WalkTalkThink

We the people, in order to form a more perfect union.
我们是一个民族，要团结在一起。
Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched
Americas improbable experiment in democracy. Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny and
persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a
Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787.

两百二十年以前，一群人聚集在对面街上的大厅内，以简单的语言，开始了罕见的美国民主试验。农夫和学者们，政治家和爱国人士，他们飘洋过海，逃离暴政和压迫，终于在1787年的春天在费城的大会上宣告了他们的独立宣言。这一宣言至今有效。

 
The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished.
It was stained by this nations original sin of slavery, a question that
divided the colonies and brought the convention to a stalemate until the
founders chose to allow the slave trade to continue for at least twenty more
years, and to leave any final resolution to future generations.

他们起草的文件最终得以签名，可是并不完全。因为最初奴隶的问题，这份文件并不清白，并导致意见不和，使大会暂停，直到起草人做出选择，让奴隶贸易继续存在了20年之久，并把这个问题留给后人来处理。

Of course, the answer to the slavery question was already embedded within
our Constitution - a Constitution that had at is very core the ideal of
equal citizenship under the law; a Constitution that promised its people
liberty, and justice, and a union that could be and should be perfected over
time.

当然，关于奴隶问题的答案，早已写在了宪法当中。因为宪法的中心就是法律之下人人平等，给于每一个公民自由和公平。宪法同样应许将人们团结在一起，并且随着时间的推移不断的完善。

And yet words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from
bondage, or provide men and women of every color and creed their full rights
and obligations as citizens of the United States. What would be needed were
Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part -
through protests and struggle, on the streets and in the courts, through a
civil war and civil disobedience and always at great risk - to narrow that
gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time.

可是一纸文书并不足以让奴隶解放，让各色肤色的男女拥有作为美国公民完全的责任和义务。为了缩小理想与现实的差距，后来的人们在街头或者法院里头抗议与斗争，甚至通过国内战争或者不遵从法律，尽管他们这样做冒了很大的风险。

This was one of the tasks we set forth at the beginning of this campaign -
to continue the long march of those who came before us, a march for a more
just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America. I
chose to run for the presidency at this moment in history because I believe
deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them
together - unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have
different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same
and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the
same direction - towards a better future for of children and our
grandchildren.

在我们这次选举活动之初，我们就有这样一个目的，就是继续前人的奋斗，为了一个更加公平，更加自由，更加关爱和富饶的美国而奋斗。我选择在这个历史时刻竞选总统，因为我深深的相信，我们无以解决当前的问题，除非我们一同奋斗，除非我们更加团结，理解到尽管我们有不同的故事，但是有共同的希望；尽管我们看起来不一样，从不一样的地方来，但是却朝着同一个方向前进，那就是为了我们的后辈有一个更好的未来。

This belief comes from my unyielding faith in the decency and generosity of
the American people. But it also comes from my own American story.

有这样一个信心，是因为我坚信美国人民的正直和大度。这个信心同样来源于我自己的经历。

I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. I was
raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to
serve in Pattons Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked
on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas. Ive
gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the worlds
poorest nations. I am married to a black American who carries within her the
blood of slaves and slaveowners - an inheritance we pass on to our two
precious daughters. I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and
cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and
for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on
Earth is my story even possible.

我父亲是来自肯尼亚的黑人，我母亲则是来自堪萨斯的白人。我在白人祖父母的抚养下长大。我的祖父他经历了大萧条，后来在二战中参加巴顿将军的部队。在我祖父服役期间，我的祖母则在Fort Leavenworth军工厂工作。我在美国最好的学校受过教育，也曾在世界上最平穷的国家生活过。我娶了一位黑人妇女，她的生命里流淌着奴隶和奴隶主的血液。这一切我们都遗传给了我们两个可爱的女儿。我的兄弟，姐妹，侄子，侄女，叔叔，婶婶，来自不同的种族，拥有着不同的肤色，居住在三个大陆上。只要我还活着，我将不会忘记，我的经历不会在地球上其他任何国家发生。

Its a story that hasnt made me the most conventional candidate. But it is a
story that has seared into my genetic makeup the idea that this nation is
more than the sum of its parts - that out of many, we are truly one.

我的经历并没有让我成为最传统的候选人。可是，我的故事却让这样一个理念深入我的基因当中，那就是，这个国家由多个元素组成，从多元中，我们成为一体。

Throughout the first year of this campaign, against all predictions to the
contrary, we saw how hungry the American people were for this message of
unity. Despite the temptation to view my candidacy through a purely racial
lens, we won commanding victories in states with some of the whitest
populations in the country. In South Carolina, where the Confederate Flag
still flies, we built a powerful coalition of African Americans and white
Americans.

这个选举的头一年，与所有的预测相反的事，我们看到美国人民是多么渴望彼此团结。尽管很多人带着种族主义眼镜来看待我的竞选，我们赢得了这个国家白人占多数的很多州。在联邦旗帜依然飘扬的南卡，我们建立了非裔美国人和白种人之间的有力联盟。

This is not to say that race has not been an issue in the campaign. At
various stages in the campaign, some commentators have deemed me either too
black or not black enough. We saw racial tensions bubble to the surface
during the week before the South Carolina primary. The press has scoured
every exit poll for the latest evidence of racial polarization, not just in
terms of white and black, but black and brown as well.

这并不是说，种族问题不是这次竞选的一个议点。在这次竞选的不同阶段，有些评论员或者说我太黑或者黑得不够。我们也看到在南卡初选之前，种族紧张浮出水面。在每一次出口民调中，媒体都努力搜寻种族极化的证据，这个种族极化不但存在于白人与黑人之间，而且在黑人和棕色人中之间。

And yet, it has only been in the last couple of weeks that the discussion of
race in this campaign has taken a particularly divisive turn.

然而，在最近的几周内，关于种族问题的讨论将我们带到一个尤其关键的十字路口。

On one end of the spectrum, weve heard the implication that my candidacy is
somehow an exercise in affirmative action; that its based solely on the
desire of wide-eyed liberals to purchase racial reconciliation on the cheap.
On the other end, weve heard my former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright,
use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to
widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and
the goodness of our nation; that rightly offend white and black alike.

一方面，我们已经听到有人暗指我的参选是优惠法案的一次试验；完全建立在自由党人想要廉价购买种族调和的意愿之上。另一方面，我们听到我的前任牧师，怀特牧师，使用煽动性语言表达了一些观点，不仅很可能使种族更加分裂，而且污蔑了我们民族的伟大与美德。这些言语伤害了白人，也同样伤害了黑人。

I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend
Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain
. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic
and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could
be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly
disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely - just as Im sure many
of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which
you strongly disagreed.

我已经毫不含糊的指责过，怀特牧师的言辞导致了这些争论。有些人的问题让人烦恼。我以前知道他在某些偶然的时候猛烈攻击美国国内和对外政策吗？是的，当然。我曾经在教会里听到过他那些可能引起争议的言论吗？是的，我曾经听过。我曾经对他的政治观点提出过异议吗？绝对如此。就如同我相信，你们也听到你们的牧师或传道者的观点但完全不同意一样。

But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm werent simply
controversial. They werent simply a religious leaders effort to speak out
against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted
view of this country - a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that
elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with
America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted
primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of
emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam.

可是引起风暴的这些言词并不是简单的争议。这不仅仅是一个宗教领袖在述说他所见到的不公议。相反，他们表达了对这个国家很深的曲解。他们认为种族主义是白人所特有的；让我们对美国错误的认识超过对他的正确认识。这个观点认为中东的冲突根植于包括以色列在内的国家联盟的行动中，而非起源于邪恶的，充满敌意的激进伊斯兰的意识形态。

As such, Reverend Wrights comments were not only wrong but divisive,
divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we
need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems - two wars, a
terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and
potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or
white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all.

由此，怀特牧师的言论不仅仅是错误的而且，在我们需要团结的时候具有分裂性，在我们需要走到一起来解决一系列重大问题的时候充满种族主义色彩。这些问题包括两个战争，恐怖主义袭击，日渐式微的经济，长期的健康系统危机，以及可能带来灾难的气候变化。这些问题不是黑色，不是白色的，或者拉丁色乃至亚洲色的，而是，我们所有人都会面临的问题。

Given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there
will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough
. Why associate myself with Reverend Wright in the first place, they may ask
? Why not join another church? And I confess that if all that I knew of
Reverend Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an
endless loop on the television and You Tube, or if Trinity United Church of
Christ conformed to the caricatures being peddled by some commentators,
there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way

基于我的背景，我的政治观，以及我公开的价值观和理想，毫无疑问，对一些人而言我的指责还不够。他们会问，你为什么一开始就和怀特牧师有关系？我坦白，如果我所知道的怀特牧师就像你们在电视和You Tube上不断看到的那些只言片语的布道，或者，三位一体教会如同某些评论员所讽刺的那样，毫无疑问，我也会提出同样的问题。

But the truth is, that isnt all that I know of the man. The man I met more
than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith
, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care
for the sick and lift up the poor. He is a man who served his country as a U
.S. Marine; who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities
and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church
that serves the community by doing Gods work here on Earth - by housing the
homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and
scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from
HIV/AIDS.

可是事实是，我所知道的他远远超过这些。二十多年以前，他传给了我基督教的信仰，他教导我要彼此相爱；照顾病人，帮助贫苦人。他服役于海军，在最好的大学和神学院中学习并作过讲座。三十多年来，他领导教会，服侍社区，在世上作神的工作，让无家可归者有居所，服侍那些有需要的人，提供小孩看护服务，奖学金以及监狱服侍，并且向那些患艾滋病的病人提供帮助。

In my first book, Dreams From My Father, I described the experience of my
first service at Trinity:

在我的第一本书，从父亲那里的梦想，里面，我描述了第一次参加三位一体教会的经历。

People began to shout, to rise from their seats and clap and cry out, a
forceful wind carrying the reverends voice up into the rafters….And in that
single note - hope! - I heard something else; at the foot of that cross,
inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of
ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses
and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lions den, Ezekiels field of dry bones.
Those stories - of survival, and freedom, and hope - became our story, my
story; the blood that had spilled was our blood, the tears our tears; until
this black church, on this bright day, seemed once more a vessel carrying
the story of a people into future generations and into a larger world. Our
trials and triumphs became at once unique and universal, black and more than
black; in chronicling our journey, the stories and songs gave us a means to
reclaim memories that we didnt need to feel shame about…memories that all
people might study and cherish - and with which we could start to rebuild.

人们开始欢呼，从他们的座位站起来，鼓掌并且高声呼喊，就如同有一个强劲的风将牧师的嗓音带到大厅的每个角落。就是那样简单的一个信息：希望！我也听到别的一些信息，在十字架脚下，在城市中成千所教会里，我想象着普通的黑人融入到那些关于大卫王和歌利亚勇士的故事中，以及摩西和法老，被关于狮笼的基督徒，和以西节干骨堆的故事。这些故事，关于生存，自由，与希望，成为我们的故事，我的故事。那些曾经流过的血也是我们的血，他们的泪也是我们的泪。在这样明亮的一天，在这个黑人教堂，那些故事里的人们就如同坐着一个飞船来到将来更大的世界当中。我们的磨难和胜利立刻变得独特却又普遍，黑人以至所有人，在编写我们的历程时，这些故事和歌曲使得我们在回想往事时不至于羞耻。 对于这些往事回忆，所有人都应该学习并且珍惜，并成为我们重建生活的基础。                                                                                                     

That has been my experience at Trinity. Like other predominantly black
churches across the country, Trinity embodies the black community in its
entirety - the doctor and the welfare mom, the model student and the former
gang-banger. Like other black churches, Trinitys services are full of
raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. They are full of dancing,
clapping, screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear.
The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce
intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the
love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in
America.

这就是我在三位一体教会的经历。如同其他黑人为主的教会一样，三位一体完全体现了黑人社区的特征，他的成员包括医生和依靠福利生活的单亲妈妈，模范学生和曾经的混混。也如同其他的黑人教会一样，三位一体的崇拜中充满了爽朗的笑声甚至于不雅的幽默。他们跳舞，鼓掌，尖叫得刺耳。教会包容着慈爱，但也有残酷的现实，有人智慧的令人生厌，有人则无知的令人惊讶，有人失败有人成功，有爱的见证，但也有黑人常常经历的苦痛和偏见。

And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Reverend Wright. As
imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my
faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children. Not once in my
conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in
derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but
courtesy and respect. He contains within him the contradictions - the good
and the bad - of the community that he has served diligently for so many
years.

所有这些，也许，有助于解释我和怀特牧师的关系。作为一个不完美的人，他就如同我的家人一样。他增添了我的信心，主持了我的婚礼，并施洗了我的孩子们。在我们的谈话中，我从来没有听到他用侮辱的语言谈论过任何种族，或者用不礼貌或者不尊重的语言来描述他曾经打过交道的白人。在他所为之辛勤服务的社区你会发现一些矛盾的东西，好的和坏的，在他的身上也同样如此。

I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no
more disown him than I can my white grandmother - a woman who helped raise
me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as
much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her
fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one
occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.

我不会和他断绝关系，就如同我不可以和黑人社区断绝关系一样。我也不会和他断绝关系，就如同我不可以和我的白人外祖母断绝关系一样。 她帮助抚养了我，一次次为我作出牺牲，爱我如同她爱这个世界的一切。但同时，她也曾坦白告诉我，当一个黑人在街上从她身边经过，她会害怕。也不止一次，她说出一些种族言论，让我战兢。

These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country
that I love.

这些人都成为我生命的一部分。也是美国，我所爱的国家的一部分。

Some will see this as an attempt to justify or excuse comments that are
simply inexcusable. I can assure you it is not. I suppose the politically
safe thing would be to move on from this episode and just hope that it fades
into the woodwork. We can dismiss Reverend Wright as a crank or a demagogue
, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her
recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias.

有些人会认为，我试图来解释那些不可以被原谅的言论。我保证这不是我的意图。我猜想，所谓安全的政治手段乃是从这些事情上超脱开去，希望随着时间的流逝人么呢逐渐忘却。我们可以职责怀特牧师为一个古怪或者造谣生事的人，就如同有些人指责Geraldine Ferraro一样，在她最近发表一些言论以后，说她包容偏激的种族主义思想。

But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore
right now. We would be making the same mistake that Reverend Wright made in
his offending sermons about America - to simplify and stereotype and amplify
the negative to the point that it distorts reality.

可是，种族，我相信，是这个国家无法忽视的一个问题。我们会犯如果怀特牧师在他的布道中一样的错误，将陈词滥调简单化，甚至于扩大那些负面的东西以至于扭曲事实。

The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have
surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this
country that weve never really worked through - a part of our union that we
have yet to perfect. And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our
respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve
challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for
every American.

事实是，在过去几周内那些言辞和随之浮上水面的问题反映了种族问题的复杂性，这些我们从没有彻底解决过。这也是我们在彼此团结中需要完善的地方。如果我们单单从这个问题走开，躲到各自的角落，我们就根本不可能走到一起来解决我们这个时代的挑战，包括健康系统，教育问题，或者为每一个美国人提供良好的工作。