Am I not human? A call for criminal justice reform | Marlon Peterson

翻译人员: Leonard Au 校对人员: Lipeng Chen

She wrote:

她写道：

"When I become famous, I will tell everyone

“我成名后，就会告诉所有人，

that I know a hero named Marlon Peterson."

我认识一位名叫马龙·彼得森的英雄。”

Heroes rarely look like me.

英雄很少长得像我这样。

In fact,

事实上，

I'm what garbage looks like.

我的模样像极了垃圾。

No, not the most appealing way to open a talk

不，以这样的方式开始演讲或对话 是毫无吸引力的。

or start a conversation,

and perhaps you have some questions going through your head about that.

也许你心里正在纳闷着：

Why would this man say such a thing about himself?

这个人怎么会这样说自己呢？

What does he mean?

他这么说是什么意思呢？

How can someone view him as a hero when he sees himself as garbage?

他把自己看作是垃圾，别人怎么会 把他视为英雄呢？

I believe we learn more from questions than we do from answers.

我相信，问题比起答案能让 我们学到更多。

Because when we're questioning something,

因为当我们在质疑某件事时，

we're invested in taking in some sort of new information,

我们就是在为学习一些新信息 进行投资，

or grappling with some sort of ignorance that makes us feel uncomfortable.

或者因为某种无知带来的不安而挣扎。

And that's why I'm here:

这就是我站在这里的原因：

to push us to question,

我要鼓励我们发问，

even when it makes us uncomfortable.

即使是在发问令我们感到不安的时候。

My parents are from Trinidad and Tobago,

我的父母来自特立尼达和多巴哥，

the southernmost island in the Caribbean.

它是加勒比海最南端的岛屿。

Trinidad is also home to the only acoustic instrument

唯一一个在20世纪发明的原声乐器 也来自此地：

invented in the 20th century:

the steel pan.

这个乐器就是钢鼓。

Deriving from the African drums

它由非洲鼓衍生而来，

and evolving from the genius of one of the ghettos in Trinidad,

是由特立尼达某个贫民区的聪明人 改进而来的。

a city called Laventille,

这个地方是一个叫做拉芬蒂勒的城市，

and the disregard of the American military ...

还有美国军方对我们的漠视...

Well, I should tell you,

我应该告诉你，

America, during WWII, had military bases set up in Trinidad,

在二战时期，美国在特立尼达 设立了军事基地。

and when the war ended,

战争结束后，

they left the island littered with empty oil drums --

他们把空油桶丢弃在全岛各地——

their trash.

也就是他们的垃圾。

So people from Laventille repurposed the old drums left behind

于是，拉芬蒂勒人将这些被遗留下来的 旧油桶重新使用，

into the full chromatic scale:

用在整个伴音音阶上：

the steel pan.

钢鼓就诞生了。

Playing music now from Beethoven to Bob Marley to 50 Cent,

他们用钢鼓弹奏贝多芬、鲍勃·马利、 50 Cent的音乐，

those people literally made music out of garbage.

可说是利用垃圾来制作音乐。

Twelve days before my 20th birthday,

我20岁生日前的12天，

I was arrested for my role in a violent robbery attempt

我在曼哈顿下城试图暴力抢劫， 结果被捕。

in lower Manhattan.

While people were sitting in a coffee shop,

当时人们坐在咖啡厅里，

four people were shot.

四个人被枪击。

Two were killed.

两个人遭杀害。

Five of us were arrested.

我们五人被逮捕。

We were all the products of Trinidad and Tobago.

我们都是特立尼达和多巴哥的产物。

We were the "bad immigrants,"

我们是“坏移民”，是“下锚婴儿“ （母亲非法入境美国后产下的孩子），

or the "anchor babies" that Trump and millions of Americans easily malign.

特朗普与数百万美国人总爱污蔑我们。

I was discarded, like waste material --

我就像废料一样被丢弃——

and justifiably so to many.

许多人认为这是应该的。

I eventually served 10 years, two months and seven days of a prison sentence.

最终，我坐了10年2个月又7天的监狱。

I was sentenced to a decade of punishment in a correctional institution.

我被判在一个惩教机构服刑10年，

I was sentenced to irrelevance --

生命失去了意义，

the opposite of humanity.

人性被剥夺。

Interestingly,

有趣的是，

it was during those years in prison that a series of letters redeemed me,

正是在坐牢的那些年里 我被一系列信件救赎，

helped me move beyond the darkness and the guilt

它们让我克服了我在年少时 最糟糕时期

associated with the worst moment of my young life.

所经历的黑暗与愧疚。

It gave me a sense that I was useful.

这些信件让我感觉到我还是有用的。

She was 13 years old.

她当年13岁。

She had wrote that she saw me as a hero.

她写说，她把我看作是英雄。

I remember reading that,

我还记得，我读这封信的时候，

and I remember crying when I read those words.

看到了这些话，哭泣了起来。

She was one of over 50 students

我在一项指导通信计划中给50多名 学生写了150封信件，

and 150 letters that I wrote during a mentoring correspondence program

她就是其中一名学生，

that I co-designed with a friend

这个计划是我和朋友联合设计的，

who was a teacher at a middle school in Brooklyn,

他是我的家乡布鲁克林一间中学的教师。

my hometown.

We called it the Young Scholars Program.

我们把计划称为“年轻学者计划”。

Every time those young people shared their stories with me,

每当这些年轻人与我分享 他们的故事，

their struggles,

他们的挣扎，

every time they drew a picture of their favorite cartoon character

每当他们画了自己喜欢的卡通人物，

and sent it to me,

把图画寄给我的时候，

every time they said they depended on my letters or my words of advice,

每当他们说，他们依赖我的信件 或者忠告的时候，

it boosted my sense of worthiness.

我的自我价值感就会提高。

It gave me a sense of what I could contribute to this planet.

这让我感受到了我可以为 这个世界做出的贡献。

It transformed my life.

这改变了我的生命。

Because of those letters and what they shared with me,

因为这些信件，

因为他们与我分享自己青少年时期 的生活故事，

their stories of teen life,

they gave me the permission,

他们允许了我，

they gave me the courage to admit to myself

让我有勇气对自己承认，

that there were reasons -- not excuses --

有原因——而不是借口——

but that there were reasons for that fateful day in October of 1999;

可以解释1999年10月的那一天所发生的事；

that the trauma associated with living in a community

在一个枪比运动鞋更容易取得 的社区里生活所带来的创伤；

where guns are easier to get than sneakers;

that the trauma associated with being raped at gunpoint at the age of 14;

14岁那年被人持枪强奸所导致的创伤；

that those are reasons for me

这些理由解释了我为什么做出了这个决定，

why making that decision,

that fatal decision,

这个致命的决定，

was not an unlikely proposition.

这种说法不是不可能成立的。

Because those letters mattered so much to me,

这些信件对我非常重要，

because writing and receiving

给这些人写信、收到他们的信 与这些人沟通

and having that communication with those folks

so hugely impacted my life,

大大地影响了我的生活，

I decided to share the opportunity with some friends of mine

于是我决定与监狱里的一些朋友 分享这个机会。

who were also inside with me.

My friends Bill and Cory and Arocks,

我的朋友比尔、科里、阿洛克斯，

all in prison for violent crimes also,

他们也因为犯了暴力罪行而入狱。

shared their words of wisdom with the young people as well,

他们也与年轻人分享了他们的智慧，

也因此得到了意义感。

and received the sense of relevancy in return.

We are now published writers and youth program innovators

现在，我们都出过书，也是青年人计划创新者

and trauma experts

也是创伤专家，

and gun violence prevention advocates,

也是预防枪支暴力倡导者，

and TED talkers and --

也是TED演讲者，

(Laughter)

（笑声）

and good daddies.

也是好父亲。

That's what I call a positive return of investment.

这才叫做正面投资回报。

Above all else,

最重要的是，

what building that program taught me was that when we sow,

我在建立这项计划时学到，

当我们进行耕耘 投资在各种处境的人的人性上，

when we invest in the humanity of people no matter where they're at,

we can reap amazing rewards.

我们就可能得到巨大的收获。

In this latest era of criminal justice reform,

在刑事司法改革的这个新时代里，

I often question and wonder why --

我经常会问自己——

为什么有那么多人相信，

why is it that so many believe

that only those who have been convicted of nonviolent drug offenses

只有那些犯过非暴力毒品罪的人

merit empathy and recognized humanity?

才是值得同情、还存在人性的呢？

Criminal justice reform is human justice.

刑事司法改革是人类的正义。

Am I not human?

难道我不是人吗？

When we invest in resources that amplify the relevancy of people

当我们投资在 增加人们意义感的资源上，

in communities like Laventille

在拉芬蒂勒这样的社区，

or parts of Brooklyn or a ghetto near you,

布鲁克林的一些地区， 或者离你不远的贫民区的时候，

we can literally create the communities that we want.

我们就可以真正创造我们所要的社区。

We can do better.

我们可以做得更好。

We can do better than investing solely in law enforcement as a resource,

比起只把执法当成是资源来投资，

because they don't give us a sense of relevancy

因为这些无法给我们意义感，

that is at the core of why so many of us do so many harmful things

而我们许多人正是为了追求意义感，

in the pursuit of mattering.

才会做出那么多有害的事。

See, gun violence is just a visible display of a lot of underlying traumas.

枪支暴力只不过是许多 隐藏创伤的表现。

When we invest in the redemptive value of relevancy,

当我们向意义感的救赎价值投资时，

we can render a return of both personal responsibility and healing.

我们就可以再次为自己负责 再次得到治愈。

That's the people work I care about,

这就是我所关心的人际工作，

because people work.

因为人是有用的。

Family, I'm asking you to do the hard work,

家人们，我请求你们去做一些 艰苦的工作，

the difficult work,

困难的工作，

the churning work of bestowing undeserved kindness

令人难受的工作，

把善心给那些我们认为不配的人，

upon those who we can relegate as garbage,

给那些我们可能视为垃圾的人，

who we can disregard and discard easily.

给这些我们很容易忽略、抛弃的人。

I'm asking myself.

我在问自己。

Over the past two months,

过去的两个月，

I've lost two friends to gun violence,

我的两个朋友因为枪支暴力失去性命，

both innocent bystanders.

他们都是无辜的旁人。

One was caught in a drive-by while walking home.

一个在走路回家时遭到行车枪击，

The other was sitting in a café while eating breakfast,

另一个遇害时正坐在咖啡厅吃早餐，

while on vacation in Miami.

他当时在迈亚密度假。

I'm asking myself to see the redemptive value of relevancy

我要求自己在谋杀了我的朋友的人身上

in the people that murdered them,

看到意义感的救赎价值。

because of the hard work of seeing the value in me.

因为别人在我身上， 看到这种价值是很困难的。

I'm pushing us to challenge our own capacity

我要鼓励大家

挑战自己完全体验自身人性的能力，

to fully experience our humanity,

by understanding the full biography

了解那些我们可能选择 视而不见的人的全部经历，

of people who we can easily choose not to see,

because heroes are waiting to be recognized,

因为英雄是等着被认可的。

and music is waiting to be made.

音乐是等着被创造出来的。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）