时代周刊 金博士遗产的洗白和复兴(3)

His description reads like an account of today: Homeownership among African Americans is just over 40%, 30 points behind the rate for whites.

他的描述读起来仿佛说的就是当下的情形：非裔美国人的住房拥有率才刚超过40%，比白人低了足足30个百分点。

Public schools are as racially segregated¹ as they were in the '60s, and black kids are three times as likely to be poor as white kids.

公立学校的种族隔离程度与上世纪60年代一样，黑人儿童的贫困率也是白人儿童的三倍。

The nonpartisan Economic Policy Institute reports that black unemployment remains² roughly twice that of white unemployment.

无党派“经济政策研究所”的报告指出，黑人失业率仍是白人失业率的两倍左右。

The wealth gap between black and white Americans has tripled over the last half-century.

在过去的半个世纪里，美国黑人和白人之间的财富差距扩大了两倍。

Fifty years after King's assassination³, with so much unchanged,

马丁·路德·金遇刺50年后的今天，形势并没有多大好转的今天，

Donald Trump⁴ has ripped of the scab of the nation's racial politics,

唐纳德·特朗普撕下了美国种族政治的疮疤，

emboldening⁵ a kind of overt⁶ racism⁷ that many convinced themselves had been banished⁸.

助长公开的，许多人都麻痹自己认为已经被摒弃了的种族主义风气。

Hate crimes are rising.

仇恨犯罪正在升温。

Supporters of white supremacists have found jobs in the highest levels of government.

支持白人至上主义的人在政府最高层谋到了职位。

Even among some stalwart Democrats⁹, we hear demands that more attention should be given to blue collar, white workers and to those economically left behind in rural America or the Rust¹⁰ Belt.

即便在一些坚定的民主党人中间，我们也听到了呼吁更多地关注蓝领和白人工人，以及那些生活在美国农村或“锈带”地区经济落后的人的需求。

This dovetails with the conservative view of the "forgotten" American, who always happens to be white.

这与“被遗忘”的美国人，巧的是这群人往往都是白人，的保守观点是相吻合的。

All the while, another black family has to bury their loved one killed at the hands of the police.

另一个黑人家庭则正在至亲被警察杀害的悲痛之余准备着安葬事宜。

This week, the name resonating is Stephon Clark; next week, it could be someone else.

这周，引起大家共鸣的名字是斯蒂芬·克拉克；下周，可能又是另一个人。

A tragic¹¹ irony¹² lives on: black death is commonplace, easily understood and yet swept out of sight.

一个悲剧性的讽刺还在继续上演：黑人离世司空见惯，很容易理解，却又很快就消失在人们的视野之外了。

It could not be otherwise.

不可能有别的结果。

For white America to confront the reality of what is happening in the shadows and segregated spaces of this country

白色美国要面对这个国家的阴暗之地和被隔离起来的空间里正在发生的事情，

requires a kind of maturity¹³ and honesty that would shatter our national myth that equality has been a shared goal.

就需要一种成熟而诚实并将打破“平等是各界人士的共同目标”这一民族神话的态度。

It can happen.

这种事也不是不可能。

We're seeing seismic¹⁴ shifts.

因为我们看到重大的调整已经在上演：

Black Lives Matter, #MeToo and March for Our Lives are reconfiguring cultural norms and may signal a realignment of our politics.

“黑人的命也是命”，#我也是以及“为我们的生命游行”等运动正在重塑我们的文化规范，或许还能重塑重塑我们的政治。

Jaclyn Corin, a white survivor¹⁵ of the Parkland, Fla., shooting, spoke¹⁶ at the march in Washington, where hundreds of thousands of people had gathered.

贾克琳·科林，佛罗里达州帕克兰枪击案的一名白人幸存者，在汇聚了数十万人的华盛顿游行上演讲时说到。

"We openly recognize that we are privileged individuals and would not have received as much attention if it weren't for the affluence¹⁷ of our city.

“我们公开承认，我们是享有特权的个人，如果不是因为我们城市的富裕，我们就不会受到那么多关注。

Because of that, however, we share this stage today and forever with those who have always stared down the barrel of a gun."

然而，正因为如此，我们今天，乃至永远，才和那些站在枪背后的人站在了同一个舞台上。”

That isn't "a loose expression for improvement."

这话并不是“需要改善的大致表达”。

We have a chance, once again, to make real the promises of our democracy.

我们有机会，再度有机会，兑现我们的民主诺言。

It will require us to honestly confront who we are.

要做到这一点，我们就要诚实地面对自己。

No myths.

抛开神话。

No fables¹⁸.

抛开寓言。

Evil sent King to his bed, but he got up and kept fighting.

人类的邪恶让金抑郁到了卧床不起的地步，但他最终还是选择了爬起来继续战斗。

We must do the same.

我们也必须照办。

1 segregated   

分开的； 被隔离的

参考例句：

• a culture in which women are segregated from men 妇女受到隔离歧视的文化
• The doctor segregated the child sick with scarlet fever. 大夫把患猩红热的孩子隔离起来。

2 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

3 assassination   

n.暗杀；暗杀事件

参考例句：

• The assassination of the president brought matters to a head.总统遭暗杀使事态到了严重关头。
• Lincoln's assassination in 1865 shocked the whole nation.1865年，林肯遇刺事件震惊全美国。

4 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

5 emboldening   

v.鼓励，使有胆量( embolden的现在分词 )

参考例句：

6 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。

7 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。

8 banished   

v.放逐，驱逐( banish的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was banished to Australia, where he died five years later. 他被流放到澳大利亚，五年后在那里去世。
• He was banished to an uninhabited island for a year. 他被放逐到一个无人居住的荒岛一年。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 rust   

n.锈；v.生锈；(脑子)衰退

参考例句：

• She scraped the rust off the kitchen knife.她擦掉了菜刀上的锈。
• The rain will rust the iron roof.雨水会使铁皮屋顶生锈。

11 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

12 irony   

n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄

参考例句：

• She said to him with slight irony.她略带嘲讽地对他说。
• In her voice we could sense a certain tinge of irony.从她的声音里我们可以感到某种讥讽的意味。

13 maturity   

n.成熟；完成；(支票、债券等)到期

参考例句：

• These plants ought to reach maturity after five years.这些植物五年后就该长成了。
• This is the period at which the body attains maturity.这是身体发育成熟的时期。

14 seismic   

a.地震的，地震强度的

参考例句：

• Earthquakes produce two types of seismic waves.地震产生两种地震波。
• The latest seismic activity was also felt in northern Kenya.肯尼亚北部也感觉到了最近的地震活动。

15 survivor   

n.生存者，残存者，幸存者

参考例句：

• The sole survivor of the crash was an infant.这次撞车的惟一幸存者是一个婴儿。
• There was only one survivor of the plane crash.这次飞机失事中只有一名幸存者。

16 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。

17 affluence   

n.充裕，富足

参考例句：

• Their affluence is more apparent than real.他们的富有是虚有其表。
• There is a lot of affluence in this part of the state because it has many businesses.这个州的这一部分相当富有，因为它有很多商行。

18 fables   

n.寓言( fable的名词复数 )；神话，传说

参考例句：

• Some of Aesop's Fables are satires. 《伊索寓言》中有一些是讽刺作品。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Little Mexican boys also breathe the American fables. 墨西哥族的小孩子对美国神话也都耳濡目染。 来自辞典例句