时代周刊:一所特许学校的种族争议（6）（在线收听）

For many years, Eric Henry was one of Mystic Valley's biggest boosters.

多年来，埃里克·亨利一直是神秘谷最大的支持者之一。

"My wife would ride around when she was pregnant saying, ‘That's where I'm going to send my kids,'” recalls Henry, who is Black.

“我妻子怀孕的时候会骑车到处转，说‘我要把孩子送到那里去读书，’”黑人布莱克回忆道。

As a military man, he especially loved the school's strict discipline.

作为一名军人，他特别喜欢学校严格的纪律。

From the time the triplets started kindergarten, he was an enthusiastic member of the school community, serving on the parent-teacher organization, attending board meetings and even volunteering on Kinnon's political campaigns.

从三胞胎上幼儿园开始，他就成了学校社区的热心成员，在家长教师组织中服务，参加董事会会议，甚至在金农的政治运动中担任志愿者。

But the Henrys began having reservations when a seventh-grade teacher persistently misspelled Dewayne's name.

但是，当一名七年级老师总是拼错杜恩的名字时，亨利夫妇开始心有疑虑。

Then, in eighth grade, Thora had a conflict with an English teacher that spiraled out of control.

然后，在上八年级时，索拉与一名英语老师发生了冲突，场面失控。

She was called "insubordinate” and accused of creating "drama,” charges she only ever saw directed to Black students.

老师说她“不服从命令”，并且指责她制造“戏剧”，她只见过这种指控针对黑人学生。

"My white classmates could be standing right there and I wouldn't even be doing anything, but I would be the one who got in trouble,” says Thora, 16, who left Mystic Valley and now attends Malden High.

16岁的索拉说:“我的白人同学可能就站在那里，而我甚至什么都没做，可能就遇到了麻烦。”索拉离开了神秘谷，现在就读于莫尔登高中。

Eric Henry says he once embraced the school's philosophy but now finds it abhorrent.

埃里克·亨利表示，他曾经接受这所学校的理念，但现在发现它令人厌恶。

"Now, when I read them talking about their steadfast commitment to this concept of ‘American culture,' it makes me cringe to no end,” he says.

“现在，当我读到他们谈论他们对‘美国文化’这一概念的坚定承诺时，我不禁畏缩不前，”他说。

"I hear people complain about critical race theory, but from my understanding we need more of it.

“我听到人们抱怨批判性种族理论，但据我所知，我们需要的不只是批判。

Isn't it just the truth to say there's systemic racism in America? I think, in this society, we fear those facts that are from the perspective of the victim.”

说美国存在系统性的种族歧视，这难道不是事实吗? 我认为，在这个社会中，我们害怕那些站在受害者角度的事实。”

The controversy over assigning Mark Twain originated with Henry's friend Saeed Coates, a Black real estate investor with three daughters at Mystic Valley.

关于指定阅读马克·吐温的争议源于亨利的朋友赛义德·科茨(Saeed Coates)，他是一名黑人房地产投资者，有三个女儿在神秘谷上学。

Coates had never read Tom Sawyer before his eldest brought it home last winter.

在大儿子去年冬天把《汤姆·索亚历险记》带回家之前，科茨从未读过这本书。

Perusing it, he was disturbed by the book's repeated use of the N word.

细读这本书时，他对书中反复使用的N字感到不安。

"My fifth-grader should not be made to feel uncomfortable,” Coates says.

学校不应该让我上五年级的孩子感到不舒服，”科茨说。

"I think it's insane they're exposing fifth-graders to ethnic slurs.”

“我觉得他们让五年级的学生接触种族侮辱太疯狂了。”

No children of other races, he pointed out, were subjected to a barrage of racist insults in their class readings—only Black children.

他指出，没有哪个种族的孩子会在课堂上遭受到一连串的种族主义侮辱——只有黑人孩子。

Coates complained to the school, which pulled the book temporarily, replaced it with a sanitized version and supplemented it with a lesson on racism, he says.

他说，科茨向学校投诉，学校暂时撤下了这本书，用删改过的版本取而代之，并补充了一节关于种族主义的课。

Teachers also worked to put the book in context, describing the conditions Black slaves faced in 1840s Missouri and pointing out that Twain was an abolitionist.

老师们也努力把这本书联系上下文进行解释，描述19世纪40年代密苏里州黑人奴隶所面临的情况，并指出吐温是一名废奴主义者。

But Coates was furious that the book stayed in the curriculum: "It means nothing to say, ‘Racism's bad, now let's get back to the book.'”

但科茨对这本书留在课程中感到愤怒:“没什么好说的，‘种族主义很可怕。现在我们继续去学这本书吧。'”

The Coateses are considering private school instead, and he says they also may sue for discrimination.

科茨夫妇正在考虑让孩子们转去私立学校，他说，他们还可能以歧视为由提起诉讼。