美国国家公共电台 NPR Labeled A 'Terrorist,' A Black Lives Matter Founder Writes Her Record

 

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

And now to the civil rights phrase of this moment - Black Lives Matter. You'll see those words on T-shirts or on yard signs or billboards¹. It's easy to forget that something that's become such a part of a culture started just a few years ago, in 2013, by three women. Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi and Patrisse Khan-Cullors started using it as a hashtag and as an organizing tool to express their frustration², anger and pain over the violent deaths of unarmed black children and adults.

Now, Patrisse Khan-Cullors has published a memoir³ called "When They Call You A Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir." It's co-written with journalist asha bandela. I recently spoke⁴ to Khan-Cullors about it and started by asking whether it's significant that Black Lives Matter was started by women.

PATRISSE KHAN-CULLORS: I think it's important for the legacy⁵ of black women who've been at the helm of movements to identify who the founders⁶ of something are. That's why it's so important that there was an intervention⁷ when Alyssa Milano started tweeting Me Too, and Tarana Burke had created Me Too 10 years ago, right? There is a way in which it is easy to literally⁸ steal black women's work and not feel anything about it. And I think it's important because we've laid a foundation around challenging patriarchy as part of the movement. And I don't think that three men would have had that at the center of their movement for black people.

MARTIN: Why do you think it is as divisive as it has become to some people? Why do you think it evokes⁹ so much resentment¹⁰ and anger? You know, white lives matter, all lives matter, you know, blue lives matter. There's even a blue lives matter bill that was advanced in Louisiana even though there are already enhanced penalties for harming police officers in the commission of their work. So why do you think that evokes this visceral response from some people?

KHAN-CULLORS: When a group of people, but specifically black people - I think there's something about black people being visible or black people getting some threat of power that shakes up white people and their whiteness, that shakes up their experience of what should be true. I think there is a deep desire from even well-meaning white people to believe that they're not racist¹¹.

But the reality is if you live in this country, if you're born and raised as a white person, you most definitely are racist. And you have to contend with that. And I think Black Lives Matter puts it in people's face to deal with not only the ways in which they benefit from whiteness and white supremacy¹² but deal with the ways in which black people actually must be free. And I think that's actually hard to contend with.

MARTIN: When you say whiteness, what do you mean? I mean, whiteness is a condition of, you know, it's a social construct just like blackness is. And so by whiteness, you mean what? Do you mean like the physical appearance of being, like, lighter¹³ skinned? Or do you mean like - what? - a hierarchy¹⁴ where whiteness is valued above...

KHAN-CULLORS: I mean, the latter, which is - yes, whiteness as seeing - whiteness as a social construct, but it's not just a social contract. It's a social construct that believes that white people are better, that if they work hard enough, that of course they just - they'll be able to be middle class or upper middle class. Whiteness, not just about individual privilege, but whiteness and its ability to have power over other people. That's really what I mean.

And I think in the conversations I've had, no matter where I go, there's always one white person will come up to the microphone and say, well, but why not all lives matter? It's literally every single place I go. And I've had to really understand, why is that so important? Why is it so important to not center black people? And I think I've come up with - part of what I've come up with is that white people are really 500 years of centering yourself, your privilege, your children. I think it does something psychologically when white people have to actually say, oh, maybe I don't deserve this.

MARTIN: But for those who say that - who experience Black Lives Matter as being anti-white, what do you say?

KHAN-CULLORS: It's unequivocally not true. Black Lives Matter is really Black Lives Matter Too. It is not a phrase that is about excluding. It's a phrase that is about focus. We are focusing on black people because time and time again, we become the subjects of neglect.

MARTIN: And you are, of course, well aware - because it's really in the title of your book - that the movement has stirred controversy¹⁵ and even been described as terrorists. I mean, one of the things you were alluding¹⁶ to in the book is that there was a petition sent to the White House asking for Black Lives Matter to be labeled as a terrorist organization. And even not to that extreme, I mean, the former police chief of New York, Bill Bratton, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, has blamed this movement for attacks on police officers, some of which have been lethal¹⁷. How do you respond to that?

KHAN-CULLORS: A few ways. One, there's always been a history of undermining black movements, whether that was Martin Luther King and SCLC or the Panther Party, Huey P. Newton. There is a desire always from law enforcement and FBI and CIA to repress and undermine.

MARTIN: In the '60s, these African-American civil rights leaders were constantly derided¹⁸ as Communists. I mean, we know this now from some of the private papers of the former FBI director, J. Edgar Hoover, who was adamantly¹⁹ insistent²⁰ that these were all Communists. Do you see the terrorists as the new Communist?

KHAN-CULLORS: Of course, I absolutely do. I think what we are seeing with the attacks on Black Lives Matter, the verbal attacks and calling us a terrorist organization - I think what I'm proud of is that it didn't stick. At some times, those types of allegations can totally destroy a movement. And I think they didn't stick because we came out and said no, that's not where we are. And, in fact, Micah Johnson wasn't a part of our organization. The only organization he was ever a part of was the U.S. military.

MARTIN: Micah Johnson being the Army reservist who fired on Dallas police officers who were present at the scene of a Black Lives Matter march, at what had been a peaceful march, and was later killed in a gun battle with police. Do you - but you will also say in the book that this was devastating²¹. It was painful. It was hurtful to be to be described that way. Can you talk a little bit about that?

KHAN-CULLORS: You know, the first time I would see our organization and me and other people be labeled as terrorists and then our faces be put on national television was on Bill O'Reilly's show when he was still on air, scrolling²² through Breitbart. And knowing that these right wing pundits²³ had audiences, it was painful because it was such a lie. But it was also scary because the impact of being labeled as terrorists and receiving death threats, both in my email and on phone calls, really start to shape my understanding of how serious, how unsafe I was out in the world when all I ever wanted was safety for myself and black people. And that is - it was such a deep contradiction.

MARTIN: That's Patrisse Khan-Cullors. She's co-founder of Black Lives Matter. Her memoir "When They Call You A Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir" is out now. She was kind enough to stop by by our studios in Washington, D.C. Patrisse Khan-Cullors, thank you so much for speaking with us.

KHAN-CULLORS: Thank you for having me.

1 billboards   

n.广告牌( billboard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Large billboards have disfigured the scenery. 大型告示板已破坏了景色。 来自辞典例句
• Then, put the logo in magazines and on billboards without telling anyone what it means. 接着我们把这个商标刊在杂志和广告看板上，却不跟任何人透漏它的涵意。 来自常春藤生活英语杂志-2006年4月号

2 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

3 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。

4 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。

5 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

6 founders   

n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
• The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句

7 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

8 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

9 evokes   

产生，引起，唤起( evoke的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The film evokes chilling reminders of the war. 这部电影使人们回忆起战争的可怕场景。
• Each type evokes antibodies which protect against the homologous. 每一种类型都能产生抗同种病毒的抗体。

10 resentment   

n.怨愤，忿恨

参考例句：

• All her feelings of resentment just came pouring out.她一股脑儿倾吐出所有的怨恨。
• She cherished a deep resentment under the rose towards her employer.她暗中对她的雇主怀恨在心。

11 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。

12 supremacy   

n.至上；至高权力

参考例句：

• No one could challenge her supremacy in gymnastics.她是最优秀的体操运动员，无人能胜过她。
• Theoretically,she holds supremacy as the head of the state.从理论上说，她作为国家的最高元首拥有至高无上的权力。

13 lighter   

n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级

参考例句：

• The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色，色调明朗了一些。
• The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。

14 hierarchy   

n.等级制度；统治集团，领导层

参考例句：

• There is a rigid hierarchy of power in that country.那个国家有一套严密的权力等级制度。
• She's high up in the management hierarchy.她在管理阶层中地位很高。

15 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

16 alluding   

提及，暗指( allude的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He didn't mention your name but I was sure he was alluding to you. 他没提你的名字，但是我确信他是暗指你的。
• But in fact I was alluding to my physical deficiencies. 可我实在是为自己的容貌寒心。

17 lethal   

adj.致死的；毁灭性的

参考例句：

• A hammer can be a lethal weapon.铁锤可以是致命的武器。
• She took a lethal amount of poison and died.她服了致命剂量的毒药死了。

18 derided   

v.取笑，嘲笑( deride的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• His views were derided as old-fashioned. 他的观点被当作旧思想受到嘲弄。
• Gazing up to the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity. 我抬头疑视着黑暗，感到自己是一个被虚荣心驱使和拨弄的可怜虫。 来自辞典例句

19 adamantly   

adv.坚决地，坚定不移地，坚强不屈地

参考例句：

• "Come over here,"he told her adamantly. “到这边来，”他对她坚定地说。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His family were adamantly opposed to the marriage. 他的家人坚决反对这门亲事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 insistent   

adj.迫切的，坚持的

参考例句：

• There was an insistent knock on my door.我听到一阵急促的敲门声。
• He is most insistent on this point.他在这点上很坚持。

21 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

22 scrolling   

n.卷[滚]动法，上下换行v.（电脑屏幕上）从上到下移动（资料等），卷页( scroll的现在分词 )；（似卷轴般）卷起；（像展开卷轴般地）将文字显示于屏幕

参考例句：

• Another important detail required by auto-scrolling is a time delay. 自动滚屏需要的另一个重要细节是时间延迟。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• In 2D visualization and drawing applications, vertical and horizontal scrolling are common. 在二维的可视化及绘图应用中，垂直和水平滚动非常普遍。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

23 pundits   

n.某一学科的权威，专家( pundit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The pundits disagree on the best way of dealing with the problem. 如何妥善处理这一问题，专家众说纷纭。 来自辞典例句
• That did not stop Chinese pundits from making a fuss over it. 这并没有阻止中国的博学之士对此大惊小怪。 来自互联网