WalkTalkThink

Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this
point. As William Faulkner once wrote, The past isnt dead and buried. In
fact, it isnt even past. We do not need to recite here the history of racial
injustice in this country. But we do need to remind ourselves that so many
of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be
directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that
suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.

理解这个现实需要我们回想我们怎样走到这一步。正如William Faulkner曾经描述的那样，历史没有死亡或者被埋葬。实际上，历史甚至没有翻开新的一页。在这里，我们不需要重述这个国家种族歧视的历史。可是我们必须提醒我们自己，今天在黑人社区存在的很多不平等可以直接追溯到残酷的奴隶制度和Jim Crow种族隔离的早期时代。

Segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still havent fixed
them, fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, and the inferior
education they provided, then and now, helps explain the pervasive
achievement gap between todays black and white students.

被隔离的学校，曾经是，现在也是次等学校，我们依然没有解决这个问题。在消除种族隔离的教育法案通过五十年后的今天，这些学校里提供的次等教育，有助于解释黑人学生和白人学生之间的普遍差别。

Legalized discrimination - where blacks were prevented, often through
violence, from owning property, or loans were not granted to African-
American business owners, or black homeowners could not access FHA mortgages, or blacks were excluded from unions, or the police force, or fire
departments - meant that black families could not amass any meaningful
wealth to bequeath to future generations. That history helps explain the
wealth and income gap between black and white, and the concentrated pockets
of poverty that persists in so many of todays urban and rural communities.

法律化的歧视，比方说，通过暴力的手段阻止黑人拥有财产，或者，黑人产业主申请不到联邦贷款，或者，黑人不允许参加工会，警察，或者消防部门，这些意味着黑人家庭不能筹到足够的财富给后人。这个历史有助于解释黑人和白人之间的财产和收入的差别，也有助于解释在今天内城区和农村社区长期存在的集中贫困地带。

A lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and
frustration that came from not being able to provide for ones family,
contributed to the erosion of black families - a problem that welfare
policies for many years may have worsened. And the lack of basic services in
so many urban black neighborhoods - parks for kids to play in, police
walking the beat, regular garbage pick-up and building code enforcement -
all helped create a cycle of violence, blight and neglect that continue to
haunt us.

对于很多非裔男性来讲，缺乏经济机会就不能为其家庭提供保障，由此带来的耻辱和沮丧进一步损害了黑人家庭。多年的福利政策进一步恶化了这个问题。在很多城市的黑人社区缺少基本的服务设施，比方说孩子可以玩耍的公园，巡逻的警察，定期的垃圾收集以及房屋区划法的施行，这些都促成了一个充满暴力，坏影响和忽视的循环，不停的烦扰我们。

This is the reality in which Reverend Wright and other African-Americans of
his generation grew up. They came of age in the late fifties and early
sixties, a time when segregation was still the law of the land and
opportunity was systematically constricted. Whats remarkable is not how many
failed in the face of discrimination, but rather how many men and women
overcame the odds; how many were able to make a way out of no way for those
like me who would come after them.

这就是怀特牧师以及他那个年代的黑人成长的环境。他们出生于五十年代后期以及六十年代早期，那时候种族隔离依然合法，他们缺乏各样的机会。值得一提的是，不是很多人在歧视面前失败，而是很多男女战胜了恶劣环境，为如我一样的后人，从无路中走出一条路出来。

But for all those who scratched and clawed their way to get a piece of the
American Dream, there were many who didnt make it - those who were
ultimately defeated, in one way or another, by discrimination. That legacy
of defeat was passed on to future generations - those young men and
increasingly young women who we see standing on street corners or
languishing in our prisons, without hope or prospects for the future. Even
for those blacks who did make it, questions of race, and racism, continue to
define their worldview in fundamental ways. For the men and women of
Reverend Wrights generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear
have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years.
That anger may not get expressed in public, in front of white co-workers or
white friends. But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the
kitchen table. At times, that anger is exploited by politicians, to gin up
votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politicians own failings.

而相比较那些摸爬滚打实现一部分美国梦的人们，也有很多人未能实现他们的梦想。因为歧视，这样或那样的原因，他们最终失败。这些失败传到下一代，那些年轻男子，以及数量逐渐增多的年轻女子身上。我们看到他们站在街角里，或在监狱里忧郁度日，没有希望，也没有对未来的憧憬。甚至，对那些成功的黑人来说，关于种族以及种族主义的疑问，依然定义着他们最基本的世界观。对于怀特牧师那个年代的人来说，被羞辱，疑问和恐惧的记忆还没有逝去，那些年代的愤怒和痛苦也没有。那些愤怒他们也许不会在公共场合，白人同事或朋友面前表达出来，可是你可以在理发店或者餐桌旁听到。不时的，政客们会利用这种愤怒来来种族票，或者用来作为失败的借口。

And occasionally it finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the
pulpit and in the pews. The fact that so many people are surprised to hear
that anger in some of Reverend Wrights sermons simply reminds us of the old
truism that the most segregated hour in American life occurs on Sunday
morning. That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it
distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely
facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the African-
American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real
change. But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away,
to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the
chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.

有些时候，有人会在星期天早上教会崇拜，在讲台上，在会众当中表达他们的愤怒。如此多的人惊讶于怀特牧师布道中流露的愤怒，这个事实让我们回想起这个古老的说法，那就是美国最隔离的时间是星期天的上午。那些愤怒并不会总产生好的后果，实际上，它经常转移我们的注意力而不解决实际问题；它让我们无以公正地面对我们自己在造成今天这种局面中所起的作用；也阻止了黑人社区和外界组成联盟，而这正是真正变化所需要的。但是，愤怒也是真实的，并且强有力，如果我们简单地希望它消失，谴责它而不理解它的根源，仅仅会加剧种族之间的误解。

In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most
working- and middle-class white Americans dont feel that they have been
particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is the immigrant
experience - as far as theyre concerned, no ones handed them anything,
theyve built it from scratch. Theyve worked hard all their lives, many times
only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a
lifetime of labor. They are anxious about their futures, and feel their
dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition,
opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come
at my expense. So when they are told to bus their children to a school
across town; when they hear that an African American is getting an advantage
in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice
that they themselves never committed; when theyre told that their fears
about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds
over time.

实际上，类似的愤怒同样存在于一些白人社区当中。大部分工作阶级和中产阶级的白人家庭并不感觉到他们因为肤色而得到了特别的优惠。他们的经历是移民经历，他们所关心的是，没有人给了他们什么。他们一切都是从头开始的。他们一生都努力工作，很多时候却看到他们的工作被转移到海外，或者在一生的劳作之后失去他们的养老金。他们对未来感到忧虑，感到梦想一步步消逝，在停止增长的工资和全球竞争当中，机会就像是一场总和为零的游戏，别人的梦想实现，但却是以我的牺牲为代价。所以，当他们送孩子们坐校车去上学，当他们听到一个黑人得到优惠得到一份好工作或者上一个好大学，这个优惠来自于黑人曾经受到的不平等待遇，但却不关他们的事，当他们被告知，他们关于城区犯罪率的担忧是有偏见的，他们的不满也随时间增长。

Like the anger within the black community, these resentments arent always
expressed in polite company. But they have helped shape the political
landscape for at least a generation. Anger over welfare and affirmative
action helped forge the Reagan Coalition. Politicians routinely exploited
fears of crime for their own electoral ends. Talk show hosts and
conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of
racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and
inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.

如同黑人社区的愤怒一样，这些不满也不总是以礼貌的方式被表达出来。可是，这些不满却至少刻画了一个时代的政治风景。对于福利政策和对少数裔的优惠政策的不满促成了里根联盟。如同一贯做法，政客们为选举需要，利用了对犯罪的恐惧。脱口秀主持人和保守党的评论员将他们的事业建立于披露对种族问题虚假的指责，却排斥对种族不公平，不平等问题合法的讨论，认为这些仅仅是政治正确的或者是相反的种族主义。

Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white
resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class
squeeze - a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable
accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by
lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over
the many. And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label
them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in
legitimate concerns - this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path
to understanding.

就像黑人的愤怒毫无益处，白人的不满忽视了中产阶级被压榨问题的真正罪魁祸首，那就是充满了内部交易，可疑问的会计实算，和短期贪婪的商业文化。另外一个罪魁祸首就是华盛顿，它被说客和各种特殊利益集团所控制，他们的经济政策仅仅让少数人得益。然而，要希望白人的不满消除，把他们冠以误导甚至种族主义者的罪名，而不认识到这些不满根植于合理的忧虑，这同样使种族问题恶化，阻挡我们真正理解问题。

This is where we are right now. Its a racial stalemate weve been stuck in
for years. Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I
have never been so naïve as to believe that we can get beyond our
racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy -
particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own.

这就是我们面临的现实。我们多年处在种族问题的僵局当中。和我的批评者，不管白人或是黑人，所说相反的是，我从来没有天真的认为，我们在一次选举当中可以超越种族的分割。这同样不可能在一个选举人身上实现，尤其是我这样一个不完美的候选人。

But I have asserted a firm conviction - a conviction rooted in my faith in
God and my faith in the American people - that working together we can move
beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice is
we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union.

但是，我已经宣布了一个坚定的信念，这个信念来源于我对上帝的信仰和我对我美国人民的信心，那就是携起手，我们可以共同医治种族问题遗留的伤口，而实际上我们别无其他选择，而只可以为了团结继续前行。

For the African-American community, that path means embracing the burdens of
our past without becoming victims of our past. It means continuing to
insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of American life. But it
also means binding our particular grievances - for better health care, and
better schools, and better jobs - to the larger aspirations of all Americans
-- the white woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, the white man
whose been laid off, the immigrant trying to feed his family. And it means
taking full responsibility for own lives - by demanding more from our
fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and
teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in
their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must
always believe that they can write their own destiny.

对于非裔美国人来说，这条路意味着负起历史的担子，却不成为历史的受害者。这也意味着继续坚持公正的看待美国生活的方方面面。同时，这还意味着将我们特别的不满，比方对医疗体系，对教育和工作，融入普通美国人更广泛的期待当中，比如，白人妇女挣扎打破玻璃我顶，白人男子被裁员，以及移民们养活自己的家庭。这也意味着对我们的生活完全负责，从我们父亲那里要求更高，多画一些时间和我们的小孩在一起，给他们读书，教育他们在面临的挑战和歧视的时候，不被困难压倒至于绝望或者玩世不恭，而必须坚信他们可以主宰自己的命运。

Ironically, this quintessentially American - and yes, conservative - notion
of self-help found frequent expression in Reverend Wrights sermons. But what
my former pastor too often failed to understand is that embarking on a
program of self-help also requires a belief that society can change.

具有讽刺意味的是，这个经典美国式的，是的，保守派人为的，自助的说法，其实你经常可以在Wrights的布道里听到。可是他却也没有认识到，在宣扬的自助同时需要相信社会是可以改变的。

The profound mistake of Reverend Wrights sermons is not that he spoke about
racism in our society. Its that he spoke as if our society was static; as if
no progress has been made; as if this country - a country that has made it
possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the
land and build a coalition of white and black; Latino and Asian, rich and
poor, young and old -- is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past. But what
we know -- what we have seen - is that America can change. That is true
genius of this nation. What we have already achieved gives us hope - the
audacity to hope - for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

Wrights牧师布道中的最根本的错误不在于他谈论种族问题，而是，他认为我们的社会是静止的，似乎认为这个社会丝毫没有从悲伤的历史当中走出来。而实际上，在这个国家，他的教会中的一员已经有可能竞选最高职位，建立白人与黑人，拉丁裔和华裔，富人与穷人，年轻人和老者的联盟。我们知道，我们也已经看到，美国可以改变。这就是这个国家的伟大之处。我们已经的成就给我们希望，大胆的希望，来构想明天的成就。

In the white community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging
that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the
minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination - and current
incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past - are real
and must be addressed. Not just with words, but with deeds - by investing in
our schools and our communities; by enforcing our civil rights laws and
ensuring fairness in our criminal justice system; by providing this
generation with ladders of opportunity that were unavailable for previous
generations. It requires all Americans to realize that your dreams do not
have to come at the expense of my dreams; that investing in the health,
welfare, and education of black and brown and white children will ultimately
help all of America prosper.

对于白人来讲，通向一个更加团结的道路意味着承认让非裔美国人苦恼的事情不仅仅存在于黑人当中，而是，关于歧视的历史以及现在正在发生的歧视，尽管比过去要少，却是真实的，也必须要面对的。我们不光要用言语，更要用行动来解决这个问题。比如投资与我们的学校和社区，加强民权法案的执行，保证司法体系的公正，以及给这一代人各种他们的父辈未曾拥有的机会。这需要所有的美国人都认识到，你们梦想的实现不需要我来牺牲我的梦想。投资于各种肤色儿童的医疗，福利和教育，最终会帮助所有美国人过安康的生活。

In the end, then, what is called for is nothing more, and nothing less, than
what all the worlds great religions demand - that we do unto others as we
would have them do unto us. Let us be our brothers keeper, Scripture tells
us. Let us be our sisters keeper. Let us find that common stake we all have
in one another, and let our politics reflect that spirit as well.

最终，我在这里要呼吁的，不多也不少，正是世界上所有伟大宗教要求的那样，要别人怎样对你，就应该怎样对待别人。让我们成为我们弟兄的保护人，就像圣经说得那样。让我们成为我们姐妹的守护者。让我们找到我们身上都拥有的支柱，也让我们的政治体现我们的精神。