我们打赢了弗洛伊德这一仗，但这场战争远未结束
With the Chauvin Verdict, One Battle Is Won. The War Continues.
CHARLES M. BLOW
2021年4月22日
History has been a stern instructor of Black people in this country, beating out hope wherever it dares to emerge.
在这个国家，历史一直是黑人的严厉教官，任何地方只要胆敢现出希望，都会被它扑灭。
As James Baldwin once put it, there is embedded in the American Negro the “wise desire not to be betrayed by too much hoping.” The possessor of dashed hopes is in some ways more injured and dangerous than the consistently hopeless. The possessors of dashed hopes spread their wings, which make them vulnerable, and get them clipped. Bitterness is a natural byproduct of such betrayal.
正如詹姆斯·鲍德温(James Baldwin)曾经说过的，美国黑人心中有一种“明智的愿望，不想被太多的希望所背叛”。在某些方面，希望破灭的人比始终没有希望的人更受伤、更危险。那些人胸怀着注定破灭的希望，他们展开翅膀，这让他们曝露于危险之中，翅膀被剪断。痛苦是这种背叛顺理成章的副产品。
Before Tuesday’s guilty verdict for a former Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, in the murder of George Floyd, many of us were afraid to hope that justice would be done. It doesn’t matter the strength of the case or the preponderance of evidence; convicting a police officer of killing a Black man is so rare in this country that I can count the recent cases I recall on my fingers … on one hand.
在周二对前明尼阿波利斯警官德里克·肖万(Derek Chauvin)杀害乔治·弗洛伊德(George Floyd)一案作出有罪判决之前，我们很多人都不敢奢望正义会得到伸张。这跟本案的赢面大小或证据的强弱无关；在这个国家，将杀害黑人的警察定罪太过罕见，以至于扳手指头就能数出最近的类似案件……而且还只需要用一只手。
So when the verdicts came down, for me, there was a moment of shock: The justice system had administered justice to a Black man, a Black family, the Black community, the country and the world. We are so used to the system betraying us that it was stunning to see it serve us.
因此，当判决出来的时候，对我来说，有一刻非常令人震惊：司法系统为一个黑人、一个黑人家庭、一个黑人社区、这个国家和整个世界伸张了正义。我们已经习惯了体制背叛我们，看到它为我们服务真是令人震惊。
Could we celebrate? Should we celebrate? Of course we should have, and did.
我们可以庆祝吗？我们应该庆祝吗？我们当然应该，而且也这么做了。
But even in celebrating that victory, there is sadness. Why is the hurdle set to that nearly impossible height? Must your killing be in slow motion and caught on not one video but multiples?
但即使在庆祝胜利的时候，也会有悲伤。为什么要把障碍设置到几乎不可能达到的高度？谋杀行为非要是慢动作，并且被不止一个视频拍下，才行吗？
Must the “Blue Wall” crack and your police chief testify against you? Must a child be put on the stand to explain how your killer’s depraved act has traumatized them?
那道“蓝墙”必须裂开才行吗，必须要由你们的警察局长指证你才行吗？必须要让一个孩子走上证人席，来解释凶手的邪恶行为给他们造成了怎样的创伤才行吗？
Most killings of unarmed Black people by the police won’t have that. Most will have the officers’ account and the police department’s statements.
大多数杀害手无寸铁的黑人的警察都不会具备这些条件。大多数人会拥有警官的陈述和警察局的声明。
The Minneapolis Police Department’s initial statement on Floyd’s death was headlined, “Man Dies After Medical Incident During Police Interaction,” and it went on to say of Floyd:
明尼阿波利斯警察局对弗洛伊德之死的最初声明以“在同警方互动中，一名男子因医疗问题而死亡”为题，声明中这样提到弗洛伊德：
“He was ordered to step from his car. After he got out, he physically resisted officers … Officers called for an ambulance. He was transported to Hennepin County Medical Center by ambulance where he died a short time later.”
“他被命令下车。下车后，他与警官进行了肢体对抗……警察叫来了救护车。他被救护车送往亨内平县医疗中心，不久后死亡。”
That would have been the story, were it not for witnesses and cellphone video. The truth would have circulated in the community, but the lie would live on in the official record.
如果没有目击者和手机视频，事情就会是这样。真相会在社会上流传，而谎言会在官方记录中留存。
This is how many cases live, unresolved, in oral history told from a barber chair or barstool. This is also how hostility, resentment and contempt grow toward policing, criminal justice and politicians. This is why the fundamentals of our criminal justice system must be reshaped in order to restore trust.
在口述历史中，有许多流传的未决案件就是这样，一直在理发椅或高脚凳上口口相传。对警察、刑事司法和政治人士的敌意、怨恨和蔑视，也是这样不断增长。正因如此，我们刑事司法系统的基础必须被重塑，以便重新赢得人们的信任。
So, yes, we celebrate. Even warriors, in an uphill battle, those outgunned and accustomed to loss, are afforded and allowed a moment of celebration over a surprise victory. Such moments can be recharging and restorative. It doesn’t mean that we are confusing the war that still rages for the battle in which we were victorious.
所以，是的，我们庆祝。即使是一场艰苦战斗中装备落后并且习惯了失败的战士，也有机会在意外的胜利中庆祝一下。这样的时刻可以给人充电和恢复精力。这并不意味着我们会把取胜的这场战斗同仍在进行中的战争混为一谈。
The fight against rules on every level of government that insulate officers and criminalize Black people are part of the war. Systems of racism that have created segregation, concentrated poverty, poorly resourced communities and failing educational systems are part of the war. A public perception that what ails Black people is pathological and that all policing is good and gallant is part of the problem.
这场战争包括要在每一级政府与包庇警察、给黑人安罪名的规则开战。包括造成种族隔离、集中性贫困、社区资源匮乏和教育制度失败的种族主义体系。公众认为困扰黑人的问题是一种病态，而所有的警察都是善良勇敢的，这种印象也是问题的一部分。
It is important to remember that the verdict against Derek Chauvin didn’t change a single police union rule that protects officers from incriminating themselves. It didn’t change a word of the criminal code, which can shield them from prosecution. It didn’t alter a single federal or Supreme Court precedent that prevented them from being convicted.
重要的是，要记住，对德里克·肖万的判决并没有改变警察工会保护警察免于自证其罪的任何一条规则。对于刑法中那些可以使他们免受起诉的规则，也没有改变一个字。它没有改变任何一个联邦或最高法院阻止警察被定罪的先例。
There are enormous hurdles to overcome in the arrest, charging, trial and conviction of an officer. What this case demonstrated was that there is — at least in this jurisdiction and with these jurors — a limit. It took a case so obvious, so egregious, so depraved, that it could clear the hurdles.
在涉及警官的逮捕、起诉、审判和定罪过程中，有巨大的障碍需要克服。这个案子证明了一种局限——至少是在这个司法管辖区和这些陪审员当中。需要一个如此明显、如此恶劣、如此腐化的案例，才能扫清障碍。
In this extraordinary case, there was justice for George Floyd. But until justice for Black people killed by the state exists not only in the extraordinary case but also in the mundane, until it is not shocking that an officer is held accountable for murder, the crusade continues. One battle is won, but we are still in the middle of the war for equality.
在这个不同寻常的案件中，乔治·弗洛伊德得到了公正的对待。但是，除非对被国家杀害的黑人的正义不仅存在于非同寻常的案件中，也存在于平凡的生活中，除非一名警官为谋杀负责不再令人震惊，否则这场改革运动将继续下去。我们赢得了一场战斗，但我们仍处于争取平等的战争之中。
