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Race in America
美國(guó)種族問題
The fury of Ferguson
弗格森市的暴怒
Race is America's deepest problem, but multiple small changes can mitigate it
種族問題是美國(guó)最根深蒂固的問題，但各種細(xì)微的改變可以使之緩解。
RIOTS are rarely so widely anticipated. By 8pm on November 24th, when the prosecutor in Ferguson, Missouri, announced the grand jury's decision not to charge a police officer with a crime for shooting an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown, cops in riot gear were already in place and barriers surrounded municipal buildings. Mr Brown's parents and Barack Obama called for calm. Yet soon America's TV screens were full of burning police cars, crowds coughing on tear gas, and young black men throwing bricks and smashing shops. America's history of racial injustice looked as potent as ever.
人們通常很難預(yù)測(cè)什么時(shí)候會(huì)發(fā)生暴動(dòng)。11月24日晚8點(diǎn)，當(dāng)密蘇里州弗格森市的檢察官宣布大陪審團(tuán)的決定：不起訴向手無寸鐵的黑人青年Michael Brown開槍的警察，穿戴了防暴裝備的警察已經(jīng)整裝待命，并在市政大樓周圍安置圍欄。Brown的父母和奧巴馬總統(tǒng)要求雙方冷靜。然而很快地，美國(guó)各大電視的屏幕上都播放了燃燒的警車、人群在催淚彈中咳嗽、黑人青年投擲磚塊砸爛商店。美國(guó)少數(shù)族裔難求公正的歷史似乎又再一次清晰地展現(xiàn)在世界面前。
That would be the wrong conclusion to draw. Looking back at the riots in Los Angeles in 1992 that followed the acquittal of four white police officers who had savagely beaten a black motorist, Rodney King, a lot has changed. America has a black president. The LA riots, which left 53 dead, happened in one of America's great cities, and sparked violence in others. This time the focus was a struggling suburb; in Los Angeles black teenagers protested peacefully alongside white ones.
這種結(jié)論是錯(cuò)誤的。回顧1992年發(fā)生在洛杉磯的暴亂，起因是4個(gè)白人警察殘忍地毆打了一個(gè)黑人摩托車手Rodney King，自此之后很多事情都改變了。美國(guó)有了黑人總統(tǒng)。這起暴亂發(fā)生在美國(guó)最大的城市之一洛杉磯，導(dǎo)致了53人死亡，暴力也蔓延到了其他城市。這一次焦點(diǎn)落在了麻煩不斷的市郊；洛杉磯事件中黑人青年和白人一起和平地進(jìn)行示威活動(dòng)。
Blacks plainly still suffer prejudice across America: they account for 86% of the vehicle stops made by police in Ferguson. But America's race problem is increasingly one of class. Blacks' biggest problem is now poverty, which is most visible in places such as Ferguson. Like many post-war suburbs across America, Ferguson is stuck between the prosperous white exurbs of St Louis and the city's somewhat revitalized centre. In 1990 its population was three-quarters white; by 2010, it had become two-thirds black. The sub-prime mortgage crisis hit it hard. Many of its homeowners still owe more than they own.
很明顯黑人在美國(guó)忍受著偏見：弗格森市86%被警察叫停的汽車都是黑人駕駛。但是美國(guó)的種族問題日益突出遠(yuǎn)不止如此。黑人現(xiàn)在最大的問題是貧困，這一點(diǎn)在像弗格森市這種地方很明顯。和其他戰(zhàn)后的美國(guó)市郊一樣，弗格森市被夾在繁榮富裕的圣路易斯白人遠(yuǎn)郊社區(qū)與或多或少獲得振興的市中心之間。1990年，該市人口有四分之三是白人；到了2010年，黑人已經(jīng)占了三分之二。次貸危機(jī)給它帶來的打擊是沉重的。很多房主仍然資不抵債。
Solving the problems of places like Ferguson is less about passing more anti-discrimination laws than about rekindling economic growth and spreading the proceeds. But there are also ways of making politics and policing work better that would contribute greatly to racial harmony in America.
解決弗格森市問題的方法不在于實(shí)施更多反歧視法案，而應(yīng)該重新振興經(jīng)濟(jì)增長(zhǎng)并增加居民收入。但也有一些更好的安保工作方法能促進(jìn)美國(guó)的種族和諧。
The police are not an army
警察不是軍隊(duì)
Ferguson's political institutions have not kept up with its demography. Of the city's six-member council, five are white. The hapless mayor, James Knowles, is a white Republican who was re-elected in 2013 in an election in which fewer than one in eight eligible voters turned out. He is in charge of the police force, in which three out of 53 officers are black. Such disparities feed the belief—held by blacks across the country—that both justice and law-enforcement systems are racist.
弗格森市的政治制度并沒有跟上其人口的發(fā)展。市政委員6個(gè)人中有5個(gè)是白人。James Knowles這個(gè)倒霉的市長(zhǎng)是個(gè)白人共和黨員，在2013年的一次投票參與率不到八分之一的選舉中再次當(dāng)選的。他掌管市區(qū)警力，其中53個(gè)警官中只有3個(gè)是黑人。如此的不平衡讓全美境內(nèi)的黑人都相信——不管是司法系統(tǒng)還是執(zhí)法系統(tǒng)都是種族歧視的。
Police brutality reinforces that belief. If there was one lesson from the attack on Rodney King, it was that police officers should behave like civilians, not an occupying army. Around 500 people were killed last year by the police—though since nobody counts, nobody really knows.
警方的野蠻行為也加劇了這種觀念。如果說能從Rodney King事件中學(xué)到什么教訓(xùn)的話，應(yīng)該就是警察應(yīng)該像一個(gè)市民而非一個(gè)占領(lǐng)軍人。去年大約有500人被警察殺死——盡管自此之后沒有人再統(tǒng)計(jì)過，也沒有人真的知道。
In Ferguson, bad policies help to explain why distrust turns to anger. Take, for example, the way the town is financed. In 2013 a fifth of Ferguson's general revenues—some $2.6m, in a city of 21,000 people—were derived from fines and asset confiscation. That is equivalent to $124 a year for every man, woman and child in the city. Paying fines, even for minor traffic offences, can involve queuing for hours. Those who miss court dates can be jailed until they pay, accumulating more fines along the way. Slowly but surely, the justice system has become an elaborate mechanism for criminalising poverty.
在弗格森市，錯(cuò)誤的政策導(dǎo)致不信任演變成憤怒。比如該鎮(zhèn)的財(cái)政政策。2013年，擁有21000人口的弗格森市五分之一的財(cái)政收入——約260萬美元，是來自于罰款和不動(dòng)產(chǎn)收繳，相當(dāng)于人均124美元，無論男女還是兒童都包括在內(nèi)。即便是為最輕微的交通違規(guī)支付罰款也要排數(shù)小時(shí)的隊(duì)。那些算錯(cuò)了日子的人可能會(huì)被關(guān)起來直到交錢為止，期間還會(huì)累積更多的罰款。越來越肯定的是，司法系統(tǒng)已經(jīng)成為一個(gè)為懲罰因貧犯罪的人們而精心設(shè)置的體系。
Smaller cities should stop using their police forces and courts as tax-collectors. Police shootings should be taken much more seriously, and the federal government should stop enabling small police forces to buy military-grade weapons. Proper gun control laws would help: policemen who fear they will be shot are more likely to kill suspects. In their absence, body-mounted cameras might constrain police behaviour.
小城市應(yīng)該停止把警察和法院作為收稅機(jī)器的做法。警察開槍應(yīng)該被更認(rèn)真地對(duì)待，聯(lián)邦政府也應(yīng)該阻止小范圍的執(zhí)法警察購(gòu)買軍隊(duì)級(jí)別的武器。適當(dāng)?shù)臉屩Э刂品☉?yīng)該會(huì)有幫助；害怕歹徒先開槍的警察更有可能擊斃嫌犯。如果不能用以上的辦法，隨身攝像頭應(yīng)該能限制警察的行為。
Efforts should also be made to increase voter turnout. Ferguson, like many small cities, holds its municipal elections at odd times in odd-numbered years, when little else is on the ballot. If they coincided with national elections, more people would be paying attention. And attempts to restrict voting—by banning Sunday polls, restricting voting hours and requiring people to produce ID—should be resisted.
除此之外也應(yīng)該努力增加投票人的參與率。就像其他小城市一樣，弗格森市在奇數(shù)年會(huì)偶爾舉行市政選舉，但很少有其他人會(huì)參與選舉。如果正好時(shí)間趕上國(guó)家大選，會(huì)有更多的人關(guān)注。其他限制投票的做法——比如禁止周日民意調(diào)查、限制投票時(shí)間、要求人們出示身份證明等——應(yīng)該叫停。
Such measures will not inspire great speeches. But the fact that the answers to America's racial problems now lie in a more vibrant economy and the nitty gritty of politics and policing is itself a form of progress.
這些措施聽起來并不激動(dòng)人心。但現(xiàn)實(shí)是，解決美國(guó)種族問題的關(guān)鍵取決于更有活力的經(jīng)濟(jì)和具體的政策，而治安管理本身則是一種進(jìn)步。譯者：鄧小雪
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