纽约时报双语:弗洛伊德案告一段落,他的死如何改变了美国

弗洛伊德案告一段落,他的死如何改变了美国
The Death of George Floyd Reignited a Movement. What Happens Now?
AUDRA D. S. BURCH, AMY HARMON, SABRINA TAVERNISE, EMILY BADGER
2021年4月21日
纽约时报双语:弗洛伊德案告一段落,他的死如何改变了美国

George Floyd had been dead only hours before the movement began. Driven by a terrifying video and word-of-mouth, people flooded the South Minneapolis intersection where he died shortly after Memorial Day, demanding an end to police violence against Black Americans.

这场运动在乔治·弗洛伊德(George Floyd)去世几小时后就开始了。在一段可怕的视频和口口相传的推动下,人们涌向那个位于明尼阿波利斯南部的十字路口,也就是弗洛伊德在阵亡将士纪念日过后不久死去的地方,要求结束警察对美国黑人施加的暴力。

The moment of collective grief and anger swiftly gave way to a yearlong, nationwide deliberation on what it means to be Black in America.

这一充斥着集体悲痛和愤怒的时刻,迅速引发了持续一年之久的全国性讨论,即在美国,身为黑人究竟意味着什么。

First came protests, in large cities and small towns across the nation, becoming the largest mass protest movement in U.S. history. Then, over the next several months, nearly 170 Confederate symbols were renamed or removed from public spaces. The Black Lives Matter slogan was claimed by a nation grappling with Mr. Floyd’s death.

首先发生的,是全国各大城市和小型城镇的抗议,这演变成了美国历史上规模最大的群众抗议运动。而在那之后的几个月,近170个南方邦联(Confederate)标志被重新命名或从公共场所移除。“黑人的命也是命”(Black Lives Matter,简称BLM)口号得到了这个难以接受弗洛伊德之死的国度的认同。

Over the next 11 months, calls for racial justice would touch seemingly every aspect of American life on a scale that historians say had not happened since the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

在接下来的11个月里,对种族公正的呼吁触及到了美国生活的几乎方方面面,历史学家称,这是自20世纪60年代的民权运动以来从未发生过的现象。

On Tuesday, Derek Chauvin, the white police officer who knelt on Mr. Floyd, was convicted of two counts of murder as well as manslaughter. The verdict brought some solace to activists for racial justice who had been riveted to the courtroom drama for the past several weeks.

周二,曾跪在弗洛伊德脖子上的白人警察德雷克·肖万(Derek Chauvin)被判两项谋杀罪和过失杀人罪成。这一判决给争取种族公正的活动人士带来了些许安慰,过去几周,他们一直在密切关注这场官司闹剧。

But for many Black Americans, real change feels elusive, particularly given how relentlessly the killing of Black men by the police has continued, most recently the shooting death of Daunte Wright just more than a week ago.

但对许多美国黑人而言,真正的改变还是看不见摸不着,尤其是看到警察继续杀害黑人的手段是多么无情——最近一次就发生在一周多以前,丹特·赖特(Daunte Wright)被枪击身亡。

There are also signs of backlash: Legislation that would reduce voting access, protect the police and effectively criminalize public protests has sprung up in Republican-controlled state legislatures.

也有抵制的迹象出现:在共和党控制的州立法会,减少投票机会、保护警察和将公众抗议实际上定为犯罪的立法大量涌现。

Otis Moss III, pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, said to call what had transpired over the past year a racial reckoning was not right.

芝加哥三一联合教会(Trinity United Church of Christ)的牧师奥蒂斯·莫斯三世(Otis Moss III)说,把过去一年发生的事情称为种族清算是不对的。

“Reckoning suggests that we are truly struggling with how to reimagine everything from criminal justice to food deserts to health disparities — we are not doing that,” he said. Tuesday’s guilty verdict, he said, “is addressing a symptom, but we have not yet dealt with the disease.”

“清算的意思是,我们真的在奋力去重新想象从刑事司法到食品沙漠再到健康差距的一切,但我们并没有做这些,”他说,他认为周二的有罪判决“只是治标,但我们并没真的去治本”。

Moments before the verdict was announced, Derrick Johnson, president of the N.A.A.C.P., called Mr. Floyd’s death “a Selma, Ala., moment for America.”

就在宣判前,全国有色人种协进会(NAACP)总裁德里克·约翰逊(Derrick Johnson)称弗洛伊德之死是“美国的阿拉巴马州塞尔玛时刻”。

What happened in Selma in 1965 “with the world watching demonstrated the need for the passage of the 1965 Voting Right Act,” he said. “What we witnessed last year with the killing of George Floyd should be the catalyst for broad reform in policing in this nation.”

他说,“全世界都在关注”1965年塞尔玛发生的事,“这表明了通过《1965投票权利法》(1965 Voting Right Act)的重要性。我们去年所目睹的乔治·弗洛伊德谋杀事件,应该成为这个国家警务系统广泛改革的催化剂。”

The entire arc of the Floyd case — from his death and the protests through the trial and conviction of Mr. Chauvin — played out against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic, which further focused attention on the nation’s racial inequities: People of color were among those hardest hit by the virus and by the economic dislocation that followed.

从他的死亡到肖万接受审判和定罪期间的抗议,弗洛伊德案的整个过程都是在新冠疫情的背景下发生的,而疫情更加凸显了美国的种族不平等现状:有色人种正是受病毒以及随之而来的经济凋敝打击最大的群体之一。

And for many, Mr. Floyd’s death carried the weight of other episodes of police violence over the past decade, a list that includes the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Sandra Bland and Breonna Taylor.

对许多人来说,弗洛伊德之死与过去十年间发生的其他警察暴力事件一样沉重,那些死者包括特雷沃恩·马丁(Trayvon Martin)、迈克尔·布朗(Michael Brown)、桑德拉·布兰德(Sandra Bland)和布里昂娜·泰勒(Breonna Taylor)。

In the months after Mr. Floyd’s death, some change has been concrete. Scores of policing reform laws were introduced at the state level. Corporations pledged billions to racial equity causes, and the N.F.L. apologized for its failure to support protests against police violence by its Black players.

在弗洛伊德去世后的几个月时间里,一些变化是实实在在的。许多警务改革法律在州一级被引入。各大企业承诺为种族平等事业投入数十亿美元,职业橄榄球联盟(NFL)也为未能支持黑人球员对警察暴力的抗议而道歉。

Even the backlash was different. Racist statements by dozens of public officials, from mayors to fire chiefs, related to Mr. Floyd’s death — perhaps tolerated before — cost them their jobs and sent others to antiracism training.

甚至连反对的后果也不再相同。从市长到消防局长,多名公职官员发表的与弗洛伊德之死有关的种族主义言论,放在以前或许会被容忍,现在却让他们丢了工作,有的则去接受了反种族主义培训。

And, at least at first, American views on a range of questions related to racial inequality and policing shifted to a degree rarely seen in opinion polling. Americans, and white Americans in particular, became much more likely than in recent years to support the Black Lives Matter movement, to say that racial discrimination is a big problem, and to say that excessive police force disproportionately harms African-Americans.

而且,至少在一开始,美国人在民调中对一系列与种族不平等和警察执法相关问题的态度转变,达到了一个罕见的程度。比起前几年,美国人——特别是美国白人——更倾向于支持BLM运动,认为种族歧视是个大问题,并表示警察过度使用武力对非裔美国人的伤害过于严重。

Mr. Floyd’s death, most Americans agreed early last summer, was part of a broader pattern — not an isolated episode. A New York Times poll of registered voters in June showed that more than one in 10 had attended protests. And at the time, even Republican politicians in Washington were voicing support for police reform.

去年夏初,大多数美国人认为弗洛伊德之死并不是孤立事件,而是更广泛常态的一部分。《纽约时报》6月对注册选民的调查显示,超过十分之一的受访者参加过抗议活动。当时,就连华盛顿的共和党政客都在发声支持警察改革。

But the shift proved fleeting for Republicans — both elected leaders and voters. As some protests turned destructive and as President Donald J. Trump’s re-election campaign began using those scenes in political ads, polls showed white Republicans retreating in their views that discrimination is a problem. Increasingly in the campaign, voters were given a choice: They could stand for racial equity or with law and order. Republican officials once vocal about Mr. Floyd fell silent.

但事实证明,这种转变对共和党人(无论是民选领导人还是选民)来说,都是短暂的。随着一些抗议变得具有破坏性,以及唐纳德·J·特朗普(Donald J. Trump)总统开始在连任竞选的政治广告中使用这些场景,民调显示,白人共和党人在歧视是个问题的观点上出现倒退。在其竞选活动中,选民越来越多地面临这样一个选择:他们可以支持种族平等,或是支持法律与秩序。曾为弗洛伊德发声的共和党官员陷入了沉默。

“If you were on the Republican side, which is really the Trump side of this equation, then the message became, ‘No, we can’t acknowledge that that was appalling because we will lose ground,’” said Patrick Murray, the director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute. “‘Our worldview is it’s us against them. And those protesters are going to be part of the them.’”

“如果你站在共和党一边,实际上就是站在特朗普的一边,那意思就变成了,‘不,我们不能承认此事骇人听闻,那会对我们的处境不利,’”蒙茅斯大学民调研究所(Monmouth University Polling Institute)所长帕特里克·默里(Patrick Murray)说。“‘我们的世界观是我们与他们势不两立。那些抗议者将成为他们的一部分。’”

Mr. Floyd’s death did, however, drive some changes, at least for now, among non-Republican white Americans in their awareness of racial inequality and support for reforms. And it helped cement the movement of college-educated suburban voters, already dismayed by what they saw as Mr. Trump’s race-baiting, toward the Democratic Party.

然而,弗洛伊德之死确实推动了一些改变,至少在眼下,非共和党的美国白人意识到了种族不平等,并支持改革。他的死也帮助巩固了受过大学教育的郊区选民向民主党靠拢的进程,他们已经对在他们看来属于种族煽动的特朗普感到失望。

“The year 2020 is going to go down in our history books as a very significant, very catalytic time,” said David Bailey, whose Richmond, Va.-based nonprofit, Arrabon, helps churches around the country do racial reconciliation work. “People’s attitudes have changed at some level. We don’t know fully all of what that means. But I am hopeful I am seeing something different.”

“2020年将作为一个非常重要、极具催化作用的时间点载入史册。人们的态度在某种程度上已经变了。我们还不能完全明白这到底意味着什么。但我相信自己看到了一些不一样的东西。”大卫·贝利(David Bailey)说,他在弗吉尼亚州里士满市创办了非营利组织Arrabon,帮助全美各地的教堂进行种族和解工作。

But even among Democratic leaders, including local mayors and recently President Biden, dismay over police violence has often been paired with warnings that protesters avoid violence, too. That association — linking Black political anger and violence — is deeply rooted in America and has not been broken in the past year, said Davin Phoenix, a political scientist at the University of California, Irvine.

但包括地方市长以及最近的拜登总统在内,即便是民主党领导人也常常在对警察暴力表示失望的同时,也警告抗议者避免使用暴力。加州大学欧文分校(University of California, Irvine)的政治学家达文·菲尼克斯(Davin Phoenix)表示,将黑人的政治愤怒与暴力联系起来的观点在美国根深蒂固,过去一年也没有打破这个常规。

“Before Black people even get a chance to process their feelings of trauma and grief, they’re being told by people they elected to the White House — that they put into power — ‘Don’t do this, don’t do that,’” Mr. Phoenix said. “I would love if more politicians, at least those that claim to be allied, turn to the police and say, ‘Don’t do this, don’t do that.’”

“甚至在有机会处理自己的创伤和悲痛感受之前,被黑人选进白宫里的人——得到他们授予的权力的人——就在告诉他们,‘别这样做,别那样做,’”菲尼克斯说。“我希望有更多政客,至少那些自称是盟友的政客,能转而对警察说,‘别这样做,别那样做。’”

The protests that followed Mr. Floyd’s death became part of the increasingly acrimonious American conversation over politics. Most were peaceful, but there was looting and property damage in some cities, and those images circulated frequently on television and social media.

弗洛伊德死后发生的抗议,成为了美国人日益激烈的政治讨论的一部分。大多数抗议是和平的,但一些城市出现了趁乱打劫和财产损失,这些画面得到了电视和社交媒体的不断传播。

Republicans cited the protests as an example of the left losing control. Blue Lives Matter flags hung from houses last fall. When support for Mr. Trump boiled over into violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, conservatives expressed anger at what they said was a double standard for how the two movements had been treated.

共和党人将抗议活动视为左派失控的一个例子。去年秋天,许多房屋外挂起了“警察的命也是命”(Blue Lives Matter)的旗帜。1月6日,当对特朗普的支持演变成美国国会大厦的暴力事件后,保守派对他们所谓的评判这两场运动的双重标准感到愤怒。

Mr. Biden took office in January vowing to make racial equity central to every element of his agenda — to how Covid vaccines are distributed, where federal infrastructure is built, how climate policies are crafted. He quickly made changes any Democratic administration most likely would have made, restoring police consent decrees and fair housing rules.

拜登于1月就职时,誓言要将种族平等放在他所有议程的核心,包括如何分发新冠疫苗、在哪里修建联邦基础设施、如何起草气候政策。他很快做出了任何民主党政府基本都会做出的改变,恢复了警察同意令和公平住房规定。

But, in a sign of the unique moment in which Mr. Biden was elected — and his debt to Black voters in elevating him — his administration has also made more novel moves, like declaring racism a serious threat to public health and singling out Black unemployment as a gauge of the economy’s health.

但是,作为拜登当选独特时刻的标志——以及对推举他的黑人选民的亏欠——他的政府也做出了更多新颖的举措,比如宣布种族主义是对公共健康的严重威胁,并将黑人失业率作为衡量经济健康的标准。

What opinion polling has not captured well is whether white liberals will change the behaviors — like opting for segregated schools and neighborhoods — that reinforce racial inequality. Even as the outcry over Mr. Floyd’s death has raised awareness of it, other trends tied to the pandemic have only exacerbated that inequality. That has been true not just as Black families and workers have been disproportionately hurt by the pandemic, but also as white students have fared better amid remote education and as white homeowners have gained wealth in a frenzied housing market.

民意调查没有很好地捕捉到的是,白人自由主义者是否会改变强化种族不平等的行为——比如选择种族隔离的学校和社区。尽管对弗洛伊德之死的抗议提高了人们对此的认识,但与大流行有关的其他趋势只会加剧这种不平等。这不仅是因为黑人家庭和工人受到疫情伤害更为严重,也因为白人学生在远程教育中表现得更好,白人房主在狂热的房地产市场中获得了财富。

In a national sample of white Americans earlier this year, Jennifer Chudy, a political scientist at Wellesley College, found that even the most racially sympathetic were more likely to endorse limited, private actions. These included educating oneself about racism or listening to people of color, rather than, for example, choosing to live in a racially diverse community or bringing racial issues to the attention of elected officials and policymakers.

韦尔斯利学院(Wellesley College)的政治学家珍妮弗·楚迪(Jennifer Chudy)在今年早些时候对美国白人进行的一次全国性抽样调查中发现,即使是最具种族同情心的人,也更有可能支持有限的私人行为——包括教育自己了解种族主义,或是倾听有色人种的呼声——而不是选择生活在一个种族多元化的社区,或将提请给民选官员和政策制定者注意种族问题。

Still, historians say it is hard to overstate the galvanizing effect of Mr. Floyd’s death on public discourse, not just on policing but also on how racism is embedded in the policies of public and private institutions.

尽管如此,历史学家说,弗洛伊德之死对公众讨论的激励作用怎么强调都不为过,不仅是对警务工作的讨论,还有对种族主义如何深入公共和私人机构政策的讨论。

Some Black business leaders have spoken in unusually personal terms about their own experiences with racism, with some calling out the business world for doing far too little over the years — “Corporate America has failed Black America,” said Darren Walker, the president of the Ford Foundation and a board member at PepsiCo, Ralph Lauren and Square — and dozens of brands made commitments to diversify their work forces.

一些黑人商界领袖用不同寻常的个人化方式讲述了自己遭受种族歧视的经历,一些人指责商界多年来做得太少——“美国企业界让美国黑人失望,”福特基金会(Ford Foundation)主席、百事可乐(PepsiCo)、拉夫·劳伦(Ralph Lauren)和Square的董事会成员达伦·沃克(Darren Walker)表示——数十个品牌承诺让员工队伍多元化。

Public outcries over racism in the United States erupted across the world, spurring protest in the streets of Berlin, London, Paris and Vancouver, British Columbia, and in capitals in Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. White Americans unfamiliar with the concept of structural racism drove books on the topic to the top of best-seller lists.

对美国种族主义的抗议在世界各地爆发,在柏林、伦敦、巴黎、温哥华、英属哥伦比亚省以及非洲、拉丁美洲和中东地区的首都引发了抗议活动。不熟悉结构性种族主义概念的美国白人,将有关该主题的书籍推上了畅销书排行榜的榜首。

The protests against police violence over the last year were more racially diverse than those that followed other police shootings of Black men, women and children over the past decade, said Robin D.G. Kelley, a historian of protest movements at the University of California, Los Angeles. And unlike in the past, they propelled defunding the police — the most far-reaching demand to transform policing — to the mainstream.

加州大学洛杉矶分校(University of California, Los Angeles)研究抗议运动的历史学家罗宾·D·G·凯利(Robin D.G. Kelley)说,与过去十年其他警察枪击黑人男女和儿童事件后发生的抗议活动相比,去年反对警察暴力的抗议活动在种族上更具多样性。与过去不同的是,它们使得撤销警察经费的要求成为主流——这是改革警务工作的最深远要求。

“We had more organizing, more people in the streets, more people saying, ‘It’s not enough to fix the system, it needs to be taken down and replaced,’” Dr. Kelley said.

“我们有了更多的组织,有更多的人走上街头,有更多的人说,‘仅仅修复这个系统是不够的,它需要进行拆除和替换,’”凯利说。

Organizers worked to turn the energy of the protests into real political power by pushing vast voter registrations. By the fall, racial justice was a campaign issue too. Mostly Democratic candidates addressed racial disparities in their campaigns, including calling for police reform, the dismantling of cash bail systems and the creation of civilian review boards.

组织者努力通过推动大量选民登记,将抗议活动的能量转化为真正的政治力量。到了秋天,种族公正也成了竞选议题。大多数民主党候选人在竞选中都提到种族不平等问题,包括呼吁警察改革,废除现金保释制度和建立民事审查委员会。

“We will forever look back at this moment in American history. George Floyd’s death created a new energy around making changes, though it’s not clear how lasting they will be,” said Rashad Robinson, president of Color of Change. “His death pushed racial justice to the forefront and brought a multiracial response like never before, but we must remember this is about making Chauvin accountable and the work of making systemic changes.”

“我们将会永远回顾美国历史上的这一刻。乔治·弗洛伊德的去世为变革创造了一种新的能量,尽管还不清楚它们会持续多久,”“变革之色”的主席拉沙德·罗宾逊(Rashad Robinson)说。“他的死把种族公正推到了最前沿,引发了前所未有的多种族反应,但我们必须记住,这是为了让肖万付出代价,是为了做出系统性变革。”

One clear policy outcome has been changes to policing. More than 30 states have passed new police oversight and reform laws since Mr. Floyd’s killing, giving states more authority and putting long-powerful police unions on the defensive. The changes include restricting the use of force, overhauling disciplinary systems, installing more civilian oversight and requiring transparency around misconduct cases.

一个明确的政策结果就是警务工作的改变。自弗洛伊德被杀以来,已有30多个州通过了新的警察监督和改革法律,赋予各州更多权力,并使长期掌握巨大权力的警察工会处于守势。这些变化包括限制使用武力,改革纪律制度,建立更多民间监督,并增加渎职案件的透明度。

Still, systems of policing are complex and entrenched, and it remains to be seen how much the legislation will change the way things work on the ground.

尽管如此,警务系统是复杂而根深蒂固的,立法将在多大程度上改变实际工作的方式仍有待观察。

“America is a deeply racist place and it’s also progressively getting better — both are true,” said Mr. Bailey, the racial reconciliation worker in Richmond. “You are talking about a 350-year problem that’s only a little more than 50 years toward correction.”

“美国是一个种族主义根深蒂固的地方,然而情况正在逐渐好转——这两件事都是事实,”在里士满从事种族和解工作的贝利说。“我们说的是一个有350年历史的问题,而直到50来年前,它才开始得到修正。”

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