VOA慢速英语--与奴隶有关的纪念碑被移除

 

U.S. President Donald Trump¹, in an interview with the Washington Examiner this week, wondered, “Why was there a Civil War? Why could that one not have been worked out?”

The United States fought the civil war from 1861-1865.

The war began after 11 southern states left the United States and formed the “Confederacy.” Over 600,000 soldiers lost their lives before the Confederacy was defeated.

Now, over 150 years later, the battle is still fought in some communities over calls to remove flags, statues and other public displays connected to the Confederacy.

What was the Civil War about?

Civil War historian² James McPherson wrote that "the Civil War was caused by differences between free and slave states over the power of the national government to stop slavery” in western territories.

It is the Confederacy’s connection to slavery that recently led the southern city of New Orleans, Louisiana, to begin removing four monuments, or statues, connected to the Civil War and its aftermath.

Slavery was the buying and selling of Africans and other blacks who were forced to work in America, mostly in the South, without pay. Many were separated from their families and treated terribly by their owners.

Mitch Landrieu is the mayor of New Orleans. He believes that monuments connected to slavery should not be given an honored place in his majority African-American city.

He said, “The removal of these statues sends a clear and unequivocal message to the people of New Orleans and the nation: New Orleans celebrates our diversity, inclusion and tolerance³.”

Removal of Confederate monuments

The first monument, removed on April 24, recognized the Crescent City White League. League members fought against a racially integrated⁴ police department in the 19th century.

Jarvis DeBerry is a columnist⁵ for the Times-Picayune, a New Orleans newspaper.

He said the four monuments the city is removing went up after the U.S. government dropped control of the southern states. Control by the federal government lasted from 1865 to 1877. It was a time when African-Americans not only integrated the police departments, but also gained political power, DeBerry said.

“There were black people in positions of power. And yet when the Union armies withdrew and the South was allowed to govern itself again they created hell for black people. And again I think part of the hell they created was the erection of these monuments to remind anybody who might think otherwise that ‘no, you are not a real citizen and no, you don't have the rights that white people enjoy.’”

There has been some opposition⁶ to removing the Confederate monuments from New Orleans. Officials were so concerned about violence that workers covered their faces, so they could not be identified, while removing the first Confederate Monument.

Pierre McGraw is president of the Monument Task Committee. He said on Facebook that New Orleans should have added information about the Confederacy to the monuments, instead of removing them.

“People across Louisiana should be concerned over what will disappear next,” he said.

Landrieu, the New Orleans mayor, rejects the idea his city is covering up its history.

Confederate monuments belong in a museum, where more information can be provided about the Confederacy’s evil history, he said.

Confederate displays are not just an issue in New Orleans.

Racial shooting leads to removal of flag

In 2015, then South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley ordered the removal of the Confederate Flag from the state Capitol. She acted after a white man shot and killed nine people at an African-American church. The shooter said he wanted to start a race war.

Thomas Berger is a professor at Boston University who has written about how nations deal with horrible actions in the past.

For a long time, he said Confederate soldiers were seen as misguided people wanting to protect local control and traditions, rather than as defenders⁷ of a violent, racist⁸ system.

But that is changing. University of Tennessee Knoxville Professor Derek Alderman said Middle Tennessee State University is moving to change the name of a school building. It is now named for Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate Army general and a leader of the Ku Klux Klan. The Klan carried out violent attacks against African-Americans.

The move away from naming buildings for people connected to the Confederacy or slavery is not limited to the South.

Yale University is located in the Northeastern state of Connecticut. The university is renaming Calhoun College, one of the school’s 12 undergraduate residential⁹ colleges.

Yale President Peter Salovey announced the decision in February. He said John C. Calhoun, for whom the college is named, had said that slavery was good for society.

His opinion goes against Yale’s most important values, Salovey said.

Words in This Story

display - n. an arrangement of objects intended to inform people about something

monument - n. a building, statue, etc., that honors a person or event

unequivocal - adj. very strong and clear

diversity - n. the quality or state of including different races and ethnic¹⁰ groups

tolerance - n. willingness to accept feelings, habits, or beliefs that are different from your own

integrated - adj. including different races

hell - n. lots of problems and difficulties

erection - v. installing a structure such as monument or statue

museum - n. a building in which interesting and valuable things, such as paintings and sculptures or scientific or historical objects, are collected and shown to the public

1 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。

2 historian   

n.历史学家，编史家

参考例句：

• As a historian,he was most typical of the times in which he lived.作为历史学家，他是他所处时代最有代表性的人物。
• He calls himself a historian,but his books are a mere journalism.他自称为历史学家，但是他的书都是些肤浅的通俗作品。

3 tolerance   

n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差

参考例句：

• Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
• Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。

4 integrated   

a.整合的，完整的

参考例句：

• A fully integrated low phase noise LC voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) is presented.介绍了一种全集成的LC压控振荡器(VCO)的设计。

5 columnist   

n.专栏作家

参考例句：

• The host was interviewing a local columnist.节目主持人正在同一位当地的专栏作家交谈。
• She's a columnist for USA Today.她是《今日美国报》的专栏作家。

6 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

7 defenders   

n.防御者( defender的名词复数 )；守卫者；保护者；辩护者

参考例句：

• The defenders were outnumbered and had to give in. 抵抗者寡不敌众，只能投降。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• After hard fighting,the defenders were still masters of the city. 守军经过奋战仍然控制着城市。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 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。

9 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

10 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。