美国国家公共电台 NPR Who Run The Numbers Racket? Mom

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Fannie Drumwright Davis Robinson was an esteemed¹ civic² figure in Detroit. She was married to her teenage sweetheart, came up from the segregated³ South, lived in a fine red-brick colonial house where she cared and cared well for their five children, had a playroom with toys from FAO Schwarz in their basement. Fannie Davis, stay-at-home mother, also ran a numbers racket from her dining room table, an underground gambling⁴ operation that collected bets and paid out winners on the right three-digit numbers. Of course, the numbers game was illegal, but Fannie Davis was known for running an honest illegal game.

Bridgett M. Davis, the novelist and filmmaker, has written a memoir⁵ of a remarkable⁶ character who happened to be her mother - "The World According to Fannie Davis: My Mother's Life For The Detroit Numbers." Bridgett M. Davis joins us from New York. Thanks so much for being with us.

BRIDGETT M DAVIS: It's great to be here.

SIMON: So (laughter) you would hear your mother doing business over your Frosted Flakes⁷, I gather.

DAVIS: Every morning.

SIMON: (Laughter) Well, what was that like?

DAVIS: It was my normal. And, in fact, I found great comfort in the sort of recitation of numbers that she would actually basically be saying over the telephone as she took her customers' bets. I liked the sound of it.

SIMON: So how and why did your mother enter the numbers business?

DAVIS: My mom entered the numbers business out of necessity. She had migrated with my dad and three oldest children to Detroit in the mid-'50s. And my father found it very difficult to get and keep work in the auto⁸ plant in the auto factories in the city. And that's for several reasons. There were discriminatory practices in the auto factories against black men who had migrated there to get work. Lots of things were going on. And my mother just took stock of the situation and realized she really had to make a way out of no way.

And she approached my uncle, her brother John, who had a really good, steady job at the racetrack in Detroit. He was actually an exerciser, a horse exerciser, and he went on to be a trainer. So he had steady money, and she showed up one night, as he says, woke him up and everything and said, listen; I want to bank the numbers. I think I can do this. Do you have $100 that you can loan me? He said, OK, I'll do it.

SIMON: Boy.

DAVIS: And that started her business.

SIMON: And we should explain the numbers were derived⁹ from the Daily Racing¹⁰ Form.

DAVIS: Yes, they were, yes. Back then, it was a very convoluted¹¹ system that apparently¹² only my mother knew how to figure out amongst the family members. But that was how they did it. They came up with three different digits¹³ every day.

SIMON: Your mother sounds like she was quite brilliant with numbers.

DAVIS: My mom was brilliant. She was. She had - as they used to say, she had a way with numbers (laughter).

SIMON: As you grew up, how did you handle your love and pride for your mother with the need for secrecy¹⁴? It's not like you could say, boy, you ought to see my mom do this.

DAVIS: You have really captured the heart of my dilemma¹⁵ my entire life. Imagine being that proud of your mom and not being able to brag¹⁶ about her. But it was a legitimate¹⁷ business that just happened to be illegal.

SIMON: (Laughter) Well - and so widely accepted. I mean, it, if I might put it this way, inspired many states, including the state of Michigan, to begin their own lottery¹⁸.

DAVIS: Oh, that's a nice word, inspired (laughter). I would say they usurped¹⁹ it.

SIMON: And how did it affect your mother's business?

DAVIS: Well, it was sort of affected²⁰ in stages. What a lot of people don't know is that originally when the lottery was made legal in states like Michigan, it was a weekly drawing. Once a week, you could have a chance to win. You didn't get to pick your numbers. And that was not direct competition with the numbers, which was a daily operation in which people were betting on these three digits that they got to choose.

SIMON: Yeah. So they could do birthdays. They could do lucky numbers.

DAVIS: Oh, there are so many numbers in the world that you can bet on. It's in...

SIMON: Three-one-three.

DAVIS: Exactly, 313, Detroit's area code, my favorite because 313 in the "Three Wise Men Dream Book" plays for the word joy.

SIMON: So the state of Michigan did not immediately run your mother out of business, did they?

DAVIS: No. It took five years before the state lottery commission finally got around to its real point, which was to be direct competition with the underground numbers operation. And so that is when they introduce the daily.

SIMON: So that gave immediate²¹ rewards and...

DAVIS: Yeah, immediate payoffs, 500-to-1 payout. People got to choose their numbers. They adopted slogans in their ads that came right out of the black community. It was pretty whole cloth sort of a grab of the system that was already in place.

SIMON: I love towards the end of the book when you not only talk about the ways your mother inspired you emotionally, intellectually, her character, her acumen²², but materially, you benefit from it today, don't you?

DAVIS: How about that? Yes. And believe me, I've never been more appreciative²³. Essentially²⁴ without my realizing it, my mother was providing me with generational wealth. And it had a direct consequence in my life all the way up to now. Thanks to property that my mom bought using money from the numbers, I was able to take that property that I inherited, sell it and use it to invest in a co-op in New York City in Brooklyn. And that led to what I call - every Brooklynite's sort of American dream is to have a brownstone where you can rent out the ground level.

SIMON: And that's your mom.

DAVIS: That's my mom, all the way.

SIMON: Yeah. Bridgett M. Davis - her book, "The World According To Fannie Davis: My Mother's Life In The Detroit Numbers" - thanks so much for being with us.

DAVIS: Thank you for having me.

1 esteemed   

adj.受人尊敬的v.尊敬( esteem的过去式和过去分词 )；敬重；认为；以为

参考例句：

• The art of conversation is highly esteemed in France. 在法国十分尊重谈话技巧。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He esteemed that he understood what I had said. 他认为已经听懂我说的意思了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 civic   

adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的

参考例句：

• I feel it is my civic duty to vote.我认为投票选举是我作为公民的义务。
• The civic leaders helped to forward the project.市政府领导者协助促进工程的进展。

3 segregated   

分开的； 被隔离的

参考例句：

• a culture in which women are segregated from men 妇女受到隔离歧视的文化
• The doctor segregated the child sick with scarlet fever. 大夫把患猩红热的孩子隔离起来。

4 gambling   

n.赌博；投机

参考例句：

• They have won a lot of money through gambling.他们赌博赢了很多钱。
• The men have been gambling away all night.那些人赌了整整一夜。

5 memoir   

n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录

参考例句：

• He has just published a memoir in honour of his captain.他刚刚出了一本传记来纪念他的队长。
• In her memoir,the actress wrote about the bittersweet memories of her first love.在那个女演员的自传中，她写到了自己苦乐掺半的初恋。

6 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

7 flakes   

小薄片( flake的名词复数 )； （尤指）碎片； 雪花； 古怪的人

参考例句：

• It's snowing in great flakes. 天下着鹅毛大雪。
• It is snowing in great flakes. 正值大雪纷飞。

8 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

9 derived   

vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取

参考例句：

• Many English words are derived from Latin and Greek. 英语很多词源出于拉丁文和希腊文。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He derived his enthusiasm for literature from his father. 他对文学的爱好是受他父亲的影响。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

11 convoluted   

adj.旋绕的；复杂的

参考例句：

• The snake slithered through a convoluted path.蛇在羊肠小道上爬行。
• The policy is so convoluted even college presidents are confused.这项政策太令人费解，甚至连大学校长们也是一头雾水。

12 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

13 digits   

n.数字( digit的名词复数 )；手指，足趾

参考例句：

• The number 1000 contains four digits. 1000是四位数。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The number 410 contains three digits. 数字 410 中包括三个数目字。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

14 secrecy   

n.秘密，保密，隐蔽

参考例句：

• All the researchers on the project are sworn to secrecy.该项目的所有研究人员都按要求起誓保守秘密。
• Complete secrecy surrounded the meeting.会议在绝对机密的环境中进行。

15 dilemma   

n.困境，进退两难的局面

参考例句：

• I am on the horns of a dilemma about the matter.这件事使我进退两难。
• He was thrown into a dilemma.他陷入困境。

16 brag   

v./n.吹牛，自夸；adj.第一流的

参考例句：

• He made brag of his skill.他夸耀自己技术高明。
• His wealth is his brag.他夸张他的财富。

17 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

18 lottery   

n.抽彩；碰运气的事，难于算计的事

参考例句：

• He won no less than ￡5000 in the lottery.他居然中了5000英镑的奖券。
• They thought themselves lucky in the lottery of life.他们认为自己是变幻莫测的人生中的幸运者。

19 usurped   

篡夺，霸占( usurp的过去式和过去分词 )； 盗用； 篡夺，篡权

参考例句：

• That magazine usurped copyrighted material. 那杂志盗用了版权为他人所有的素材。
• The expression'social engineering'has been usurped by the Utopianist without a shadow of light. “社会工程”这个词已被乌托邦主义者毫无理由地盗用了。

20 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

21 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

22 acumen   

n.敏锐，聪明

参考例句：

• She has considerable business acumen.她的经营能力绝非一般。
• His business acumen has made his very successful.他的商业头脑使他很成功。

23 appreciative   

adj.有鉴赏力的，有眼力的；感激的

参考例句：

• She was deeply appreciative of your help.她对你的帮助深表感激。
• We are very appreciative of their support in this respect.我们十分感谢他们在这方面的支持。

24 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。