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Typewriters were very expensive and my family could not afford one.
打字機非常昂貴，我的家庭負擔不起。
I was one of two kids from Baldwin County that was chosen to go to Washington along with hundreds of other kids across the country.
我是鮑德溫縣兩個被選中的孩子之一，和全國數(shù)以百計的其他孩子被選去華盛頓。
Before we left, the Alabama delegation took a trip to our state capitol in Montgomery for a meeting with the governor.
在我們離開之前，阿拉巴馬州代表團去了趟我們在蒙哥馬利的州議會大廈，會見了州長。
The governor's name was George C.Wallace.
州長叫做喬治·華萊士。
The same George Wallace who in 1963 stood in the schoolhouse door at the University of Alabama to block African Americans from enrolling.
1963年，喬治·華萊士站在阿拉巴馬大學校舍門阻止非洲裔美國人入學。
Wallace embraced the evils of segregation.
華萊士奉行邪惡的種族隔離主義。
He pitted whites against blacks, the South against the North, the working class against the so-called elites.
他讓白人對抗黑人，南方對抗北方，工人階級對抗所謂的精英。
Meeting my governor was not an honor for me.
與州長會面對我而言并非榮譽。
My heroes in life were Dr. Martin Luther King, and Robert F.Kennedy, who had fought against the very things that Wallace stood for.
我生命中的英雄是馬丁·路德·金博士和羅伯特·肯尼迪，他們與華萊士的立場針鋒相對。
Keep in mind, that I grew up, or, when I grew up, I grew up in a place where King and Kennedy were not exactly held in high esteem.
你需要知道的是，成長的過程中，我是在一個金和肯尼迪并不備受尊敬的地方長大。
When I was a kid, the South was still coming to grips with its history.
當我還是個孩子的時候，南方仍然對其歷史緊抓不舍。
My textbooks even said the Civil War was about states' rights. They barely mentioned slavery.
我的課本里甚至說內(nèi)戰(zhàn)關乎國家權利。它們幾乎沒有提及奴隸制。
So I had to figure out for myself what was right and true. It was a search. It was a process.
所以我不得不為自己找出什么是正確的和真實的。這是一種找尋，一個過程。
It drew on the moral sense that I'd learned from my parents, and in church, and in my own heart, and led me on my own journey of discovery.
它汲取了我從我的父母，教堂，和在我的內(nèi)心習得的道德觀念，引領我走上了自己的發(fā)現(xiàn)之旅。
I found books in the public library that they probably didn't know they had.
我發(fā)現(xiàn)了一些在公共圖書館可能不為人知的書。
They all pointed to the fact that Wallace was wrong.
它們都指出了一個事實：華萊士是錯誤的。
That injustices like segregation had no place in our world. That equality is a right.
在我們的世界不應存在不公和種族隔離。平等是一種權利。
As I said, I was only 16 when I met Governor Wallace, so I shook his hand as we were expected to do.
就像我說的，我遇見華萊士州長的時候只有16歲，所以我按照期望的那樣與他握了手。
But shaking his hand felt like a betrayal of my own beliefs. It felt wrong. Like I was selling a piece of my soul.
但是與他握手感覺像是背叛了自己的信仰。那感覺很不對勁。就像出賣了一部分自己的靈魂。
From Montgomery we flew to Washington. It was the first time I had ever been on an airplane.
我們從蒙哥馬利飛往華盛頓。那是我第一次乘飛機。
In fact it was the first time that I traveled out of the South.
事實上那是我第一次離開南部。
On June 15,1977, I was one of 900 high schoolers greeted by the new president, President Jimmy Carter, on the south lawn of the White House, right there on the other side of the ellipse.
1977年6月15日，我作為900位高中生的其中一個迎接新總統(tǒng)，總統(tǒng)吉米·卡特，見面會在白宮的南草坪上，就在橢圓的另一邊。
