Jenny老師的~Sweet~部落格之痞客精華

譯者：徐聖俠(Lohan.bbs@ptt2.cc)，台大動物系畢，1980年生。

“We the people, in order to form a more perfect union.” 
「我們人民，為建立更完善的聯邦」

Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America’s improbable experiment in democracy. Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny and persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787. 
兩百二十一年以前，在一個如今仍屹立在對街的大廳中，一群人匯聚一堂，而以這些簡單文字，推啟了美國這機會渺茫的民主實驗。跨海逃離暴政與迫害的農夫及學者、政治家及愛國人士們，終於在那持續了整個1787年春季的費城會議中，實現了他們的獨立宣言。

The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. It was stained by this nation’s original sin of slavery, a question that divided the colonies and brought the convention to a stalemate until the founders chose to allow the slave trade to continue for at least twenty more years, and to leave any final resolution to future generations. 
他們所提出的文件，後來雖經簽字通過，但最終仍未完成。它被這國家奴隸制度的原罪所玷污，一個使各殖民地間彼此分歧且讓整個會議陷入僵局的疑點。直到開國元老們選擇容許奴隸貿易繼續運作至少二十年，而將任何最終解決方案留給將來的世代。

Of course, the answer to the slavery question was already embedded within our Constitution – a Constitution that had at is very core the ideal of equal citizenship under the law; a Constitution that promised its people liberty, and justice, and a union that could be and should be perfected over time. 
當然，對奴隸制度疑問的答案早已埋藏在我們的憲法之中。一部將依法享有平等公民權這理想置於最核心之憲法，一部承諾人民自由、正義、以及一個可能且應當隨時間獲得進一步完善的聯邦之憲法。

And yet words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage, or provide men and women of every color and creed their full rights and obligations as citizens of the United States. What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part – through protests and struggle, on the streets and in the courts, through a civil war and civil disobedience and always at great risk - to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time.
然而區區羊皮紙上的文字，並不足以助奴隸脫離桎梏；或是提供每種膚色及信仰的男男女女，身為美國公民的完整權利及義務。所需要的，是世世代代願意盡一己之力的美國人，透過抗爭與奮鬥、在街頭與法庭上、透過內戰及公民不服從並且始終冒著極大風險，以縮小理想的承諾與當代的現實間之差距。

This was one of the tasks we set forth at the beginning of this campaign – to continue the long march of those who came before us, a march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America. I chose to run for the presidency at this moment in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together – unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction – towards a better future for of children and our grandchildren.
這是我們在這次競選一開始時所提出的任務之一。為了接續前人的漫長旅途，一個追求更正義、更平等、更自由、更具關懷且更繁榮的美國之旅途。我選擇在歷史上的此時此刻參選總統，因為我深深相信除非我們共同努力，否則無法解決我們此刻面臨的各項挑戰。除非我們為建立一個更完善的聯邦而瞭解到：我們雖懷著不同的故事，但擁有相同的期待；我們可能外表不同且來自不同的地方，但我們都嚮往朝同一方向邁進，朝向一個讓我們子子孫孫更美好的未來。

This belief comes from my unyielding faith in the decency and generosity of the American people. But it also comes from my own American story. 
這份信念，來自於我對美國人民的善良與慷慨不變的堅信。但這也來自於我的美國故事。

I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Patton’s Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas. I’ve gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the world’s poorest nations. I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slaveowners – an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters. I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible. 
我是來自肯亞的黑人父親與來自坎薩斯州的白人母親的兒子。扶養我長大的，是曾經歷過大蕭條而在二次大戰時巴頓將軍旗下服役的白人祖父、以及當祖父身在海外時，在利文沃司堡一家轟炸機生產線上工作的白人祖母。我曾就讀於某些美國最好的學校，也曾在全世界最窮的國家之一生活過。我所娶的是一位在血脈中流有奴隸與奴隸主血液的美國黑人。而我也將這份血脈傳承到我兩個寶貴的女兒身上。在三個大陸上，散佈著我屬於每一個種族及每一種膚色的兄弟、姊妹、外甥、外甥女、叔伯與表親。在有生之年，我將永不忘記，我的故事在地球上任何一個其他國家中，都沒有一丁點可能會發生。

It’s a story that hasn’t made me the most conventional candidate. But it is a story that has seared into my genetic makeup the idea that this nation is more than the sum of its parts – that out of many, we are truly one. 
這個故事並未使我成為最符合傳統的候選人。但這故事在我基因深處烙印著這理念：這個國家不只是部分的總和，而真正是合眾為一。

Throughout the first year of this campaign, against all predictions to the contrary, we saw how hungry the American people were for this message of unity. Despite the temptation to view my candidacy through a purely racial lens, we won commanding victories in states with some of the whitest populations in the country. In South Carolina, where the Confederate Flag still flies, we built a powerful coalition of African Americans and white Americans. 
在這次競選的第一年中，出乎所有預料之外，我們看到了美國人民對於團結和諧的渴望。無視於單純以種族眼光來看我的參選之誘惑，我們在全國最高白人比例的州裡贏得了明確的勝利。在內戰南方聯盟旗仍舊飄揚的南卡羅來納州，我們建立了非洲裔美國人與白人之間的強力聯盟。

This is not to say that race has not been an issue in the campaign. At various stages in the campaign, some commentators have deemed me either “too black” or “not black enough.” We saw racial tensions bubble to the surface during the week before the South Carolina primary. The press has scoured every exit poll for the latest evidence of racial polarization, not just in terms of white and black, but black and brown as well. 
這並不代表種族在這次競選中並不成為一個問題。在這次競選的各個階段，有些評論者曾經認為我要麼「太黑」或是「不夠黑」。我們看到種族緊張關係在南卡羅來那州初選前一週浮出表面。媒體搜遍了每一個出口民調，來找尋支持種族兩極化論點的最新證據。並不僅止於黑白之間，更包含黑色與棕色人種之間。

And yet, it has only been in the last couple of weeks that the discussion of race in this campaign has taken a particularly divisive turn.
然而，一直到最近幾週，這次競選中對種族的討論，才轉入了更引起歧見的彎路。

On one end of the spectrum, we’ve heard the implication that my candidacy is somehow an exercise in affirmative action; that it’s based solely on the desire of wide-eyed liberals to purchase racial reconciliation on the cheap. On the other end, we’ve heard my former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation; that rightly offend white and black alike.
在光譜的一端，我們聽到了一些說法，認為我的參選，只是在執行補助少數族裔的贊許行動；認為我的參選，單純是墊基於不切實際的自由派人士們想要便宜買下種族諒解。在另一個極端，我們聽到了我先前的牧師，傑瑞米亞‧萊特教士，使用了煽動性的語言以表達一些看法。這些看法不只可能擴大種族鴻溝，而且貶抑了我們國家的偉大與善良。這些言論理所當然地，引起白人及黑人雙方的不悅。 

I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely – just as I’m sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed. 
我已經用無可爭議的明確言辭，嚴正批評了萊特牧師造成如此爭議的不當言論。對某些人而言，仍有些疑問隱隱殘留未解。我是否知道，他有時是個尖銳批評美國內政及外交政策的評論者？當然。我是否曾經在坐在教堂內時，聽過他做出些可能被認為有爭議性的言論？是的。我是否曾經強烈不同意他的很多政治觀點？絕對如此。正如我確信，你們之中很多人也曾自你的牧師、神父或猶太祭司口中聽過你所強烈不同意的言論。

But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren’t simply controversial. They weren’t simply a religious leader’s effort to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country – a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam. 
但是造成最近風暴的言論，並不只是具爭議性而已。它們並不單是宗教領袖在試圖對感受到的不公義發聲。相反地，它們表達出對這國家嚴重扭曲之觀點。這觀點將白種人種族主義視為根深蒂固的，且將美國不好的地方強調到高過於所有我們知道美國作的好的地方。這觀點將中東衝突視為主要根源於如以色列等忠實盟友的行為，而非來自扭曲而充滿仇恨的伊斯蘭極端教義派之意識型態。

As such, Reverend Wright’s comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems – two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all.
由此，萊特牧師的評論並不僅僅錯誤，而且挑起分歧。在一個我們需要合作如一的時候挑起分歧；在一個我們需要聯合一起以解決一串巨大問題的時候加強種族緊張。兩場戰爭、一系列恐怖威脅、一個衰敗的經濟、一個持續已久的健保危機及具有潛在毀滅性的氣候變遷。這些問題並不單是黑人、白人、拉丁裔或亞裔的問題，而是我們全民所共同面對的難題。 

Given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. Why associate myself with Reverend Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church? And I confess that if all that I knew of Reverend Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television and You Tube, or if Trinity United Church of Christ conformed to the caricatures being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way.
以我的背景、我的政治走向、和我所公開表示的價值和理想，毫無疑問地，對有些人而言，我批評萊特牧師的言論仍不足夠。為什麼在一開始時要跟萊特牧師打交道？為什麼不加入另一個教會？而我承認，若我對萊特牧師的所知，僅止於在電視和youtube上無限循環的宣道片段，又或是三一聯合基督教會真的符合於某些評論者譏諷的形象，我毫無疑問會以相同的方式回應。

But the truth is, that isn’t all that I know of the man. The man I met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor. He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine; who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing God’s work here on Earth – by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS.
但實際的情況是，那並不是我對這個人所瞭解的全部。我在二十年前遇見的，是一位協助引領我信仰基督的人、是一位對我闡述以愛照護我們同胞的義務的人、告訴我要關懷病者而拉拔窮人的人。他是個曾經在海軍陸戰隊報效國家的男子漢，他也曾在國內最優秀的大學及神學院就讀及講課，他也曾在超過三十年的時光中，帶領教會在世間做上帝的善行，如提供無家可歸者棲身之處、照料有急難需求的人、提供日間托兒服務、贊助獎學金、到監獄佈道、且向身受愛滋病所苦的病患伸出援助之手。

In my first book, Dreams From My Father, I described the experience of my first service at Trinity: 
在我的第一本書《我父之夢》裡，我曾描述過我在三一教會第一次參加的佈道會之經驗：

“People began to shout, to rise from their seats and clap and cry out, a forceful wind carrying the reverend’s voice up into the rafters….And in that single note – hope! – I heard something else; at the foot of that cross, inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lion’s den, Ezekiel’s field of dry bones. Those stories – of survival, and freedom, and hope – became our story, my story; the blood that had spilled was our blood, the tears our tears; until this black church, on this bright day, seemed once more a vessel carrying the story of a people into future generations and into a larger world. Our trials and triumphs became at once unique and universal, black and more than black; in chronicling our journey, the stories and songs gave us a means to reclaim memories that we didn’t need to feel shame about…memories that all people might study and cherish – and with which we could start to rebuild.” 
「人們開始呼喊，從座中立起，擊掌而高聲大叫。一陣強烈的風將牧師的聲音帶到屋脊之上…而在那齊一的音符中 – 希望! – 我聽到了更多；在那十字架腳邊，在城市裡上千座教堂中，我想見了尋常黑人的故事和大衛與巨人哥利亞、摩西與法老、以西結的白骨回生這些聖經故事融合為一。這些生存、自由與希望的故事，成為了我們的故事，我的故事。故事中所流的血，成為我們的血、那滴下的淚，化做我們的淚；直到這黑人教會，在這明亮的白日，好似再次成為了承載著眾人故事的船隻，向廣闊未來世界中的世世代代而去。我們的試煉與勝利既獨一無二而又普及於萬眾，屬於黑人，而不只屬於黑人。在記錄我們的旅途中，這些故事、歌謠使我們有方法能取回我們所不需感到羞愧的記憶…讓所有人能夠學習且珍惜的記憶、讓所有人能開始重建的記憶。」

That has been my experience at Trinity. Like other predominantly black churches across the country, Trinity embodies the black community in its entirety – the doctor and the welfare mom, the model student and the former gang-banger. Like other black churches, Trinity’s services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. They are full of dancing, clapping, screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear. The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in America. 
那才是我在三一教會的經驗。像全美國各地任何其他黑人為主的教堂一樣，三一教會包含了黑人族群的所有層面。醫師與靠福利救助生活的母親、模範學生與前幫派份子。如同其他黑人教會一般，三一教會的講道充滿了喧鬧的笑聲及時而俗氣下流的幽默。它們充滿了對不熟悉的人而言可能刺耳的舞蹈、擊掌、尖叫與高呼。這教會中完整包容了善良與殘酷、熾烈的才智與驚人的無知、掙扎與成功、愛心與，是的，苦澀及偏見，這些組成美國黑人生活的全部經驗。

And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Reverend Wright. As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children. Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect. He contains within him the contradictions – the good and the bad – of the community that he has served diligently for so many years.
而這，也許，能幫助解釋我與萊特牧師的關係。即使他如此地不完美，他對於我還是如同親人一般。他堅定了我的信仰、主持我的婚禮、並領洗我的孩子。我一次都未曾在與他談話時，聽到他對其他族裔說出貶抑之詞；或是對待任何他所接觸的白人時，有任何禮貌與尊重之外的舉止。他在他一人之中包含了，無論好壞，他如此多年來勤奮服務的族群的特質。 

I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother – a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.
我不能與他斷絕關係，正如同我不能與黑人族群斷絕關係。我不能與他斷絕關係，正如同我不能與我的白人祖母斷絕關係。我的白人祖母協助養育我、一次又一次地為我做出犧牲，而且愛我如同她愛這世上任何事物。但她也曾經承認他對路過黑人男子的恐懼，而她也曾不止一次說出讓我揪心蜷縮的種族刻板印象字句。

These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love. 
這些人都是我的一部份。而且他們也是美國的一部份，這個我所摯愛的國家。

Some will see this as an attempt to justify or excuse comments that are simply inexcusable. I can assure you it is not. I suppose the politically safe thing would be to move on from this episode and just hope that it fades into the woodwork. We can dismiss Reverend Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias.
有些人會把這視為一個將單純不可原諒的文字合理化或找藉口的嘗試。我可以向你保證，這不是。我想，政治上安全的作法應該是讓這事件過去，然後希望它消失在叢林之中。我們可以將萊特牧師當作怪人或煽動者來打發掉，如同有些人在她最近發表言論之後，以隱藏著深層的種族偏見為由打發了潔拉汀‧費拉洛一樣。

But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. We would be making the same mistake that Reverend Wright made in his offending sermons about America – to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality. 
但是種族議題，是我相信這國家不能在此時忽略的議題。若如此做，則我們將會犯了如同萊特牧師那些令人反感的講道一樣的錯 -- 將刻板印象簡化而放大負面觀點，直到扭曲了事實。

The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we’ve never really worked through – a part of our union that we have yet to perfect. And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American. 
事實是，最近這幾週所出現的評論及浮現的議題，反映了在這個國家中，種族這複雜議題其實從來沒有得到真正解決。這是我們聯邦仍須改善以求更完美的一部份。如果我們現在遠離這個議題，如果我們僅僅撤退回各自的角落，我們永遠不會聚在一起，一同解決如醫療體系、教育、或為每個人找份好工作的真正挑戰。

Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this point. As William Faulkner once wrote, “The past isn’t dead and buried. In fact, it isn’t even past.” We do not need to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country. But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.
要瞭解這個現實，得先瞭解我們是如何到達這個局面的。如同威廉‧佛克納所說「過去還沒有蓋棺論定。說實在的，過去根本還沒有過去。」我們並不需要在這裡重述這國家中種族不正義的歷史。但我們確實需要提醒我們自己，今日在非裔美人族群中所存在的許多分歧，可以直接追溯到從上一代遺留下來的不平等待遇、在奴隸制度與吉姆‧克羅種族分離法案之下受苦的殘酷遺產。

Segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven’t fixed them, fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, and the inferior education they provided, then and now, helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between today’s black and white students.
種族分離的學校曾經是，而且仍然是，較差的學校。我們在布朗vs教育董事會一案判決之後五十年，仍然還沒有解決這個問題。(註3)而他們所提供的較差教育，無論當時及現在，協助解釋今日白人與黑人學生之間普遍的成就差距。

Legalized discrimination - where blacks were prevented, often through violence, from owning property, or loans were not granted to African-American business owners, or black homeowners could not access FHA mortgages, or blacks were excluded from unions, or the police force, or fire departments – meant that black families could not amass any meaningful wealth to bequeath to future generations. That history helps explain the wealth and income gap between black and white, and the concentrated pockets of poverty that persists in so many of today’s urban and rural communities.
訂於法令中的歧視，當黑人被透過暴力禁止擁有財產、或是不提供借款給非裔美人的小生意老闆、或是黑人購屋者不能夠獲得聯邦住屋局的貸款、或是將黑人排除於公會、警察、消防隊之外等等，這代表者黑人家庭不能夠累積任何有意義的財富，來遺留給下一代。這個歷史協助解釋了黑白之間的收入及財富差距，以及在今日這麼多城市及鄉村社區中，密集的貧困區域。

A lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide for one’s family, contributed to the erosion of black families – a problem that welfare policies for many years may have worsened. And the lack of basic services in so many urban black neighborhoods – parks for kids to play in, police walking the beat, regular garbage pick-up and building code enforcement – all helped create a cycle of violence, blight and neglect that continue to haunt us.
在黑人男性中經濟機會的缺乏，以及不能供養家庭所產生的羞愧與挫折，導致了黑人家庭的侵蝕。這個問題可能還受多年以來的福利政策影響，而變的更差。而且許多都市黑人社區中缺乏基本服務，如孩子們能遊戲的公園、按規巡邏的警察、正規化的垃圾收集服務以及建築法規執法等，全都協助創造了一直困擾我們的一個暴力、荒蕪及漠視的循環。 

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