时代周刊 新奥尔良拆联邦纪念碑一事折射出的种族主义问题(1)

Repairing the story of race in the South

纠正南方的种族故事

I BELIEVE THAT THE FOUR CONFEDERATE monuments in New Orleans that became a dominating presence in my life for well more than two years

我想，(路易斯安那州)新奥尔良这四座联邦纪念碑，在过去远超过两年的时间里它们一直在我的生命中发挥着决定性的作用，

never relected what the true society of New Orleans, generations ago, actually felt when they were built.

丝毫没有体现好几代人以前，它们被立起来的时候真正的新奥尔良社会的感受。

The structures relected what the people who erected¹ them, mostly ex–Confederate soldiers or sympathizers, believed

虽然它们的结构体现了那些当初打造它们的人——大部分都是前联邦士兵或者联邦的支持者——的信仰，

because they had the power to build them and because they wanted to send a particular political message.

因为他们有能力打造那些纪念碑，也因为他们想要传达一个特定的政治讯息。

They cast a dark and repressive shadow over my city and, in a way, held us back.

但它们令我们的城市蒙上了一层黑暗而压抑的阴影，并在一定程度上阻碍了我们的发展。

It took most of my lifetime to see this.

我花了大半辈子才想明白这一点。

So I listened to people who had absorbed a diferent message from those statues than the one I did over the years.

我听取那些从这些雕像中吸收了不同于我多年来吸收的信息的人们的看法。

A great part of governing is listening to and learning from your people.

治理政务一个很重要的部分就是倾听并向你的百姓学习。

Once you do learn the truth about the past, you have a responsibility to act, and so I did.

一旦你了解了过去的真相，你就有责任采取行动，所以我行动起来了。

A week before Christmas 2015, the city council voted 6-1 in favor of dismantling² the monuments.

距离2015年圣诞节一周前，市议会以6比1的票数通过了拆除纪念碑的提案。

A Baton³ Rouge⁴ company agreed to service the order once we were out of the legal thicket—

巴吞鲁日一家公司愿意在我们走完繁杂的法律程序之后接下这个订单——

the Louisiana Landmarks⁵ Society and other groups had filed suit against our plan,

路易斯安那州地标协会和其他团体对我们的计划提起了诉讼，

citing their members’ “recognized interest in the aesthetic⁶ and cultural well-being⁷ in the city of New Orleans.”

说他们的成员“对新奥尔良市美学和文化福祉十分感兴趣”。

I assumed the legal appeals would be tossed out.

我认为这一上诉会被否决。

But before we reached that point, the owner of the company and his wife received death threats, which we reported to the FBI,

然而，事情还没有发展到那一步，巴吞鲁日那家公司的老板和他的妻子就受到了恐吓，我们向联邦调查局报告了此事，

and even though the company ended its agreement with the city, his sports car was set afire in the driveway of his business.

而且，即便该公司终结了与市议会达成的协议，他的跑车还是被人在他的私人车道上放火烧了。

The spread of domestic terrorism has many small stories like this—

国内蔓延的恐怖主义情绪还有很多这样的小故事——

threats, acts of religious desecration⁸ and vandalism that move across the news radar⁹ or make a few paragraphs on inside pages of the local press,

恐吓行为，亵渎和破坏宗教的行为逃过新闻雷达的追踪，抑或是在当地媒体不起眼的内页上被写上寥寥几笔，

and no one gets caught, or if so, quite some time later.

没有人被抓，即便被抓，也是猴年马月的事了。

This is part of the ho-hum racism¹⁰ that eats through our country every day.

这就是让人厌倦但每天都在吸食我们国家血肉的种族主义行径的一部分。

In other words, we really haven’t made it as far as we like to think—

换句话说，我们真的没有我们想象的那么成功——

we’re still mired¹¹ in a mentality¹² where they could lynch you, destroy your reputation, hurt your business or engage in symbolic¹³ lynchings, like a cross burned on your lawn or the car in your driveway torched.

我们仍然陷在一种心态里，以为种族主义者会对我们施加私刑，毁我们的声誉，砸我们的生意，或者对我们施加象征性的私刑，比如在我们家草坪上烧十字架或是在我们的私人车道上烧我们的车。

1 ERECTED   

adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立

参考例句：

• A monument to him was erected in St Paul's Cathedral. 在圣保罗大教堂为他修了一座纪念碑。
• A monument was erected to the memory of that great scientist. 树立了一块纪念碑纪念那位伟大的科学家。

2 dismantling   

（枪支）分解

参考例句：

• The new government set about dismantling their predecessors' legislation. 新政府正着手废除其前任所制定的法律。
• The dismantling of a nuclear reprocessing plant caused a leak of radioactivity yesterday. 昨天拆除核后处理工厂引起了放射物泄漏。

3 baton   

n.乐队用指挥杖

参考例句：

• With the baton the conductor was beating time.乐队指挥用指挥棒打拍子。
• The conductor waved his baton,and the band started up.指挥挥动指挥棒，乐队开始演奏起来。

4 rouge   

n.胭脂，口红唇膏；v.(在…上)擦口红

参考例句：

• Women put rouge on their cheeks to make their faces pretty.女人往面颊上涂胭脂，使脸更漂亮。
• She didn't need any powder or lip rouge to make her pretty.她天生漂亮，不需要任何脂粉唇膏打扮自己。

5 landmarks   

n.陆标( landmark的名词复数 )；目标；（标志重要阶段的）里程碑 ~ (in sth)；有历史意义的建筑物（或遗址）

参考例句：

• The book stands out as one of the notable landmarks in the progress of modern science. 这部著作是现代科学发展史上著名的里程碑之一。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The baby was one of the big landmarks in our relationship. 孩子的出世是我们俩关系中的一个重要转折点。 来自辞典例句

6 aesthetic   

adj.美学的，审美的，有美感

参考例句：

• My aesthetic standards are quite different from his.我的审美标准与他的大不相同。
• The professor advanced a new aesthetic theory.那位教授提出了新的美学理论。

7 well-being   

n.安康，安乐，幸福

参考例句：

• He always has the well-being of the masses at heart.他总是把群众的疾苦挂在心上。
• My concern for their well-being was misunderstood as interference.我关心他们的幸福，却被误解为多管闲事。

8 desecration   

n. 亵渎神圣, 污辱

参考例句：

• Desecration, and so forth, and lectured you on dignity and sanctity. 比如亵渎神圣等。想用尊严和神圣不可侵犯之类的话来打动你们。
• Desecration: will no longer break stealth. 亵渎：不再消除潜行。

9 radar   

n.雷达，无线电探测器

参考例句：

• They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
• Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。

10 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。

11 mired   

abbr.microreciprocal degree 迈尔德（色温单位）v.深陷( mire的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The country was mired in recession. 这个国家陷入了经济衰退的困境。
• The most brilliant leadership can be mired in detail. 最有才干的领导也会陷于拘泥琐事的困境中。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

12 mentality   

n.心理，思想，脑力

参考例句：

• He has many years'experience of the criminal mentality.他研究犯罪心理有多年经验。
• Running a business requires a very different mentality from being a salaried employee.经营企业所要求具备的心态和上班族的心态截然不同。

13 symbolic   

adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的

参考例句：

• It is symbolic of the fighting spirit of modern womanhood.它象征着现代妇女的战斗精神。
• The Christian ceremony of baptism is a symbolic act.基督教的洗礼仪式是一种象征性的做法。