VOA慢速英语--旧金山法律允许人们对种族主义者采取法律行动

San Francisco lawmakers have approved a law giving people of color the right to take legal action against false accusations¹.

The law is meant to prevent people from calling law enforcement when they see other people, who are different from them, carrying out common activities.

In the San Francisco area, reports say white people have called 911 when they saw people of color doing things like selling bottles of water or having a barbecue. Nine-one-one is the national emergency number.

All 11 officials on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors³ voted this month for the Caution Against Racial and Exploitative Non-Emergencies Act, or CAREN.

The acronym⁴ CAREN sounds like the name "Karen." That name has special meaning. It is used by some people to describe an entitled white woman who tries to use her position in society to make demands or threats without concern for the effect on others. Critics say the law's name is sexist and unfair.

Supervisor² Shamann Walton is a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the city's lawmaking body. He introduced the legislation and is Black.

He told the Associated Press, "We don't want... false accusations of Black men and boys in this country...to ever happen again."

He also spoke⁵ of the killing⁶ of Emmett Till in the southern state of Mississippi in 1955. Till was a Black youth beaten to death after accusations by a white woman who later admitted to lying.

Walton also said that 911 is not a "service line for someone's racist⁷ behavior." He has dismissed concerns about calling the legislation the CAREN Act by saying it does not point to any individual.

When is calling 911 a problem?

In May, Amy Cooper, a white woman, called 911 from Central Park in New York City. She claimed that a Black man — who had asked her to leash⁸ her dog — was threatening her. She has now been charged with making a false police report.

In San Francisco, a white couple was criticized on social media for accusing a man of damaging someone else's property. In a video, the couple questioned the Filipino-American man who was chalking "Black Lives Matter" in front of his home in June. The two walked toward James Juanillo and demanded to know if he was the homeowner. The couple later called police.

Supporters of the law say it is frightening to be faced with police because someone saw you as a threat.

Brittni Chicuata leads San Francisco's Human Rights Commission. She said there is a proven pattern of mistreatment of "Black people and other people of color in our city" and country.

The San Francisco law gives people the right to bring legal action in court against someone who calls 911. The law also makes it unlawful to discriminate⁹ against a person on the basis of their "religious affiliation¹⁰, gender¹¹, sexual orientation¹², or gender identity."

Supporters say they hope it will prevent people from calling police for the wrong reasons. The legislation does not make clear what conditions are needed to bring civil legal action against someone.

The Board has gotten written complaints from eight people — several whose names have different spellings of Karen. They say they support the law but dislike its name, which they say insults women and older people.

Karen Shane, for example, wrote, "Yes, I am named Karen, and I do speak up for injustices¹³" all the time. She asked the city to rename the law so that it does not criticize "a whole group of people."

Words in This Story

affiliation –n. the state of being closely associated with or connected to an organization, company, person, etc.

gender –n. the state of being male or female

acronym –n. a word formed from the first letters of each one of the words in a phrase, often used with Laws in the U.S.

entitled - adj. believing oneself to be inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment

leash –v. to attach a rope to a dog or other animal to control it

couple –n. two people or things that are together

chalk – v. to write something using a soft, light-colored rock

pattern –n. the regular or repeated way in which something happens or is done

1 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

2 supervisor   

n.监督人，管理人，检查员，督学，主管，导师

参考例句：

• Between you and me I think that new supervisor is a twit.我们私下说，我认为新来的主管人是一个傻瓜。
• He said I was too flighty to be a good supervisor.他说我太轻浮不能成为一名好的管理员。

3 supervisors   

n.监督者，管理者( supervisor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I think the best technical people make the best supervisors. 我认为最好的技术人员可以成为最好的管理人员。 来自辞典例句
• Even the foremen or first-level supervisors have a staffing responsibility. 甚至领班或第一线的监督人员也有任用的责任。 来自辞典例句

4 acronym   

n.首字母简略词，简称

参考例句：

• That's a mouthful of an acronym for a very simple technology.对于一项非常简单的技术来说，这是一个很绕口的缩写词。
• TSDF is an acronym for Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities.TSDF是处理，储存和处置设施的一个缩写。

5 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。

6 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

7 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。

8 leash   

n.牵狗的皮带，束缚；v.用皮带系住

参考例句：

• I reached for the leash,but the dog got in between.我伸手去拿系狗绳，但被狗挡住了路。
• The dog strains at the leash,eager to be off.狗拼命地扯拉皮带，想挣脱开去。

9 discriminate   

v.区别，辨别，区分；有区别地对待

参考例句：

• You must learn to discriminate between facts and opinions.你必须学会把事实和看法区分出来。
• They can discriminate hundreds of colours.他们能分辨上百种颜色。

10 affiliation   

n.联系，联合

参考例句：

• There is no affiliation between our organization and theirs,even though our names are similar.尽管两个组织的名称相似，但我们之间并没有关系。
• The kidnappers had no affiliation with any militant group.这些绑架者与任何军事组织都没有紧密联系。

11 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

12 orientation   

n.方向，目标；熟悉，适应，情况介绍

参考例句：

• Children need some orientation when they go to school.小孩子上学时需要适应。
• The traveller found his orientation with the aid of a good map.旅行者借助一幅好地图得知自己的方向。

13 injustices   

不公平( injustice的名词复数 )； 非正义； 待…不公正； 冤枉

参考例句：

• One who committed many injustices is doomed to failure. 多行不义必自毙。
• He felt confident that his injustices would be righted. 他相信他的冤屈会受到昭雪的。