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I collect objects. I collect branding irons that were used to mark slaves as property. I collect shackles for adults and restraints for adults as well as children. I collect lynching postcards. Yes, they depict lynchings. They also depict the massive crowds that attended these lynchings, and they are postcards that were also used for correspondence. I collect proslavery books that portray black people as criminals or as animals without souls.
Skupljam predmete. Skupljam željezo koje se koristilo za žigosanje robova kao vlasništva. Skupljam okove za odrasle i sprege za odrasle, kao i za djecu. Skupljam razglednice o linčevanjima. Da, prikazuju linčevanje. Također prikazuju rulju koja je prisustvovala tim linčevanjima i to su razglednice koje su korištene za dopisivanje. Skupljam knjige koje su poticale ropstvo i prikazuju Afroamerikance kao kriminalce ili životinje bez duše.
I brought you something today. This is a ship's branding iron. It was used to mark slaves. Well, they actually were not slaves when they were marked. They were in Africa. But they were marked with an "S" to designate that they were going to be slaves when they were brought to the US and when they were brought to Europe.
Donio sam vam danas nešto. To je željezo za žigosanje s broda. Korišteno je za označavanje robova. Zapravo, nisu bili robovi kada su označeni. Bili su u Africi. Ali označeni su slovom "S" da bi se odredilo kako će biti robovi kada dođu u SAD i kada dođu u Europu.
Another object or image that captured my imagination when I was younger was a Klan robe. Growing up in South Carolina, I would see Ku Klux Klan rallies occasionally, actually more than occasionally, and the memories of those events never really left my mind. And I didn't really do anything with that imagery until 25 years later. A few years ago, I started researching the Klan, the three distinct waves of the Klan, the second one in particular. The second wave of the Klan had more than five million active members, which was five percent of the population at the time, which was also the population of New York City at the time. The Klan robe factory in the Buckhead neighborhood of Georgia was so busy it became a 24-hour factory to keep up with orders. They kept 20,000 robes on hand at all time to keep up with the demand. As a collector of artifacts and as an artist, I really wanted a Klan robe to be part of my collection, because artifacts and objects tell stories, but I really couldn't find one that was really good quality. What is a black man to do in America when he can't find the quality Klan robe that he's looking for?
Još jedan predmet koji mi je zaokupljao maštu kada sam bio mlađi je odora Klana. Odratajući u Južnoj Karolini, ponekad bih gledao skupove Ku Klux Klana, zapravo, češće od ponekad, i sjećanja na te događaje nisu nikad napustila moj um. I nisam ništa napravio s tim slikama sve do 25 godina kasnije. Prije nekoliko godina počeo sam istraživati Klan, tri vala Klana, naročito drugi. Drugi val Klana imao je više od pet milijuna aktivnih članova, što je tada bilo pet posto populacije, a to je, također, tada bila populacija New Yorka. Tvornica Klanskih odora u Buckheadu, Georgia, imala je toliko posla, da je postala 24-satna tvornica kako bi isporučila sve narudžbe. Imali su 20 000 odora na stanju kako bi mogli pratiti narudžbe. Kao skupljač artefakata i kao umjetnik, zaista sam htio da odora Klana bude dio moje kolekcije, jer artefakti i predmeti pričaju priče, no nisam mogao pronaći nijednu koja je bila u dobrom stanju. Što crni muškarac u Americi treba učiniti kada ne može pronaći kvalitetnu odoru Klana koju traži?
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
So I had no other choice. I decided I was going to make the best quality Klan robes in America. These are not your traditional Klan robes you would see at any KKK rally. I used kente cloth, I used camouflage, spandex, burlap, silks, satins and different patterns. I make them for different age groups; I make them for young kids as well as toddlers. I even made one for an infant.
Tako da nisam imao izbora. Odlučio sam da ću napraviti odoru najbolje kvalitete u Americi. To nisu tradicionalne odore Klana koje biste vidjeli na skupu. Koristio sam kente platno, koristio sam kamuflažno, spandex, jutu, svilu, saten i različite uzorke. Radim ih za razne dobne skupine, radim ih za djecu i za mališane. Napravio sam jednu i za bebu.
After making so many robes, I realized that the policies the Klan had in place or wanted to have in place a hundred years ago are in place today. We have segregated schools, neighborhoods, workplaces, and it's not the people wearing hoods that are keeping these policies in place. My work is about the long-term impact of slavery. We're not just dealing with the residue of systemic racism. It's the basis of every single thing we do. Again we have intentionally segregated neighborhoods, workplaces and schools. We have voter suppression. We have disproportionate representation of minorities incarcerated. We have environmental racism. We have police brutality.
Nakon što sam izradio toliko halja, shvatio sam da su politike koje je Klan imao ili želio imati prije stotinu godina, prisutne i danas. Imamo odvojene škole, naselja, radna mjesta, i nije to što ljudi nose kapuljače ono što to omogućuje. Moj rad se bavi dugoročnim učincima ropstva. Ne bavimo se samo ostacima sustavnog rasizma. To je osnova svake stvari koju radimo. Ponovno imamo namjerno razdvojena naselja, radna mjesta i škole. Imamo potiskivanje glasača. Imamo previše manjina u zatvorima. Imamo okolišni rasizam. Imamo policijsku brutalnost.
I brought you a few things today. The stealth aspect of racism is part of its power. When you're discriminated against, you can't always prove you're being discriminated against. Racism has the power to hide, and when it hides, it's kept safe because it blends in. I created this robe to illustrate that.
Donio sam vam danas par stvari. Skriveni aspekt rasizma je dio njegove moći. Kada vas diskriminiraju, ne možete to uvijek dokazati. Rasizam ima moć da se sakrije i kada se sakriva, čuva se jer se uklapa. Stvorio sam ovu odoru kako bih to prikazao.
The basis of capitalism in America is slavery. Slaves were the capital in capitalism. The first Grand Wizard in 1868, Nathan Bedford Forrest, was a Confederate soldier and a millionaire slave trader. The wealth that was created from chattel slavery -- that's slaves as property -- would boggle the mind. Cotton sales alone in 1860 equalled 200 million dollars. That would equal five billion dollars today. A lot of that wealth can be seen today through generational wealth. Oh, I forgot the other crops as well. You have indigo, rice and tobacco.
Osnova kapitalizma u Americi jest ropstvo. Robovi su bili kapital u kapitalizmu. Prvi Veliki čarobnjak 1868., Nathan Bedford Forrest, bio je Konfederacijski vojnik i trgovac robovima, milijunaš. Bogatstvo koje je stvoreno od ropstva kao pokretnine -- to su robovi kao imovina -- bi zapanjila um. Prodaja pamuka 1860. bila je 200 milijuna dolara. To je današnji ekvivalent pet milijardi dolara. Puno tog bogatstva danas možemo vidjeti kroz generacijsko bogatstvo. Oh, zaboravio sam i ostale usjeve. Imate indigo, rižu i duhan.
In 2015, I made one robe a week for the entire year. After making 75 robes, I had an epiphany. I have a realization that white supremacy is there, but the biggest force of white supremacy is not the KKK, it's the normalization of systemic racism. There was something else I realized. The robes had no more power over me at all. But if we as a people collectively look at these objects -- branding irons, shackles, robes -- and realize that they are part of our history, we can find a way to where they have no more power over us. If we look at systemic racism and acknowledge that it's sown into the very fabric of who we are as a country, then we can actually do something about the intentional segregation in our schools, neighborhoods and workplaces. But then and only then can we actually address and confront this legacy of slavery and dismantle this ugly legacy of slavery.
2015., izrađivao sam jedan ogrtač tjedno čitavu godinu. Nakon izrade 75 ogrtača, doživio sam prosvjetljenje. Shvatio sam da je bjelačka nadmoć tu, ali najveća sila bjelačke nadmoći nije KKK, to je normalizacija sustavnog rasizma. Postoji još nešto što sam shvatio. Odore više nisu imale moć nada mnom. Ali, ako mi kao ljudi zajedno pogledamo te predmete -- željezo za žigosanje, okove, odjeću -- i shvatimo da su one dio naše povijesti, možemo pronaći put do mjesta gdje one više nemaju moć nad nama. Ako pogledamo sustavni rasizam i shvatimo da je utkan u ono što jesmo kao država, onda, zapravo, možemo nešto učiniti u vezi namjerne segregacije u našim školama, naseljima i na radnim mjestima. Ali onda, i samo onda se možemo uhvatiti u koštac i suočiti se s nasljeđem ropstva te rastaviti ovo ružno nasljeđe ropstva.
Thank you very much.
Hvala vam puno.
(Applause)
(Pljesak)