美国国家公共电台 NPR How Racism Has Manifested Itself In Schools As Recalled By Listeners

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

The recent stories about high-profile politicians in Virginia having worn blackface have caused many people to remember their own experiences, times that people around them blithely¹ invoke² racist³ caricatures and have made them feel unwelcome or unsafe. We asked you to share your stories about racism⁴ at school, either recently or in the past. And here's some of what people told us.

CORYNNE JONES: Hello. My name is Corynne Jones (ph). The story that I wanted to share was I went to Clemson University. My senior year, 2007 - it was either on Martin Luther King's birthday, or it was on the holiday. A group of white kids threw a Martin Luther King party. And they had some little kitschy slogan for it like living the dream or something like that. I don't really recall. And a lot of kids showed up. A lot of white kids showed up with their skin darkened in some way or with, you know, other stereotypical⁵ things like foil on their teeth or 40s in their hand or pads in their butt⁶ to make their butt bigger. And it got out on Facebook. And the way the university responded - it was interesting being on campus. Like, you're - often, you might be the only black person in classes there. And the school - they barely wanted to do anything at all. Let's keep the peace was the bigger response. You know, at the time, I was in college. And I'm like, hey, I'm trying to be a good member of society. And at every turn, it's like you're reminded that you're nothing. And you're always going to be thought of as a joke. I guess every time something like this happens, it takes a chunk⁷ out of you.

LILY LEE: My name is Lily Lee (ph). Or my Hmong name is Gao (ph). I'm Hmong American. My siblings⁸ - my younger sister, my older sister and my little brother - we made up basically the Asian student body. You know, at first, I didn't really think about it. I just felt like it was school. Then the other children started singing songs. And then they would make these gestures. They would slant⁹ their eyes up. And then they would slant it down. And they would pull out their shirts like Christmas trees (unintelligible). And they would sing Chinese, Japanese, what are these? - Christmas trees. And they would do that every single day. When we're walking, they would slant their eyes and say, can you see? Can you see? And, you know, you're supposed to go to school. And you're supposed to feel safe. And I didn't feel safe. I felt tormented¹⁰. And now looking back, I just feel - I feel angry. I've never, ever spoken about this for the past two decades - two and a half decades. And so it's really nice to just be able to tell you.

BRETT CHAPMAN: My name is Brett Chapman (ph). I'm a member of the Pawnee tribe. And I also am Ponca and Kiowa. You know, growing up in Oklahoma, what we would do is we would celebrate land run days. Basically, they take you out on schoolyard. And you got this little stick with a flag on it. And you just go stake your claim. You know, the girls have little bonnets¹¹ on. There's these little wagons¹². They look like covered wagons. I mean, it's just nonsense. We would celebrate Thanksgiving, you know? And you either put the little, black belt buckle¹³ on or the hat. Or you do a headdress. You know, I can remember as a child picking - you had to pick one. I'd be the pilgrim, you know? To demean your own culture like that - a headdress has a meaning. In Ponca culture, there's only a few people that can wear headdresses, the line of hereditary¹⁴ chiefs. They can wear headdresses. It's a symbol of authority and respect. But it's just been so stereotyped¹⁵ into a joke. You know, you've got kids cutting out construction paper and putting it on their head and just kind of going around making fools of Indians. And, you know, the harmful aspect of that is no one ever takes it seriously because of that.

BETH PAUTIN: My name is Beth Pautin (ph). I went to a boarding school for high school in Alabama. To raise money for prom and different dances and things, our school would have slave auctions¹⁷. Folks were allowed to raffle¹⁸ themselves off and stand up in front of everybody on an auction¹⁶ block. Then if you bid the most money, then you got to keep that person for an entire day and make them do whatever you wanted. It really bothered me. I went to talk to the headmaster. And they really weren't willing to change things. But they eventually changed the name to serf sales, I think, by the time I had graduated.

I mean, it certainly makes you feel emotionally vulnerable and a little bit unsafe. And when I think back to all of the things that my family had to endure to be able to just attend school - my grandfather had to sue the Board of Education in order to desegregate schools in the state of Alabama. So access to education is something that I've learned to really appreciate. And to have gotten all the way to the '90s, 30 years after my father desegregated schools, it makes you feel like you still don't belong there. We've had 30 years of participation¹⁹. But it still is not a place that's safe for me.

SIMON: Important words from Beth Pautin, Brett Chapman, Lily Lee and Corynne Jones.

1 blithely   

adv.欢乐地，快活地，无挂虑地

参考例句：

• They blithely carried on chatting, ignoring the customers who were waiting to be served. 他们继续开心地聊天，将等着购物的顾客们置于一边。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He blithely ignored her protests and went on talking as if all were agreed between them. 对她的抗议他毫不在意地拋诸脑后，只管继续往下说，仿彿他们之间什么都谈妥了似的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 invoke   

v.求助于(神、法律)；恳求，乞求

参考例句：

• Let us invoke the blessings of peace.让我们祈求和平之福。
• I hope I'll never have to invoke this clause and lodge a claim with you.我希望我永远不会使用这个条款向你们索赔。

3 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。

4 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。

5 stereotypical   

n.常规

参考例句：

• Personas should be typical and believable, but not stereotypical. 人物角色应该是典型和可信赖的，但不是一成不变的。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Anything could be stereotypical, so I guess it could be criticism. 任何东西都可以变的老套，所以我猜那就是一种批评。 来自互联网

6 butt   

n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶

参考例句：

• The water butt catches the overflow from this pipe.大水桶盛接管子里流出的东西。
• He was the butt of their jokes.他是他们的笑柄。

7 chunk   

n.厚片，大块，相当大的部分（数量）

参考例句：

• They had to be careful of floating chunks of ice.他们必须当心大块浮冰。
• The company owns a chunk of farmland near Gatwick Airport.该公司拥有盖特威克机场周边的大片农田。

8 siblings   

n.兄弟，姐妹( sibling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A triplet sleeps amongst its two siblings. 一个三胞胎睡在其两个同胞之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She has no way of tracking the donor or her half-siblings down. 她没办法找到那个捐精者或她的兄弟姐妹。 来自时文部分

9 slant   

v.倾斜，倾向性地编写或报道；n.斜面，倾向

参考例句：

• The lines are drawn on a slant.这些线条被画成斜线。
• The editorial had an antiunion slant.这篇社论有一种反工会的倾向。

10 tormented   

饱受折磨的

参考例句：

• The knowledge of his guilt tormented him. 知道了自己的罪责使他非常痛苦。
• He had lain awake all night, tormented by jealousy. 他彻夜未眠，深受嫉妒的折磨。

11 bonnets   

n.童帽( bonnet的名词复数 )；（烟囱等的）覆盖物；（苏格兰男子的）无边呢帽；（女子戴的）任何一种帽子

参考例句：

• All the best bonnets of the city were there. 城里戴最漂亮的无边女帽的妇女全都到场了。 来自辞典例句
• I am tempting you with bonnets and bangles and leading you into a pit. 我是在用帽子和镯子引诱你，引你上钩。 来自飘（部分）

12 wagons   

n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 )；铁路货车；小手推车

参考例句：

• The wagons were hauled by horses. 那些货车是马拉的。
• They drew their wagons into a laager and set up camp. 他们把马车围成一圈扎起营地。

13 buckle   

n.扣子，带扣；v.把...扣住，由于压力而弯曲

参考例句：

• The two ends buckle at the back.带子两端在背后扣起来。
• She found it hard to buckle down.她很难专心做一件事情。

14 hereditary   

adj.遗传的，遗传性的，可继承的，世袭的

参考例句：

• The Queen of England is a hereditary ruler.英国女王是世袭的统治者。
• In men,hair loss is hereditary.男性脱发属于遗传。

15 stereotyped   

adj.(指形象、思想、人物等)模式化的

参考例句：

• There is a sameness about all these tales. They're so stereotyped -- all about talented scholars and lovely ladies. 这些书就是一套子，左不过是些才子佳人，最没趣儿。
• He is the stereotyped monster of the horror films and the adventure books, and an obvious (though not perhaps strictly scientific) link with our ancestral past. 它们是恐怖电影和惊险小说中的老一套的怪物，并且与我们的祖先有着明显的（虽然可能没有科学的）联系。

16 auction   

n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖

参考例句：

• They've put the contents of their house up for auction.他们把房子里的东西全都拿去拍卖了。
• They bought a new minibus with the proceeds from the auction.他们用拍卖得来的钱买了一辆新面包车。

17 auctions   

n.拍卖，拍卖方式( auction的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They picked up most of the furniture at auctions in country towns. 他们大部分的家具都是在乡村镇上的拍卖处买的。 来自辞典例句
• Our dealers didn't want these cars, so we had to dump them at auctions. 我们的承销商都不要这些车子，因此我们只好贱价拍卖。 来自辞典例句

18 raffle   

n.废物，垃圾，抽奖售卖；v.以抽彩出售

参考例句：

• The money was raised by the sale of raffle tickets.这笔款子是通过出售购物彩券筹集的。
• He won a car in the raffle.他在兑奖售物活动中赢得了一辆汽车。

19 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。