美国国家公共电台 NPR--2 years after George Floyd's murder, many Black Minneapolitans do not feel any safer

2 years after George Floyd's murder, many Black Minneapolitans do not feel any safer

Transcript¹

Since Floyd was murdered by officer Derek Chauvin, what's changed for Black residents? NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to ex-state Sen. Jeffrey Hayden, who represented the district where Floyd was killed.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

How has life in Minneapolis changed since a police officer killed George Floyd? - happened two years ago today. The murder provoked violent protests and demands for radical² police reform. In fact, some voices didn't call for reform but for defunding the police. Two years ago, Jeffrey Hayden was a state senator who represented the area where George Floyd was killed. Weeks after the murder, a primary challenger drove him out of office for failing to endorse³ enough change. We called Hayden back to see what the past two years have brought.

Do people in your area feel safer than they did two years ago?

JEFFREY HAYDEN: No, they don't. There's been a dramatic decrease in the amount of sworn officers in Minneapolis, which has been partially⁴ what people think is leading to have an increase in crime. I know that that's happening around the country. And at the same time, there's a paradox⁵ that as we have less police and we depend on them to protect us, we also - a lot of people still don't trust the Minneapolis Police Department and think that there's been enough reform in the police department for the officers that are still here.

INSKEEP: Wow. Well, there's two forms of danger, then, that we can talk about here. One is the danger from ordinary crime. And you say that's going up. And the other is people who may feel danger from the police themselves. Do people have any more confidence or security about the police than they did?

HAYDEN: I don't think so. The Minnesota Department of Human Rights came out with a report. They did a 10-year look back and showed that there was deep and systemic racism⁶ inside the Minneapolis Police Department that needed to be addressed. And at the same time, the amount of police officers that have decided⁷ to resign since the murder of George Floyd is also giving people a feeling that if they do call and get the right police officers, that they often don't show up, or it takes them a while to get there because they just don't have the numbers.

INSKEEP: You talked about systemic racism, and that can mean so many things in the case of policing. That could be old laws that seem tilted⁸ against one group of people - the drug laws being one example. That could be a lot of individuals with racist⁹ beliefs. Or it could be a lot of reasonably well-meaning people who are in an organization that just sort of tilts¹⁰ its organizational culture in a particular way. What is still going wrong in the Minneapolis Police Department in your estimate?

HAYDEN: I think it's all three of them. I think that there are laws that could be changed that kind of unreasonably¹¹ point - you know, the war on drugs - that unreasonably went after people of color, especially Black people, especially Black men. I think that there is an issue of who we recruit in the city. There was a a figure a couple of years ago when I was still in the legislature that I quoted, that 93% of the Minneapolis police officers didn't live in Minneapolis. So there isn't the connection to the community.

And then, you know, I also think that there's a culture that trains officers in a way that makes it - that's discriminatory. And in the case that I think we all saw - in the Derek Chauvin trial, he was a training officer, and he was the one that said, this is how you should handle this type of situation, which, clearly, we all saw created a movement of this is what happens to Black men in particular that interact with the police.

INSKEEP: What did you think about over the last couple of years as calls to defund the police largely failed and ran into a lot of resistance from people who said, hey, wait a minute. You know, I don't want bad police, but I want police.

HAYDEN: You know, I was one of those people that thought that the sloganeering was a line, and it sent the wrong message to people. There was a disconnect between the people who were calling to defund the police and the communities that were actually being affected¹² by police misconduct. If you look at the last election cycle, Question 2, which was really the question that spoke¹³ to defunding the police in Minneapolis, failed, and it failed in large numbers in Black neighborhoods.

INSKEEP: Was that a factor in your own primary defeat in August of 2020, not very long after George Floyd was murdered?

HAYDEN: Yeah, I think so. I mean, I think that the idea that people were looking for this, you know, radical change, this change that they want it now, that, largely, I got painted and viewed as someone that was kind of part of the problem, even though my record didn't suggest that. And certainly, the resources I brought to the district didn't suggest that. I wanted to make sure that we had police officers that were professional and that showed up to protect me and that was much more of a guardian¹⁴ than someone that was going to harm me. But I think that that slogan - there was a disconnect between those progressive folks that wanted that to happen and those folks living in those communities that really needed the protection.

INSKEEP: I want to ask a question because people hear you, but they can't see you. How do you identify?

HAYDEN: So I identify as a Black man.

INSKEEP: And the reason I ask that question is I am curious today, in 2022, if you passed by a police officer in Minneapolis on the streets, what goes through your mind?

HAYDEN: You know, what always went through my mind, what went through my mind after my mother taught me how to cross the street on my own, that she warned me about, if the police stop, you do whatever they say 'cause I want you to make it home. I'm 56 years old. Or I will be in September. So that's probably about 50 years ago she gave me that lesson. It's the lesson I taught my son. And it's what I still think about. I don't want to give the impression that I think that every single Minneapolis police officer is bad. But it is ingrained in me to get a little more anxious. You hold on to the steering¹⁵ wheel a little tighter, even though everything - if I were to be stopped by the police, everything would be OK. But we have seen so much of this misconduct.

INSKEEP: I wonder if you think in these last couple of years, people, whatever their race, have advanced in their thinking a little bit, if we've all been forced - some of us who maybe hadn't before - been forced to think about these issues a little more deeply, and maybe some of us have arrived at a more nuanced and careful place about it all.

HAYDEN: You know, Minnesota's got 10,000 lakes. And we like to say that there's a million well-intended people who really are good folks and want to live in a society that's free of this kind of overt¹⁶ bias¹⁷ and racism. But we haven't gotten there yet. I mean, this is a fairly wealthy community. But we also lead the nation in almost every indicator¹⁸ in terms of gaps. So we have the biggest education gap, one of the biggest homeownership gaps, one of the biggest ones gaps, one of the largest poverty indicators¹⁹.

We have all of these great institutions in this great region. But people of color, and especially Black people, don't do so well here. So I think we have to get from the idea of enlightenment and guilt²⁰ and shame and wanting to do something to actually doing something. And I think that that has been slow.

INSKEEP: Jeffrey Hayden is a former Minnesota state senator who represented the district where George Floyd was murdered. He's now working for a law firm in Minneapolis. Thanks so much.

HAYDEN: Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

(SOUNDBITE OF TERENCE BLANCHARD'S "MIDNIGHT")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

3 endorse   

vt.(支票、汇票等)背书，背署；批注；同意

参考例句：

• No one is foolish enough to endorse it.没有哪个人会傻得赞成它。
• I fully endorse your opinions on this subject.我完全拥护你对此课题的主张。

4 partially   

adv.部分地，从某些方面讲

参考例句：

• The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
• The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静，宵禁部分解除。

5 paradox   

n.似乎矛盾却正确的说法；自相矛盾的人(物)

参考例句：

• The story contains many levels of paradox.这个故事存在多重悖论。
• The paradox is that Japan does need serious education reform.矛盾的地方是日本确实需要教育改革。

6 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

8 tilted   

v. 倾斜的

参考例句：

• Suddenly the boat tilted to one side. 小船突然倾向一侧。
• She tilted her chin at him defiantly. 她向他翘起下巴表示挑衅。

9 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

10 tilts   

（意欲赢得某物或战胜某人的）企图，尝试( tilt的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• As the kitten touches it, it tilts at the floor. 它随着击碰倾侧，头不动，眼不动，还呆呆地注视着地上。 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译
• The two writers had a number of tilts in print. 这两位作家写过一些文章互相攻击。

11 unreasonably   

adv. 不合理地

参考例句：

• He was also petty, unreasonably querulous, and mean. 他还是个气量狭窄，无事生非，平庸刻薄的人。
• Food in that restaurant is unreasonably priced. 那家饭店价格不公道。

12 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。

13 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

14 guardian   

n.监护人；守卫者，保护者

参考例句：

• The form must be signed by the child's parents or guardian. 这张表格须由孩子的家长或监护人签字。
• The press is a guardian of the public weal. 报刊是公共福利的卫护者。

15 steering   

n.操舵装置

参考例句：

• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration. 他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。
• Steering according to the wind, he also framed his words more amicably. 他真会看风使舵，口吻也马上变得温和了。

16 overt   

adj.公开的，明显的，公然的

参考例句：

• His opponent's intention is quite overt.他的对手的意图很明显。
• We should learn to fight with enemy in an overt and covert way.我们应学会同敌人做公开和隐蔽的斗争。

17 bias   

n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见

参考例句：

• They are accusing the teacher of political bias in his marking.他们在指控那名教师打分数有政治偏见。
• He had a bias toward the plan.他对这项计划有偏见。

18 indicator   

n.指标；指示物，指示者；指示器

参考例句：

• Gold prices are often seen as an indicator of inflation.黃金价格常常被看作是通货膨胀的指标。
• His left-hand indicator is flashing.他左手边的转向灯正在闪亮。

19 indicators   

（仪器上显示温度、压力、耗油量等的）指针( indicator的名词复数 )； 指示物； （车辆上的）转弯指示灯； 指示信号

参考例句：

• The economic indicators are better than expected. 经济指标比预期的好。
• It is still difficult to develop indicators for many concepts used in social science. 为社会科学领域的许多概念确立一个指标仍然很难。

20 guilt   

n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责

参考例句：

• She tried to cover up her guilt by lying.她企图用谎言掩饰自己的罪行。
• Don't lay a guilt trip on your child about schoolwork.别因为功课责备孩子而使他觉得很内疚。