Transcript

When your motherland cries | Gjon Juncaj | TEDxTirana

I am here today to take you on a journey this is a journey based on my own personal experiences and my own naked thoughts nothing I say here today should be interpreted as being the views of the United States government this journey is about love and obligation towards two different mothers in two different homes our journey begins over 30 years ago at a small elementary school just outside of Detroit Michigan in the United States and it's lunchtime at this school the kids whose parents have paid for the school lunch are very excited because they're lined up today and they know what's on the menu it's pizza applesauce and their choice of juice and chocolate milk you know most of them will pick chocolate milk now on the other side of the lunchroom there's a smaller group of kids and these are the kids that were sent to school with a lunch from home this is what we used to call the brown paper bag kids and these kids in the brown paper bags will have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches bologna sandwiches cold pizza potato chips good old-fashioned American lunch food amongst these kids is one very nervous and very lonely little boy he's nervous because he's afraid the other kids will see what's inside his brown paper bag and he made himself lonely so he could hide from them so as he cautiously opens up that bag he pulls out a bundled up small towel and he feels like the eyes of all the other kids are on him because they are because as soon as that towel opens up one boy stands and points what is that it's bucket the author Cassavetes Albanian white cheese and bread and cucumber and maybe even tomato is delicious but it's not a very cool thing to bring to an elementary school in Michigan in the 1980s in America we have this saying that if something is very American it's as American as baseball and apple pie well I was as American as baseball Boogedy off an apple pie growing up in a in Detroit as a young Albanian kid and throughout my life was a lot like having two mothers on the one head I had the United States this was my surrogate mother the one that raised me the one that put a roof over my head and then there was Albania my blood mother but the one I never met and the one I only heard about now in many ways I was a very all-american kid okay that means I played American football that's the football with the funny ball I also celebrated the 4th of July and when I wasn't eating book ID off I loved hamburgers and french fries I still love hamburgers and french fries I'm also a big sports fan so every two years I was really excited when the Olympics came around because it was either the summer Winter Olympics it didn't matter because I would sit in front of that TV set and I would look and watch and from beginning to end opening ceremonies until the end it was USA USA because I wanted America to always come out on top in the medal counts that was important to me now living in America is a first generation kid I was also very appreciative of the opportunities that she gave me my parents raised four kids put him through college I went to law school I was rewarded for my own individual achievements I also very much admired people that served America like police officers and firefighters and teachers and the military and my mother America though she had rules and living under her house I respected them for example you know she was serious about justice that means if you do something wrong you're gonna get in trouble but she was also serious about fairness and equality that means you'll be treated fairly anyways and she was about fairness and equality for everyone in her community whether it was the rich and privileged or the poor and the less fortunate you see in America justice in her house was like that warm blanket that every mother has in their home available for their kids when they're in the coldest and they need it the most now during this time of course I grew up and I went to law school and I had the privilege of actually joining the Justice Department in the United States this was a huge day for me I was very proud my parents were very proud and you know what I was even prouder because I was one of the first federal prosecutors to be Albanian America that meant a lot to me why did that mean a lot to me well because my whole life I was constantly reminded of Mother Albania and if I wasn't reminded of her I felt like I was always searching for her you know the first instance my first language is Albanian that's what we spoke in my house even though I was born there it's no longer my best language I'll admit that but it's still my first language and I also had another reminder this is not a very All American name if you didn't realize you know how they say this in America they say good John John kitch John John Koch mr. junk junk in your eye if I went to the doctor's office and somebody came out with a list and they waited and they pause and they looked at the name that's me that was always a constant reminder and as an Albanian American kid though you know we also celebrated things that Albanians did in Albanian all over the world like face stuff now Modi's the 28th of November this was a big deal in my house where I come from in the Michigan area of Metro Detroit area the Albanian Americans there are very proud always have been so it wouldn't be unusual to be walking down a street anywhere in the Detroit area and see somebody with an Albanian Eagle tattoo on their arm or they might be wearing an Albanian Eagle shirt or they might be wearing an Albanian Eagle hats and you know what you don't even have to know that person if you said oh yeah shupette they say hey soup it we were tight we were proud where we came from and I always wondered why we were so tight in Detroit they would say we had each other's backs so I thought to myself why is that you know maybe maybe it's a matter of statistics humanity right now is about 7.5 billion people Albanians were just point 1 3 percent about if you say we're ten million this is me right here that tiny little dot I thought I'm in this tiny tribe against the entire world of course we're tight or maybe it was a matter of history you know what I knew who Jorge Castillo theis kinder Bale was before I knew who George Washington was he was a man on a horse with a few loyal people liberated this country from the world's most powerful empire so he could raise an Albanian flag for the first time he was proud of where he came from now that flag if you look at the course of history didn't stay up very long but when it came down the pride of the Albanian people didn't come down with it because for hundreds of years Albanians State Albanians and they weren't satisfied until the flag went up again in 1912 so you can see that my experience with Albania his for 40 years of my life was a very emotional one it was never a physical contact one with my motherland so imagine the excitement that I felt when I got the opportunity to come to Albania and it's what I did a little over two years ago when my wife and family packed up most of our things and we moved it's Rana this was a huge moment for me imagine hearing about a mother you never met for 40 years and walking into her house and looking around and being surrounded by Albanians my brothers and sisters the bakers Albanian the police officers all painted the crazy drivers in Tirana are all Albanian and I love them and I noticed a few other things though that didn't surprise me Albanians in Tirana and throughout Albania are just as bid is kind and hospitable to their guests and their friends the people that visit them as the Albanians are in Michigan where I'm from I also realized that the food here is amazing there's more to eat than just the good job and the one thing that I didn't expect was this mother Albania of mine she is drop-dead gorgeous from her Alps in the north to her crystal blue waters in the south the Ionian Sea God has given this woman every beautiful characteristic you can imagine in this tiny little place but as I sit and sat with you know this blood mother of mine I was able to spend more time with her I was able to hold her hand to touch her face and to look into her eyes and the more I sat there and the more I looked in her eyes the more I saw sadness and tears and she cried because too many of her young and talented and beautiful children are leaving her home to find homes elsewhere because society has failed them in too many ways you know in over 15 years of the Justice Department I have seen the effects of corruption where I'm from in Metro Detroit I've seen it there too we've lived through it as well and I think we've pretty much defeated it but nowhere have I seen so many innocent victims left unprotected and without recourse in the justice system as I've seen here Albanians deserve better I have a confession to make I spent so many days in so many hours trying to figure out what I would say to you this last one or two minutes all the way up until late last night way too late last night and it occurred to me that you know what don't be complicated John you're talking to your your family your tribe your brothers and sisters Albanians have different experiences we come from different places but when our mother's sad and she needs us the most we know how to come together we have throughout our history so I want to be honest with you and Express raw and pure emotions with you and I have to one is I'm very ashamed I'm ashamed of the few people as we would say where I come from off dude who have caused so much pain and have been so unfair to people in so many sectors of their life whether it's health care whether it's the education system whether it's someone who wants to go to school and really do well and be hired because of their own merit and their own accomplishments as opposed to who they know or how much money they're gonna pay for a job and I'm especially ashamed because they have no more faith in the justice system because it has let them down too much but I have a second feeling I want to share with you and that is hope as I said before Albanians we know how to come together okay if a man on a horse can liberate Albania from the world's greatest empire then a few Albanians all of us Albanians I should say can liberate it from a few shameless ones that want to steal it from within that can only be done if we all come together now look laws have been changed recently we read about it in the papers and we know that our friends are here to help us well this is an Albanian problem only we can take the sadness out of our mother's eyes and we have to act if you're in a position to act act you don't have to be a government worker and if you are now's the time to serve the country instead of those few people you can think about what you can do in your own life one thing is for sure we all have a voice and it's time to use it we are many and they are few for over 100 years Albanians have raised a flag now it's time to raise a country a country that Albanians everywhere can be proud of Albanians everywhere and I mean Albanians from the courtrooms of Tirana to the lunch rooms of Detroit thank you [Applause]