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So this is my kid.
這是我的孩子，
This is Maezza, and when she was seven years old,
Maezza，當她七歲的時候，
she came home from school one day, and like I do every single day, I asked her,
有一天她放學回家，我像平常一樣問她，
"What'd you do today?"
"今天你過的怎么樣?"
So she said, "We talked about the Middle Passage."
她說："我們今天討論了中央航路。"
Now, this was a big moment. Maezza's dad is black, and I knew this day was coming.
這是一個重大的時刻。Maezza的爸爸是黑人，而我知道這一天遲早會來。
I wasn't expecting it at seven.
但真沒想到會是在她只有七歲的時候。
I don't know why, but I wasn't.
我不知道為什么，但我確實沒想到。
Anyways, so I asked her, "How do you feel about that?"
于是，我接著問她：“你感覺怎么樣？”
So she proceeded to tell me,
她接著告訴我，
and so any of you who are parents will recognize the bingo buzzwords here.
用你們中任何一位為人父母者都熟悉的“賓果流行語”來回答
So the ships start in England, they come down from England,
一開始那些船舶在英國，它們向下航行，離開英國，
they go to Africa, they go across the ocean --
來到非洲，又跨越大洋——
that's the Middle Passage part they come to America where the slaves are sold, she's telling me.
這就是中央航路的部分——它們來到美國，在那里出售奴隸”，她告訴我。
But Abraham Lincoln was elected president,
但亞伯拉罕·林肯當選為總統，
and then he passed the Emancipation Proclamation, and now they're free.
然后，他通過了奴隸解放宣言，所以現在他們自由了。”
Pause for about 10 seconds.
暫停了大約10秒鐘。
"Can I play a game, Mommy?"
"我可以玩游戲了嗎，媽媽?"
And I thought, that's it?
而我想，這就完了？
And so, you know, this is the Middle Passage, this is an incredibly significant event,
因為，你知道，這是可是中央航路，這是一件難以置信的重大事件，
and she's treating it like, basically some black people went on a cruise,
但她看待它就像是一些黑人去參加一次乘船游覽，
is more or less how it sounds to her.
她差不多就是這種感覺。
And so, to me, I wanted more value in this,
對我來說，我希望其中有更多意義，
so when she asked if she could play a game, I said, "Yes."
所以當她問我是否可以玩游戲時，我說，"可以。"
And so I happened to have all of these little pieces.
碰巧我有很多這種小玩具。
I'm a game designer, so I have this stuff sitting around my house.
我是一個游戲設計師，所以我家到處都是這些東西。
So I said, "Yeah, you can play a game," and I give her a bunch of these,
于是我說，"是啊，你可以玩游戲，"之后我給了她一些這種小玩具，
and I tell her to paint them in different families.
然后我讓她給他們上色
These are pictures of Maezza when she was God, it still chokes me up seeing these.
表示不同的家庭成員。這些照片都是 Maezza正在——上帝，現在我看到這些依然會哽咽——
So she's painting her little families.
她在畫她的迷你家庭成員。
So then I grab a bunch of them and I put them on a boat.
于是我抓起其中的一部分，把它們放在一條小船上。
This was the boat. It was made quickly obviously.
這就是那條小船。很明顯它是個速成品。
And so the basic gist of it is, I grabbed a bunch of families,
所以重點是，我抓起一把玩具“家人”，
and she's like, "Mommy, but you forgot the pink baby and you forgot the blue daddy
而她不斷地念叨："媽媽，您忘了拿粉紅寶寶，你忘了拿藍爸爸
and you forgot all these other things."
你忘了拿這個那個”等等。
And she says, "They want to go."
她說，"他們也想要去。"
And I said, "Honey, no they don't want to go. This is the Middle Passage.
我說："不，親愛的，他們不想去。這是中央航路。
Nobody wants to go on the Middle Passage."
沒人愿意走中央航路"。
So she gave me a look that only a daughter of a game designer would give a mother,
然后她看了看我，只有游戲設計師的女兒才會用這樣的表情看著她媽媽
and as we're going across the ocean, following these rules,
當我們準備“橫渡大洋”，按照這些規則進行時，
she realizes that she's rolling pretty high, and she says to me, "We're not going to make it."
她意識到這些要求太高了，她對我說"我們做不到。"
And she realizes, you know, we don't have enough food,
她意識到了，我們沒有足夠的糧食，
and so she asks what to do, and I say, "Well, we can either"
于是她問要怎么辦，我回答道，"嗯，我們可以要么"
Remember, she's seven.
請記住，她當時七歲
"We can either put some people in the water
"我們可以要么把一些人放到水中
or we can hope that they don't get sick and we make it to the other side."
要么我們只能希望他們一直不生病直到我們到達目的地。”
And she -- just the look on her face came over and she said
她又用之前的表情看了我一眼。后來有一天
now mind you this is after a month of -- this is Black History Month, right?
—請注意，這是經過一個月之后，那個月剛好是美國黑人歷史月（二月）。
After a month she says to me, "Did this really happen?"
總之，一個月后，她對我說，"那些事情真的發生了嗎?"
And I said, "Yes." And so she said,
我說，"是的。"之后她說，
"So, if I came out of the woods" this is her brother and sister
"那么，如果我當時出生了"--這是她的哥哥姐姐
"If I came out of the woods, Avalon and Donovan might be gone." "Yes."
"如果我出生了，Avalon和Donovan可能就不在了？” “是的。”
"But I'd get to see them in America." "No."
“但我到美國后會再見到他們吧？”“不會。”
"But what if I saw them? You know, couldn't we stay together?" "No."
"但萬一我們能見面呢？我們不能呆在一起嗎?" "不能。"
"So Daddy could be gone." "Yes."
"那么爸爸也可能不在了？" "是的。"
And she was fascinated by this, and she started to cry,
她被嚇呆了，之后她開始哭泣，
and I started to cry, and her father started to cry, and now we're all crying.
我也開始哭，她的父親也開始哭，然后我們一起哭。
He didn't expect to come home from work to the Middle Passage, but there it goes.
他沒想到下班回家會遇到中央航路這檔子事，但它就是發生了。
And so, we made this game, and she got it.
總之，我們一起玩了這樣一個游戲，最后她懂了其中的含義。
She got it because she spent time with these people.
她懂了，因為她與這些“人”共同經歷了那個過程。
It wasn't abstract stuff in a brochure or in a movie.
這不像書本或電影里的教化那樣是抽象的東西。
And so it was just an incredibly powerful experience.
這是一次令人驚嘆、充滿力量的體驗。
