美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Hear Me By Any Means Necessary': Charlottesville Is Forced To Redefine Civility

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

City leaders in Charlottesville, Va., are struggling to define what public discourse¹ should look like. In 2017, a white nationalist rally turned deadly. Charlottesville became a target for that rally after the city decided² to remove a Confederate statue. In the months since, the city has continued to reckon with its fraught³ racial past. As part of NPR's exploration of the meaning of civility, NPR's Debbie Elliott returned to Charlottesville. Here's what she found.

DEBBIE ELLIOTT, BYLINE⁴: Charlottesville's city government was upended after a woman was killed and others injured in a car attack by a white supremacist in 2017. Local authorities faced harsh criticism for not preventing the bloodshed. Within a year, the city's police chief, manager, attorney and a spokesperson were all gone. And this is what it sounded like in city council chambers⁵.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MIKE SIGNER: All right. So we're going to suspend the meeting.

(CROSSTALK)

ELLIOTT: Councilman Mike Signer was mayor at the time. Here, he struggles to keep order at the first council meeting after the tragedy.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

SIGNER: But that's not the rules. We don't do that - just scream the floor. Well...

ELLIOTT: In the months to come, voices for change and accountability grew louder.

SIGNER: There has been a lot of very strong emotion expressed in our chambers by people who were deeply traumatized. The question was just - how do you have that happen when you also need to do the public's business?

ELLIOTT: As mayor in 2017, Signer's answer was to enforce rules - for instance, no heckling, harassment⁶ or foul⁷ language; in other words, pursue civility.

SIGNER: I see civility just as an instrument to let people with very strong opinions, very strong emotions, be in the same body to get things done.

JALANE SCHMIDT: Civility is used, actually, to shut down discussion.

ELLIOTT: Jalane Schmidt is a local organizer with Black Lives Matter.

SCHMIDT: It often is a way to tone police the folks that don't have power and that don't speak in four-syllable words.

ELLIOTT: Charlottesville has a reputation as a charming college town, home to the University of Virginia and its founder⁸ - founding father Thomas Jefferson. After what locals now call the summer of hate, Schmidt says it's time to rethink that legacy⁹.

SCHMIDT: There is this phrase called the Virginia way, what I consider a false comity¹⁰, that is based in an old way of doing things, you know, during an era when only white men, basically, were in power.

ELLIOTT: The pain and chaos¹¹ have prompted reflection in a town where the politics are left of center. A prominent voice for change, community activist¹² Nikuyah Walker, was elected to city council. And her fellow councilors chose her as mayor in January of 2018. At that first meeting, she said proceedings¹³ would be more open.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

NIKUYAH WALKER: I don't have an issue with people expressing themselves.

ELLIOTT: She's the first black woman to be mayor in a city where African-Americans are one-fifth of the population. Now the council has two black and three white members. In stark¹⁴ contrast to previous mayor, Mike Signer, Walker has refused to use her gavel to impose rules of civility, even as meetings stretched to six hours. Here's what she said after a council debate on the matter well into her term.

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WALKER: Even though meetings have been very civil in the past, the results of those meetings have been complete disasters for people lives in the area, especially if you were black and low income.

ELLIOTT: Councilman Wes Bellamy says now there's a more inclusive definition of civil discourse.

WES BELLAMY: I could have a conversation with you and because my vernacular¹⁵ is not the same and because a topic makes me more emotional and I'm more passionate¹⁶ about it, it doesn't mean that I'm not being, quote-unquote, "civil." It could just mean that when I was talking to you in a way that you may deem civil, you refuse to listen to me. So now you're going to have to hear me by any means necessary.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ROSIA PARKER: Y’all always looking crazy every time somebody say something when y'all are not doing right...

ELLIOTT: Community activist Rosia Parker is a frequent speaker at Charlottesville City Council.

PARKER: Like, I've come out of my character these last - you know, this last year and a half, and that's not me.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PARKER: Local government is not taking accountability for their wrongness and their actions...

ELLIOTT: Parker says on topics like police transparency and affordable¹⁷ housing, she feels like she's being listened at instead of being listened to.

PARKER: So that makes us argue more and more.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JIM HINGELEY: So let's call...

SIGNER: Let him finish, please.

(APPLAUSE)

SIGNER: Let him finish, please.

HINGELEY: Let's call it what it is. It's intimidation¹⁸ by an angry mob.

ELLIOTT: Jim Hingeley is a former public defender¹⁹ who's earned the nickname Mr. Civility for his repeated calls for order.

HINGELEY: What I mean by civility is something that reflects good citizenship²⁰ and is orderly behavior.

ELLIOTT: But Jalane Schmidt, with Black Lives Matter, says orderly behavior hasn't worked for all of Charlottesville's citizens.

SCHMIDT: They've been coming to some of these public meetings for years, you know, and signing up, you know, dutifully to speak. And the powers that be, you know, nodded their head and smiled, you know, very politely and gaveled out the meeting and then gentrified the town right out from underneath²¹ us. So there's your civility.

ELLIOTT: Council members are split on whether city business is being hindered. Councilman Wes Bellamy says it might take a little longer, but important work is getting done. Others, including Councilor Heather Hill, say legitimate²² views are getting drowned out.

HEATHER HILL: The biggest fear I have for our local community is that this environment is now just inviting²³ a small faction²⁴ to come and speak in that way, and that's going to continue to turn away others from sharing their voice.

ELLIOTT: Charlottesville's longest-serving council member, Kathy Galvin, agrees.

KATHY GALVIN: And if we get to the point where we can't tolerate differences of opinion, then we create a chaotic²⁵ situation. And we don't govern.

ANDREA DOUGLAS: It is a messy-seeming process.

ELLIOTT: The messiness of democracy evolving, says Andrea Douglas, director of the Jefferson School African-American Heritage Center in Charlottesville.

DOUGLAS: And the reality of any movement that changes the course of black people's lives is not about civil discourse, right? There is no movement in America that changes the course of American democracy, including the revolution, that was about civil discourse.

ELLIOTT: Things have calmed down at Charlottesville City Council in recent months, but people are of different minds as to whether a new climate is taking root or citizens here are simply exhausted²⁶ by the hard work of reconciliation²⁷. Debbie Elliott, NPR News, Charlottesville, Va.

1 discourse   

n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述

参考例句：

• We'll discourse on the subject tonight.我们今晚要谈论这个问题。
• He fell into discourse with the customers who were drinking at the counter.他和站在柜台旁的酒客谈了起来。

2 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。

3 fraught   

adj.充满…的，伴有(危险等)的；忧虑的

参考例句：

• The coming months will be fraught with fateful decisions.未来数月将充满重大的决定。
• There's no need to look so fraught!用不着那么愁眉苦脸的！

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 chambers   

n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅

参考例句：

• The body will be removed into one of the cold storage chambers. 尸体将被移到一个冷冻间里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mr Chambers's readable book concentrates on the middle passage: the time Ransome spent in Russia. Chambers先生的这本值得一看的书重点在中间：Ransome在俄国的那几年。 来自互联网

6 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。

7 foul   

adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规

参考例句：

• Take off those foul clothes and let me wash them.脱下那些脏衣服让我洗一洗。
• What a foul day it is!多么恶劣的天气！

8 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

9 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。

10 comity   

n.礼让，礼仪；团结，联合

参考例句：

• Sometimes comity is regarded as a stimulus to the pattern of behaviour.礼让有时被视作行为模式的一个促进因素。
• The basic feature of positive comity is its voluntariness.积极礼让的基本特征是它的自愿性。

11 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

12 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

13 proceedings   

n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼

14 stark   

adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地

参考例句：

• The young man is faced with a stark choice.这位年轻人面临严峻的抉择。
• He gave a stark denial to the rumor.他对谣言加以完全的否认。

15 vernacular   

adj.地方的，用地方语写成的；n.白话；行话；本国语；动植物的俗名

参考例句：

• The house is built in a vernacular style.这房子按当地的风格建筑。
• The traditional Chinese vernacular architecture is an epitome of Chinese traditional culture.中国传统民居建筑可谓中国传统文化的缩影。

16 passionate   

adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的

参考例句：

• He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
• He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。

17 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

18 intimidation   

n.恐吓，威胁

参考例句：

• The Opposition alleged voter intimidation by the army.反对党声称投票者受到军方的恐吓。
• The gang silenced witnesses by intimidation.恶帮用恐吓的手段使得证人不敢说话。

19 defender   

n.保卫者，拥护者，辩护人

参考例句：

• He shouldered off a defender and shot at goal.他用肩膀挡开防守队员，然后射门。
• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。

20 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

21 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

22 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。

23 inviting   

adj.诱人的，引人注目的

参考例句：

• An inviting smell of coffee wafted into the room.一股诱人的咖啡香味飘进了房间。
• The kitchen smelled warm and inviting and blessedly familiar.这间厨房的味道温暖诱人，使人感到亲切温馨。

24 faction   

n.宗派，小集团；派别；派系斗争

参考例句：

• Faction and self-interest appear to be the norm.派系之争和自私自利看来非常普遍。
• I now understood clearly that I was caught between the king and the Bunam's faction.我现在完全明白自己已陷入困境，在国王与布纳姆集团之间左右为难。

25 chaotic   

adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的

参考例句：

• Things have been getting chaotic in the office recently.最近办公室的情况越来越乱了。
• The traffic in the city was chaotic.这城市的交通糟透了。

26 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

27 reconciliation   

n.和解，和谐，一致

参考例句：

• He was taken up with the reconciliation of husband and wife.他忙于做夫妻间的调解工作。
• Their handshake appeared to be a gesture of reconciliation.他们的握手似乎是和解的表示。