評(píng)論
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LEARNING THE TURNER STORY, and others like it at the memorial and museum, helped alleviate my shame.
在紀(jì)念館和博物館里學(xué)習(xí)特納的故事，以及其他類似的故事，幫助我減輕了羞恥感。
I know what my father did to my mother was wrong.
我知道，我父親那么對(duì)我母親是不對(duì)的。
I also have come to realize that society is steeped in institutional racism that shaped my parents in ways that we are still trying to recover from.
我也開始意識(shí)到，我們的社會(huì)充斥著制度性的種族歧視，而這種歧視塑造我父母的方式我們至今都沒能擺脫掉。
My father was probably a 2-year-old when Turner was lynched in a neighboring state.
特納在鄰州被處以死刑的時(shí)候，我父親可能才兩歲左右。
I didn't understand that when I began despising him as a boy, scared and helpless in the corner of the kitchen watching him hit my mother.
但在廚房的角落里害怕而無助地看著他打我母親，還是個(gè)孩子的我就開始看不起他的時(shí)候，我并不懂這些。
What must it have been like growing up in a country that hated you for possessing the wrong skin?
在一個(gè)因?yàn)槟闫つw的顏色不對(duì)就憎恨你，
That forced you to bow down to white boys and girls who routinely called you "nigger"?
強(qiáng)行讓你向那些經(jīng)常叫你“黑鬼”的白人男孩和白人女孩低頭，
That legislated you out of an equal education and into the worst jobs and neighborhoods?
用法律剝奪你平等接受教育的權(quán)利，繼而讓你淪落到最差的工作崗位和生活區(qū)域的國家，在這樣的國家長大是什么感覺?
All of it enforced by white neighbors and businessmen and pastors and judges and juries and prosecutors and sheriffs and policemen.
而落實(shí)這一切（種族歧視）的人包括我們的白人鄰居、白人商人、白人牧師、白人法官、白人陪審團(tuán)、白人檢察官、白人治安官和白人警察（所有人）。
What must it be like to see that, to this day, those people still often face no justice?
看到時(shí)至今日這些（白）人大多依舊沒有受到法律的制裁又是什么感覺？
For all that we've seen change—in, yes, the wake of America's first black President—
盡管我們已經(jīng)看到了變化——是的，第一位黑人總統(tǒng)上任后確實(shí)發(fā)生了變化——
we forget how much we are surrounded by those who remain understandably wary of who we say we've become.
我們還是忘記了我們周圍有多少人仍然對(duì)我們說我們已經(jīng)成了怎樣的人保持著可以理解的警惕。
When I worked as a columnist in South Carolina for a daily newspaper whose readership was mostly white and conservative,
我在南卡羅來納州一家讀者主要是白人和保守派的日?qǐng)?bào)社擔(dān)任專欄作家時(shí)，
elderly black people would call to check on me.
老一輩的黑人同胞會(huì)（專門）打電話來確認(rèn)我是否安然無恙。
They spoke in whispers, as though they might be overheard.
他們?cè)陔娫捓镎f話的聲音很小，仿佛有人會(huì)聽到似的。
They explained to me why they feared I would be disappeared if I kept on criticizing the white governor and other officials.
他們對(duì)我說明了他們?yōu)槭裁磽?dān)心我要是繼續(xù)批評(píng)白人州長和其他白人官員就會(huì)消失的原因。
They were not joking.
他們并不是在開玩笑。
They had seen too much to dismiss what may feel to some like a remote possibility.
他們已經(jīng)見過太多太多，某些人眼里很遙遠(yuǎn)的可能性他們也不會(huì)放過。
The museum in Alabama, as gut-wrenching as any ever conceived, is for all of us, but especially for those people.
阿拉巴馬州那個(gè)能有多揪心就有多揪心的博物館是為我們所有人而建的，更是為那他們而建的。
They will no longer have to speak in hushed tones about what happened.
從今往后，他們?cè)僖膊挥脤?duì)發(fā)生的事情保持沉默了。
An unflinching portrayal of the hell they lived through is public confirmation that their lives still matter,
真實(shí)地再現(xiàn)他們經(jīng)歷過的地獄就是公開證實(shí)他們的命依然重要，
that what they survived was real, as are the lingering effects of the trauma.
他們的遭遇確有其事，他們的創(chuàng)傷也確實(shí)留下了揮之不去的陰影。
They, like me, were taught in public schools with history books written by a descendant of a Confederate soldier
他們和我一樣，上的公立學(xué)校用的歷史書都是某個(gè)南方聯(lián)盟士兵的后代編寫的，
who spent more time suggesting that black people were satisfied under Jim Crow
而相比探究延續(xù)了數(shù)十年之久的奴隸制后遺癥，
than exploring the decades-long aftershock of slavery.
更多時(shí)候這位后代都在暗示黑人是滿足于種族隔離制度的。
They, like me, have witnessed more than their share of violence.
他們和我一樣，也目睹了本不該由他們承受的暴力。
The lynching monuments can't erase the rage and the shame and the fear that remain.
那些私刑紀(jì)念碑抹不掉殘留至今的憤怒、恥辱和恐懼。
But by correcting the historical record, they allow a deeper healing to begin.
但通過糾正歷史記載，它們?yōu)楦顚哟蔚挠蟿?chuàng)造了可能。
I have felt it myself.
我自己就有這樣的感受。
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