment， so I could bring my wife and my new baby， Melanie， out to join me in Idaho.

I immediately went to the personnel office， and talking with the guys in personnel， they said， “Hey， no problem finding an apartment in Mountain Home， Idaho. The people down there love us because they know if they have an airman who is coming in to rent one of their apartments， theyll always get their money.” And that was a really important thing. He said，“So here is a list of people that you can call.” So I got the list; I made the call. The lady answered on the other end and I told her what I wanted. She said， “Oh， great you called. She said，“We have four or five apartments available right now.” She said， uh， “Do you want a one-bedroom or two-bedroom？” Then she said， “Lets not talk about that. Just come on down， select the apartment that you want. Well sign the contract and youll have keys in your hand to get your family out here right away.”

So I was excited， jumped in my car， went downtown and knocked on the door. When I knocked on the door， the woman came to the door， and she looked at me， and she said， “Can I help you？”I said， “Yes， Im the person who called about the apartments. I was just coming down to make my selection.” She said， “You know what？ Im really sorry， but my husband rented those apartments and didnt tell me about them.” I said， “You mean he rented all five of them in one hour？” She didnt give me a response， and what she said was this： She said， “Why dont you leave your number， and if we have some openings， Ill give you a call？” Needless to say， I did not get a call from her. Nor did I get any responses from the other people that they gave me on the list where I could get apartments.

Even though that was discouraging， it didnt stop me. I kept looking， and I looked at the far end of the town in Mountain Home， and there was a small trailer park. I mean， really small trailer park. It didnt have any paved roads in it， it didnt have the concrete slabs. It didnt have fencing to portion off your trailer slot from other trailer slots. It didnt have a laundry facility. But the conclusion I reached at that moment was I didnt have a lot of other options. And we became homeowners in Mountain Home， Idaho.

Here it is， 53 years later， I now have nine grandchildren， two great-grandchildren. Five of the grandchildren are boys. I have masters， Ph.D.， undergrad， one in medical school. I have a couple that are trending ， you know？ They re almost there but not quite.

I have one that has been in college now for eight years. He doesnt have a degree yet， but he wants to be a comedian. So were just trying to get him to stay in school. Because you never know， just because youre funny at home， does not make you a comedian， right？ But the thing about it， theyre all good kids—no drugs， no babies in high school， no crime.

So with that being the backdrop， I was sitting in my TV room watching TV， and they were talking about Ferguson and all the hullabaloo that was going on. And all of a sudden， one of the news commentators got on the air and she said， “In the last three months， eight unarmed African-American males have been killed by police， white homeowners， or white citizens.”And for some reason， at that moment it just all hit me. I said， “What is it？ It is so insane. What is the hatred thats causing people to do these kinds of things？”

Just then， one of my grandsons called. He said，“Granddad， did you hear what they said on TV？” I said， “Yes， I did.” He said， “Im just so confused. He said， “We do everything we do， but it seems that driving while black， walking while black， talking while black， its just dangerous. What can we do？ We do everything that you told us to do. When stopped by the police， we place both hands on the steering wheel at the 12 oclock position. When pulled out of the car to be searched， when laid on the ground to be searched， when our trunks are opened to be searched， we dont push back， we dont challenge because we know， youve told us， ‘Dont you challenge the police.”

He said， “And this is the piece that really bugs me.” He said， “ Our white friends， our buddies， we kind of hang together. When they hear about these kinds of things happening to us， they say， ‘Why do you take it？ You need to push back. You need to challenge. You need to ask them for their identification.” And heres what the boys have been taught to tell them： “We know that you can do that， but please do not do that while were in the car because the consequences for you is significantly different than the consequences for us.”

And so， as a grandparent， what do I tell my grandsons？ How do I keep them safe？ How do I keep them alive？

So therefore， the only thing that I can do is to take my collective intellect and my energy and my ideas and my experiences and dedicate myself to challenge， at any point in time， anything that looks like it might be racist. So the first thing I have to do is to educate， the second thing I have to do is to unveil racism， and the last thing I need to do is do everything within my power to eradicate racism in my lifetime by any means necessary.

We have to challenge that. It doesnt make any sense. And the only way that I think we can do that is through a collective. We need to have black and white and Asian and Hispanic just to step forward and say， “We are not going to accept that kind of behavior anymore.”

一名18歲的非裔美國男子加入了美國空軍，被指派到芒廷霍姆空軍基地，成為了空中警察中隊的一員。到達(dá)那里后，我的第一個任務(wù)就是為自己找一間房子，那樣我就能把我妻子和剛出世的孩子，梅勒妮，接到愛達(dá)荷州來一家團(tuán)聚。

我立馬跑到了人事部，和那里的人說這件事，他們說：“嘿，要在愛達(dá)荷州芒廷霍姆找房子完全沒有問題。那里的人們非常喜歡我們，因為他們知道，如果租他們房子的人是一名空軍，他們一定能收得到房租?！倍@一點(diǎn)非常重要。他說：“這是一些名單，你可以給他們打電話?！彼?，我拿到了名單，打了電話。電話那頭的女士接了我的電話，我告訴了她我的需求。她說：“噢，很高興接到你的電話，我們現(xiàn)在還有四五間空房?！彼f：“你想要一室的還是兩室的？”她接著說：“我們不必多說。你只管過來這邊，選好你中意的房子。等我們簽好合同，你就能拿到鑰匙，然后立刻把你的家人接過來?！?/p>

所以我感到非常興奮。我跳進(jìn)車?yán)?，開去市區(qū)。去到那里后，我敲了敲門。那位女士走了過來，然后她看著我，說道：“有什么可以為你效勞的嗎？”我說：“是的，我是給你打電話說要租房子的那個人。我就是過來這邊挑選一下?！彼f：“你知道嗎？我很抱歉，我先生把那些房子全都租出去了，卻沒有告訴我?！蔽艺f：“你的意思是，他在一個小時內(nèi)就把五間房子全租出去了？”她沒有回答我這個問題，她只是說：“不如你留下電話號碼，等我們有空房了，我就打給你，怎么樣？”當(dāng)然，我沒有接到她的電話，也沒有接到其他任何一個在那張名單上的人的電話，那張他們給我的房東名單。

雖然這很令人沮喪，但是我并沒有放棄，而是繼續(xù)找，找到了芒廷霍姆偏遠(yuǎn)的市郊。在那里，我找到了一個小拖車公園。真的非常小的拖車公園。里面沒有平整的地面、沒有混凝土板、沒有用來隔開拖車與拖車的柵欄、也沒有洗衣設(shè)備。但是在那一刻，我得出的結(jié)論是我別無選擇。而我們也終于在愛達(dá)荷州芒庭霍姆有了自己的房子。

時至今日，53年以后，我有了九個孫子孫女，其中五個是男孩，還有兩個曾孫。他們有的是碩士，有的是博士，有的是本科生，有一個在讀醫(yī)學(xué)院，還有一些也要讀，你知道嗎？他們差不多能考上，但還差點(diǎn)兒。

我還有一個孫子在讀大學(xué)，已經(jīng)讀了八年。他還沒有拿到學(xué)位，但是他想當(dāng)一個喜劇演員，所以我們還是努力讓他留在學(xué)校吧。你在家里很風(fēng)趣并不代表你可以當(dāng)一個喜劇演員，這可是很難預(yù)料的，不是嗎？但關(guān)鍵是，他們都是好孩子——沒有嗑藥，沒讀著高中就生下孩子，沒有犯罪。

所以，以上面所說的為背景，我坐在客廳看電視，新聞評論員在討論“弗格森”事件以及與之相關(guān)的各種爭論。突然，其中一個新聞評論員開始播報，她說：“在過去的三個月內(nèi)，已經(jīng)有八個手無寸鐵的非裔美國男子被警察、白人房東，或者白人市民所殺。”出于某些原因，在那一刻，我受到了極大的沖擊。我說：“這都是什么事兒？太荒謬了。到底是什么樣的仇恨才能讓人做出這種事？”

就在這時，我的一個孫子打電話來了。他說：“爺爺，你聽到他們在電視上所說的話了嗎？”我說：“聽到了?！彼f：“我感到很困惑。我們只是在做我們該做的事。但似乎只要你是黑人，開車、走路、說話都會有危險。我們能做什么？你告訴我們的事情我們都做了。當(dāng)我們被警察叫住時，我們都把手朝著12點(diǎn)鐘方向放在方向盤上。當(dāng)我們被拖出車外搜身時、當(dāng)我們被壓在地上搜身時、當(dāng)我們的車尾箱被打開搜查時，我們沒有反抗，因為我們知道，你告訴過我們，‘你們不要反抗警察?！?/p>

他說：“還有件事真的令我很困擾：我們的白人朋友，我們兄弟，我們相處得很不錯。當(dāng)他們聽到我們遇到這種事情時，他們說，‘你們?yōu)槭裁匆淌埽銈円纯?，你們要查看他們的證件?！倍@些男孩所受的教育讓他們這樣回答：“我們知道你們可以這樣做，但是當(dāng)我們在車上時，拜托不要這樣做，因為我們所要承擔(dān)的后果可是和你們天差地別。

因此，身為一個爺爺，我要怎樣跟我孫子說？我要怎樣才能保證他們的安全？保護(hù)他們的生命？

因此，我唯一能做的事情就是在必要時運(yùn)用我全部的智慧、精力、思想以及經(jīng)驗去反對種族歧視。所以我第一件要做的事就是教育人們，第二件要做的事就是揭露種族歧視。最后，我要做的就是在有生之年用所有必要的方式，盡己所能根除種族歧視。

我們必須要反對種族歧視，這是毫無道理可言的。我覺得唯一可行的辦法就是集合全部人的力量。我們需要大家——黑人、白人、亞洲人、西班牙人站出來說：“我們不會再接受那種行徑。”