How one journalist risked her life to hold murderers accountable - Christina Greer

譯者: Lilian Chiu 審譯者: Helen Chang

In March of 1892,

1982 年三月，

three Black grocery store owners in Memphis, Tennessee,

田納西州曼非斯的 三位雜貨店黑人店主

were murdered by a mob of white men.

被一群白人暴民謀殺。

Lynchings like these were happening all over the American South,

像這樣的私刑在美國 南方各地都在發生，

often without any subsequent legal investigation

通常事後也不會有相關法律調查，

or consequences for the murderers.

兇手不用承受任何後果。

But this time,

但，這次，

a young journalist and friend of the victims

一位年輕記者， 也是受害者的朋友，

set out to expose the truth about these killings.

打算揭露這些殺戮的真相。

Her reports would shock the nation

她的報導震驚了全國，

and launch her career as an investigative journalist,

也讓她開始了新的職涯， 身為調查記者、

civic leader, and civil rights advocate.

公民領袖，以及民權捍衛者。

Her name was Ida B. Wells.

她的名字叫做艾達威爾斯。

Ida Bell Wells was born into slavery in Holly Springs, Mississippi

艾達威爾斯生在密西西比州的 霍利斯普林斯，出生就是奴隸，

on July 16, 1862, several months before the Emancipation Proclamation

生於 1862 年 7 月 16 日， 幾個月之後，

解放奴隸宣言就解放了 她和她的家人。

released her and her family.

After losing both parents and a brother to yellow fever at the age of 16,

十六歲時，因為黃熱病， 她失去了雙親和一位兄弟，

she supported her five remaining siblings

之後就由她來扶養 剩下的五位手足，

by working as a schoolteacher in Memphis, Tennessee.

她在田納西州曼非斯 擔任學校老師。

During this time,

在這段時間，她也開始當記者。

she began working as a journalist.

用「艾歐拉」的筆寫文章，

Writing under the pen name “Iola,”

by the early 1890s she gained a reputation

1890 年代初期，

因為明確發聲對抗 種族不公，讓她成名，

as a clear voice against racial injustice

and become co-owner and editor

成為《曼非斯自由言論與前照燈》的

of the Memphis Free Speech and Headlight newspaper.

共同所有人及編輯。

She had no shortage of material:

她完全不缺素材：

in the decades following the Civil War,

在內戰之後的數十年，

Southern whites attempted to reassert their power

南方白人嘗試重申他們的權力，

by committing crimes against Black people

做法是對黑人做出犯罪行為，

including suppressing their votes,

包括打壓他們的投票，

vandalizing their businesses, and even murdering them.

任意破壞他們的生意， 甚至謀殺他們。

After the murder of her friends,

在她的朋友被謀殺之後，

Wells launched an investigation into lynching.

威爾斯發動了對私刑的調查。

She analyzed specific cases through newspaper reports and police records,

她分析了報紙報導 和警方記錄中的特定案件，

and interviewed people who had lost friends and family to lynch mobs.

訪問了因為私刑暴民 而失去朋友和家人的人。

She risked her life to get this information.

她冒著她的生命危險 取得這些資訊。

As a Black person investigating racially motivated murders,

她是黑人，且在調查 因種族動機而行兇的兇手，

she enraged many of the same southern white men involved in lynchings.

因此惹火了這些 涉入私刑的南方白人。

Her bravery paid off.

她的勇氣帶來了好結果。

Most whites had claimed and subsequently reported

大部分的白人都聲稱， 且後續也描述說

that lynchings were responses to criminal acts by Black people.

私刑的原因是因為 這些黑人有犯罪行為在先。

But that was not usually the case.

但通常實情都不是如此。

Through her research,

透過她的研究，

Wells showed that these murders were actually a deliberate,

威爾斯證明了這些兇手 其實都是深思熟慮的人，

brutal tactic to control or punish black people who competed with whites.

用殘酷的戰術來控制 或懲罰和白人競爭的黑人。

Her friends, for example,

比如，她的朋友，

had been lynched when their grocery store

被私刑殺害的是因為 他們的雜貨店當時變得很熱門，

became popular enough to divert business from a white competitor.

會影響到白人競爭者的生意。

Wells published her findings in 1892.

1982 年，威爾斯發表了她的發現。

In response, a white mob destroyed her newspaper presses.

回應她的是一群白人暴民 摧毀了她的報紙出版社。

She was out of town when they struck,

他們攻擊時，她不在鎮上，

but they threatened to kill her if she ever returned to Memphis.

但他們威脅說如果她回到 曼非斯就要殺害她。

So she traveled to New York,

所以她到了紐約，

where that same year she re-published her research in a pamphlet titled

同一年，她再次用一本小冊子 發表了她的研究，叫做：

Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases.

《南方恐怖：私刑法的各種面向》。

In 1895, after settling in Chicago,

1895 年，她在芝加哥定居，

she built on Southern Horrors in a longer piece called The Red Record.

根據《南方恐怖》， 她又寫了一篇更長的文章，

題目叫《紅色記錄》。

Her careful documentation of the horrors of lynching

她細節記載了私刑的恐怖，

and impassioned public speeches drew international attention.

再加上她充滿激情的公開演說， 吸引了國際的關注。

Wells used her newfound fame to amplify her message.

威爾斯用她的新名氣 來擴大她的訊息。

She traveled to Europe,

她旅行到歐洲，在那裡，

where she rallied European outrage against racial violence in the American South

她團結了歐洲人對於 美國南方種族暴力的怒火，

in hopes that the US government and public would follow their example.

希望美國政府 和大眾能夠追隨他們。

Back in the US,

回到美國，她毫不猶豫地 面對強大的組織，

she didn’t hesitate to confront powerful organizations,

fighting the segregationist policies of the YMCA

對抗種 YMCA 的族隔離政策， 並領導一個代表團到白宮，

and leading a delegation to the White House

to protest discriminatory workplace practices.

去抗議在工作場所的歧視行為。

She did all this while disenfranchised herself.

在做這些的時候， 她是沒有公民權的。

Women didn’t win the right to vote until Wells was in her late 50s.

到了威爾斯快六十歲時， 女性才贏得投票權。

And even then, the vote was primarily extended to white women only.

即使那時，有投票權的 也主要是白人女性。

Wells was a key player in the battle for voting inclusion,

在擴展投票權上， 威爾斯扮演了關鍵的角色，

starting a Black women’s suffrage organization in Chicago.

她在芝加哥創始了 一個女性的投票權組織。

But in spite of her deep commitment to women’s rights,

雖然她對女權投入許多心力，

she clashed with white leaders of the movement.

她和運動的白人領袖發生衝突。

During a march for women’s suffrage in Washington D.C.,

在華盛頓特區的一次 女性投票權遊行中，

she ignored the organizers’ attempt to placate Southern bigotry

主辦人試圖緩解南方的偏執， 因而將黑人女性排在後方，

by placing Black women in the back,

她沒有理會這項規則，

and marched up front alongside the white women.

在隊伍前方和白人女性一起遊行。

She also chafed with other civil rights leaders,

她也和其他民權運動領袖有磨擦，

who saw her as a dangerous radical.

他們認為她是危險的激進分子。

She insisted on airing, in full detail, the atrocities taking place in the South,

她堅持要轉播南方殘暴的所有細節，

while others thought doing so would be counterproductive

其他人則認為這麼做 可能會有反效果，

to negotiations with white politicians.

更難和白人政客談判。

Although she participated in the founding of the NAACP,

雖然她參與了美國全國 有色人種協進會的成立，

she was soon sidelined from the organization.

但很快她就被該組織排擠。

Wells’ unwillingness to compromise any aspect of her vision of justice

威爾斯不願意將她的正義遠景 在任何面向上做妥協，

shined a light on the weak points of the various rights movements,

協助了許多民權運動的弱點，

and ultimately made them stronger—

最終，讓它們變得更強壯——

but also made it difficult for her to find a place within them.

但也讓她更難在這些 運動中找到容身之處。

She was ahead of her time,

她走在那個時代的最前面，

waging a tireless struggle for equality and justice

為平等和正義不懈地努力著，

decades before many had even begun to imagine it possible.

在許多人認為有可能這麼做 之前的數十年她就已經在做了。