VOA常速英语2014--弗格森枪击案后种族和治安问题再度引发关注（在线收听）

After Ferguson, New Focus on Race and Policing 弗格森枪击案后种族和治安问题再度引发关注

NEW YORK—

The fatal police shooting of an unarmed teen in Ferguson, Missouri, has brought new attention to other allegations of excessive force and bias against racial minorities and poor communities.

Days after the Ferguson shooting, police in nearby St. Louis shot and killed Kajieme Powell, a mentally-disturbed man who was holding a knife. 

A largely black crowd of New Yorkers demonstrated recently to protest the July death of Eric Garner.

一大群纽约黑人因为最近7月发生的埃里克·加纳死亡事件举行示威抗议。

He died after police put him in a chokehold while trying to arrest him for a misdemeanor.

埃里克·加纳的死亡是由于警察试图以品行不端将其逮捕掐住他的脖子所致。

Jumaane Williams is a member of the New York City Council. In 2011, he and a friend, another black man, were shoved around and mistakenly arrested at a West Indian Day parade.

尤玛娜·威廉姆斯是纽约市议会的一员。早在2011年他和另一位黑人朋友在西印度群岛日游行时就曾被轻蔑对待并且遭到误捕。

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“We both ended up in cuffs. And I firmly believe, and said then that if we were of a different hue, it wouldn't have happened the way that it happened."

“我们被上了铐子。之后我坚信并且表示如果我们是不同的肤色,根本就不会发生这种事情。”

Williams says that while most police serve honorably, some are biased—and express it with over-policing or using excessive force against people of color or the poor.

威廉姆斯表示虽然大多数警察都是尽忠职守,但有些人还是心存偏见,他们通常执法过度或过分使用武力对付有色人种或穷人。

“It's something we have to look into, and what bothers me about not addressing race and class being policed differently, you're invalidating whole communities and the experiences they've had."

“我们必须将这些因素考虑在内,而且困扰我的不是人种及阶级被区别对待的问题得到解决，你颠覆的是整个社区,还有他们所受的悲惨经历。”

The New York Police Department has announced plans for retraining officers in the use of force and community relations.

纽约警局已宣布在使用武力及构建社区关系方面对警务人员重新进行培训。

Effective anti-racism training is also necessary—says former police officer Eugene O'Donnell. But he says errors and abuse in policing are not the primary problem.

前任警官尤金·奥德奈尔表示切实可行的反种族主义培训也是非常必要。但是他称警界中的错误和虐待并不是主要问题。

“Not that there's not issues in the police world, but the larger questions of why do we have more laws with every passing year, why is the authority of the police so broad, why is it almost impossible to convict police who are on duty of crimes? Those are legislative and often assisted by judicial and prosecutorial decisions."

“并非是说警界中不存在问题,但更大的问题为什么年复一年,我们的法律更多，为什么警察的权威如此广泛,为什么几乎无法为当值犯下罪行的警官定罪?这就是立法并且司法和检察官的决定通常在背后推波助澜。”

O'Donnell says that focusing on police ignores the real issue: the many laws, arrest warrants and sentencing guidelines that funnel people in poor communities, especially minorities, into prison.

奥德奈尔表示专注于警察只会忽视真正的问题:如此多法律的条条框框,逮捕令还有量刑指南限制着贫困社区的人们,尤其是被关进监狱的少数民族。