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歷，揭露了當時美國嚴重的種族歧視現象。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 1）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 2）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， they’ll 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， “Let’s not talk about that. Just come on down， select the apartment that you want. We’ll sign the contract and you’ll 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， I’m the person who called about the apartments. I was just coming down to make my selection.” She said， “You know what？ I’m really sorry， but my husband rented those apartments and didn’t tell me about them.” I said， “You mean he rented all five of them in one hour？” She didn’t give me a response， and what she said was this： She said， “Why don’t you leave your number， and if we have some openings， I’ll 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 didn’t stop me. I kept looking， and I looked at the far end of the town in Mountain Home， and there was a small 3）trailer park. I mean， really small trailer park. It didn’t have any paved roads in it， it didn’t have the concrete slabs. It didn’t have fencing to portion off your trailer slot from other trailer slots. It didn’t have a laundry facility. But the conclusion I reached at that moment was I didn’t 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 master’s， 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 doesn’t have a degree yet， but he wants to be a comedian. So we’re just trying to get him to stay in school. Because you never know， just because you’re funny at home， does not make you a comedian， right？ But the thing about it， they’re 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 4）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 that’s 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， “I’m just so confused. He said， “We do everything we do， but it seems that driving while black， walking while black， talking while black， it’s 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 o’clock 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 don’t push back， we don’t challenge because we know， you’ve told us， ‘Don’t 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 here’s what the boys have been taught to tell them： “We know that you can do that， but please do not do that while we’re 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 5）eradicate racism in my lifetime by any means necessary.

We have to challenge that. It doesn’t 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。到達那里后，我的第一個任務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，接到愛達荷州來一家團聚。

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。”而這一點非常重要。他說：“這是一些名單，你可以給他們打電話。”所以，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，我們現在還有四五間空房。”她說：“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。”

所以我感到非常興奮。我跳進車里，開去市區。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。