What will you tell your daughters about 2016?
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0:01 - 0:03Tell your daughters of this year,
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0:03 - 0:05how we woke needing coffee
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0:05 - 0:09but discovered instead cadavers
strewn about our morning papers, -
0:09 - 0:14waterlogged facsimiles
of our sisters, spouses, small children. -
0:15 - 0:18Say to your baby of this year
when she asks, as she certainly should, -
0:18 - 0:20tell her it was too late coming.
-
0:20 - 0:24Admit even in the year we leased freedom,
we didn't own it outright. -
0:24 - 0:27There were still laws
for every way we used our privates -
0:27 - 0:30while they pawed at the soft folds of us,
-
0:30 - 0:32grabbed with no concern for consent,
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0:32 - 0:35no laws made for the men
that enforced them. -
0:35 - 0:37We were trained to dodge,
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0:38 - 0:40to wait, to cower and cover,
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0:40 - 0:43to wait more, still, wait.
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0:43 - 0:45We were told to be silent.
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0:45 - 0:48But speak to your girls of this wartime,
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0:48 - 0:50a year preceded by a score of the same,
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0:50 - 0:53so as in two decades before,
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0:53 - 0:54we wiped our eyes,
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0:54 - 0:56laced caskets with flags,
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0:56 - 0:58evacuated the crime scene of the club,
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0:58 - 1:00caterwauled in the street,
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1:00 - 1:03laid our bodies on the concrete
against the outlines of our fallen, -
1:03 - 1:05cried, "Of course we mattered,"
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1:05 - 1:06chanted for our disappeared.
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1:06 - 1:08The women wept this year.
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1:08 - 1:10They did.
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1:10 - 1:12In the same year, we were ready.
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1:12 - 1:15The year we lost our inhibition
and moved with courageous abandon -
1:15 - 1:18was also the year we stared down barrels,
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1:18 - 1:20sang of cranes in skies,
ducked and parried, -
1:20 - 1:23caught gold in hijab,
collected death threats, -
1:23 - 1:24knew ourselves as patriots,
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1:24 - 1:27said, "We're 35 now, time we settled down
and found a running mate," -
1:27 - 1:30made road maps for infant joy,
shamed nothing but fear, -
1:30 - 1:33called ourselves fat and meant, of course,
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1:33 - 1:34impeccable.
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1:34 - 1:36This year, we were women,
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1:36 - 1:38not brides or trinkets,
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1:38 - 1:39not an off-brand gender,
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1:39 - 1:41not a concession, but women.
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1:41 - 1:43Instruct your babies.
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1:43 - 1:46Remind them that the year has passed
to be docile or small. -
1:46 - 1:49Some of us said for the first time
that we were women, -
1:49 - 1:51took this oath of solidarity seriously.
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1:51 - 1:53Some of us bore children
and some of us did not, -
1:53 - 1:56and none of us questioned
whether that made us real -
1:56 - 1:58or appropriate or true.
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1:58 - 2:00When she asks you of this year,
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2:00 - 2:03your daughter, whether your offspring
or heir to your triumph, -
2:03 - 2:06from her comforted side of history
teetering towards woman, -
2:06 - 2:08she will wonder and ask voraciously,
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2:08 - 2:10though she cannot fathom your sacrifice,
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2:10 - 2:13she will hold your estimation of it holy,
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2:13 - 2:15curiously probing, "Where were you?
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2:15 - 2:18Did you fight?
Were you fearful or fearsome? -
2:18 - 2:20What colored the walls of your regret?
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2:20 - 2:23What did you do for women
in the year it was time? -
2:23 - 2:26This path you made for me,
which bones had to break? -
2:26 - 2:28Did you do enough, and are you OK, momma?
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2:28 - 2:29And are you a hero?"
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2:29 - 2:32She will ask the difficult questions.
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2:32 - 2:34She will not care
about the arc of your brow, -
2:34 - 2:35the weight of your clutch.
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2:35 - 2:37She will not ask of your mentions.
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2:37 - 2:40Your daughter, for whom you have
already carried so much, wants to know -
2:40 - 2:44what you brought, what gift,
what light did you keep from extinction? -
2:44 - 2:46When they came for victims in the night,
-
2:46 - 2:48did you sleep through it
or were you roused? -
2:48 - 2:50What was the cost of staying woke?
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2:50 - 2:53What, in the year we said time's up,
what did you do with your privilege? -
2:53 - 2:55Did you sup on others' squalor?
-
2:55 - 2:57Did you look away
or directly into the flame? -
2:57 - 2:59Did you know your skill
or treat it like a liability? -
2:59 - 3:03Were you fooled by the epithets
of "nasty" or "less than"? -
3:03 - 3:05Did you teach with an open heart
or a clenched fist? -
3:05 - 3:07Where were you?
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3:07 - 3:08Tell her the truth. Make it your life.
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3:08 - 3:10Confirm it. Say, "Daughter, I stood there
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3:10 - 3:13with the moment
drawn on my face like a dagger, -
3:13 - 3:14and flung it back at itself,
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3:14 - 3:15slicing space for you."
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3:15 - 3:18Tell her the truth, how you lived
in spite of crooked odds. -
3:18 - 3:20Tell her you were brave,
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3:20 - 3:22and always, always
in the company of courage, -
3:22 - 3:24mostly the days
when you just had yourself. -
3:24 - 3:26Tell her she was born as you were,
-
3:26 - 3:29as your mothers before,
and the sisters beside them, -
3:29 - 3:31in the age of legends, like always.
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3:31 - 3:34Tell her she was born just in time,
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3:34 - 3:35just in time
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3:36 - 3:37to lead.
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3:37 - 3:44(Applause)
- Title:
- What will you tell your daughters about 2016?
- Speaker:
- Chinaka Hodge
- Description:
-
With words like shards of glass, Chinaka Hodge cuts open 2016 and lets 12 months of violence, grief, fear, shame, courage and hope spill out in this original poem about a year none of us will soon forget.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 03:57
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for What will you tell your daughters about 2016? | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for What will you tell your daughters about 2016? | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for What will you tell your daughters about 2016? | ||
Brian Greene approved English subtitles for What will you tell your daughters about 2016? | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for What will you tell your daughters about 2016? | ||
Joanna Pietrulewicz accepted English subtitles for What will you tell your daughters about 2016? | ||
Joanna Pietrulewicz edited English subtitles for What will you tell your daughters about 2016? | ||
Joanna Pietrulewicz edited English subtitles for What will you tell your daughters about 2016? |