"I've got people in me." So sang the late Abbey Lincoln. I take that lyric as mantra. "I've got people in me." Jomama Jones is the person in me I turn to as a guide. She's my alter ego. I've been embodying her in performance since 1995, and she comes around when she has some insight to offer folks. At this time of radical change, I'm glad to be the vessel for her message to you.
“有一个人驻在我心中。” 已故歌手艾比 · 林肯 (Abbey Lincoln)曾这样唱到。 我把这句歌词奉为箴言。 “有一个人驻在我心中。” 乔玛玛·琼斯(Jomama Jones) 驻在我心中,她是我的向导。 她是另一个我。 从 1995 年开始, 我就开始在表演中展现她, 当她有想分享的见解给大家, 就会来到我身边。 在充满巨变的时期, 我很荣幸成为她向你传递信息的媒介。
Jomama Jones: What if I told you it's going to be alright ... but what if I told you not yet? What if I told you there are trials ahead beyond your deepest fears? What if I told you will you fall ... down, down, down? But what if I told you you will surprise yourself? What if I told you will be brave enough? What if I told you we won't all make it through? But what if I told you that is as it must be? What if I told you I've seen the future?
乔玛玛·琼斯:如果我告诉你 一切都会好起来...... 那如果我告诉你,一切尚不可知呢? 如果我告诉你,前方有艰难考验 远远超出你的极端恐惧呢? 如果我告诉你,你会摔倒...... 一直往下呢? 但如果我告诉你, 你会带给自己惊喜呢? 如果我告诉你,你足够勇敢呢? 如果我告诉你, 我们无法完全克服困难呢? 但如果我告诉你, 那就是它该有的情况呢? 如果我告诉你,我遇见了未来?
Do you like my hands? They're expressive, yeah? Now look at your hands -- now go on. There's so much history recorded through their touches and marks of the future sketched on their palms. Sometimes hands grip tight, sometimes hands let go. What if I told you it's all going to come undone? Hm.
你喜欢我的双手吗? 他们太有表现力了,对吗? 那么请看看你的双手——大家看看。 通过它们的触摸, 记录了太多的历史往事 以及展现于手掌上的未来印记。 有时双手紧握, 有时双手摊开。 如果我告诉你, 这一切都会消失吗? 嗯。
Ladies and gentlemen and otherwise described, I am Jomama Jones. Some call me a soul sonic superstar, and I agree, though even in my past that was from the future.
女士们和先生们, 还有在座的其他人, 我是乔玛玛·琼斯。 有人叫我“灵魂呐喊的巨星”, 对于这点,我同意, 虽然即使在我的过去, 那也是来自未来。
Let me take you back to girlhood. Picture this: it was Planting Day, which was a holiday I invented for the Black youth community group I founded. I dashed home to put on my gardening ensemble when I caught my uncle Freeman red-handed. He was standing over my piggy bank with his hammer raised high. He was fixing to steal my coins.
说回少女时期。 想象一下: 在植树日里, 是为了纪念我成立的黑人青年社团 而发明的假日。 我飞奔回家带上我的园艺工具, 正好碰到弗里曼叔叔正在作案。 他高举着锤子站在我的存钱罐旁, 他要偷走我的零钱。
And you see, my uncle Freeman was a handyman. He could fix anything -- a broken chair, a shattered pot -- even bring grandmother's plants back to life. He had that magic touch with broken things ... and broken people. He would take me with him on his jobs and say, "C'mon Jo, let's go do something to make this world a better place." His hands were wide and calloused, and they always reminded me of displaced tree roots.
大家知道, 我叔叔弗里曼是一名工匠。 他能修理任何东西—— 损坏的椅子,碎掉的水壶—— 甚至能让祖母的植物起死回生。 他有那种让坏掉东西...... 和伤心绝望之人 复原的奇迹魔力。 他会带我到他工作的地点 说:“来吧,乔, 让我们做点事情,让世界变得更好。” 他的手掌宽大但布满老茧, 它们让我想起四处散布的树根。
As we worked he would talk with folks about the change he was sure was just around the corner. I saw him mend flagging hopes and leave folks with their heads held high. His hands stirred the sunshine.
在我们工作的同时, 他也会和人们讲述 他确信就近在咫尺的变化。 我看到他修补失落的希望, 让人们开始挺胸抬头。 他用双手带来阳光,
And now he was about to break my piggy bank. I said "Step back, man, and show me your hands." You know the irony was he used to give me all the old coins he'd find under floorboards while working. And I put them in the piggy bank along with the money I earned through my childhood side hustles.
而现在他要敲碎我的存钱罐。 我喊道,“退后,老兄,把手举起来。” 你知道讽刺的是 工作时在地板下发现的钱币, 他曾经全部给了我。 而我把它们都放进了存钱罐 连同我的儿时副业所挣的钱一起。
But by the spring of 1970, Uncle Freeman had lost his touch ... along with most of his jobs. He saw a heavy future of civil wrongs and Black power outages in his palms. The last straw had come the previous winter when they had gunned down Fred Hampton. Overwhelmed with fear and rage and grief, Uncle Freeman tried to game his future. He gripped too tight, and he started playing the numbers.
但是到了 1970 年的春天, 弗里曼叔叔与外界失去联系...... 连同他大部分的工作。 他看到国内不法行为和 黑色势力充斥的暗淡前景 愤怒地在掌中蔓延。 当他们枪杀了弗莱德·汉普顿 (Fred Hampton) 那年冬天最后一根救命稻草来了。 恐惧排山倒海 带着愤怒、 还有悲伤, 弗里曼叔叔想把未来当成一场游戏。 他死死抓住机会, 开始玩彩票。
"Well, one of these numbers is gonna hit, little girl. You got a quarter for your uncle Free -- " Now some of y'all have that relative. But I knew right then and there I had to do something. I jumped up and I grabbed that hammer and I brought it crashing down on that pig. And Uncle Freeman started to weep as I gathered up all the coins. "We're not buying no lottery ticket, Uncle Freeman. C'mon."
“是的,这些数字里 肯定有一个会中,小姑娘, 给你的弗里曼叔叔拿二十五美分吧——” 此刻,你们中都有那种亲戚吧。 但我知道那时那地,我要做些什么。 我跳起来抓住那把锤子, 我敲碎了那个存钱罐。 而在我捡起那些硬币时, 弗里曼叔叔开始哭了。 “我们不能再买彩票了,弗里曼叔叔。 来吧。”
We spent every last cent at the seed store. You know, the kids in my gardening group? They didn't bat an eye when I had Uncle Freeman get down and put his hands in the earth again and start breaking up that soil for our seeds. And my little friend Taesha even came over and started slapping him on the back saying, "Cry it out, Uncle Freeman. Cry it out."
我们把最后的每分钱 都花在了种子商店。 你知道的,那些在我园艺群的孩子们? 在我让弗里曼叔叔蹲下 再把双手放进泥中, 把泥块捏碎来掩埋种子, 他们眼睛都没眨一下。 而我的小朋友缇莎甚至跑过来, 开始在叔叔后背敲打 并安慰:“弗里曼叔叔,哭出来吧。 哭出来。”
"I can't fix this," he sobbed. It's an ancient-future truism, that. He wasn't the first to feel that way, and he wouldn't be the last. Right now, it feels as though everything is breaking beyond repair. It is. But that breaking apart can be a breaking open, no matter how violent and uncertain and fearsome it seems. The thing is ... we can't do it alone.
“我做不到,” 他啜泣道。 这是亘古不变的道理。 他不是第一个有这种感觉的人, 也不会是最后一个。 现在,感觉一切似乎无法修复。 是的。 那种困境可以成为突破口, 无论多么暴力或未知 或者看起来多么恐怖。 问题在于...... 我们不能独自完成。
Uncle Freeman cried so much that day as we planted our seeds, he was our very own irrigation system. "I don't know who I am anymore, little girl," he said to me at sundown. "Good, Uncle Freeman. Good. You're new again, and that's just how we need you."
在我们种下种子的时候, 弗里曼叔叔泪流不止, 他就是我们的灌溉系统。 “我不知道自己是谁了,小姑娘,” 他在黄昏时对我说道。 “好的,弗里曼叔叔。 好的。 你又获得新生了, 这正是我们需要你的样子。”