The symbols of systemic racism — and how to take away their power | Paul Rucker

翻译人员: Yuntao Li 校对人员: Yanyan Hong

[This talk contains graphic images Viewer discretion is advised]

【此演讲含有可能会引起不适的图像】

I collect objects.

我收集物品，

I collect branding irons that were used to mark slaves as property.

我收集给奴隶打上财产标志的烙铁。

I collect shackles for adults

我收集给成年人带的手铐，

and restraints for adults

以及给成年人带的脚镣，

as well as children.

还有给孩子带的。

I collect lynching postcards.

我收集黑人奴隶被施以私行 而处死的明信片。

Yes, they depict lynchings.

是的，它们记录了各种私刑。

They also depict the massive crowds that attended these lynchings,

它们同时也记录了 无数围观私刑的人们，

and they are postcards

而且这些都是明信片，

that were also used for correspondence.

是被用于通信的明信片。

I collect proslavery books that portray black people as criminals

我收集那些支持奴隶制的书， 这些书把黑人刻画成罪犯，

or as animals without souls.

或者是没有灵魂的动物。

I brought you something today.

我给你们带来了其中的一些。

This is a ship's branding iron.

这是一个船上的烙铁。

It was used to mark slaves.

这曾被用来标记奴隶。

Well, they actually were not slaves when they were marked.

其实他们被标记的时候还不是奴隶。

They were in Africa.

他们还生活在非洲。

但是一旦被标记了“S”，

But they were marked with an "S"

to designate that they were going to be slaves

他们就被选定为奴隶，

when they were brought to the US

会被带到美国

and when they were brought to Europe.

以及欧洲。

Another object or image that captured my imagination when I was younger

在我年轻的时候，另外一个 让我很感兴趣的东西，或者说图像，

was a Klan robe.

是三K党长袍 （美国种族主义的代表性组织）。

Growing up in South Carolina, I would see Ku Klux Klan rallies occasionally,

在南卡罗莱纳州长大的我， 偶尔会见到三K党的集会，

actually more than occasionally,

事实上是比较常见的。

and the memories of those events never really left my mind.

这些记忆从来没有 从我的记忆里消失。

And I didn't really do anything with that imagery until 25 years later.

对于三K党我没有真正 做什么事情，直到 25 年之后。

A few years ago, I started researching the Klan,

几年前，我开始研究三K党，

the three distinct waves of the Klan,

三次不同的三K党运动，

the second one in particular.

尤其是第二次。

The second wave of the Klan had more than five million active members,

第二次三K党的兴起使得 它拥有超过五百万的活跃成员，

which was five percent of the population at the time,

这个数字是当时美国人口的百分之五，

which was also the population of New York City at the time.

也是当时纽约市的总人口。

The Klan robe factory in the Buckhead neighborhood of Georgia was so busy

在佐治亚州巴克海德区的 三K党长袍工厂十分忙碌，

it became a 24-hour factory to keep up with orders.

需要二十四小时运作以满足订单。

They kept 20,000 robes on hand at all time to keep up with the demand.

它们拥有 2 万个长袍的 库存来应对不时之需。

As a collector of artifacts and as an artist,

作为一个手工制品的收集者， 以及一位艺术家，

I really wanted a Klan robe to be part of my collection,

我真的希望三K党长袍 也能成为我藏品的一部分，

because artifacts and objects tell stories,

因为这些手工制品和物品能讲述故事，

but I really couldn't find one that was really good quality.

但是我的确找不到 一件高质量的长袍。

What is a black man to do in America

当一个美国黑人找不到

when he can't find the quality Klan robe that he's looking for?

高质量的三K党长袍， 他该怎么办呢？

(Laughter)

（笑声）

So I had no other choice.

所以我没有其他的选择。

I decided I was going to make the best quality Klan robes in America.

我决定我要自己做 美国最高质量的三K党长袍。

These are not your traditional Klan robes you would see at any KKK rally.

这不是你能在三K党集会中 看到的传统的三K党长袍。

I used kente cloth,

我使用肯特布，

I used camouflage,

迷彩，

spandex, burlap, silks, satins and different patterns.

弹力纤维，粗麻布，丝绸， 缎子以及不同的款式。

I make them for different age groups; I make them for young kids

我还给不同的年龄做， 给年轻的小孩做，

as well as toddlers.

还有幼童，

I even made one for an infant.

我甚至给婴儿也做了一套。

After making so many robes,

在做了这么多的长袍之后，

I realized that the policies the Klan had in place

我意识到三K党的政策 已经达到的效果，

or wanted to have in place a hundred years ago

或者说一百年前想要达到的效果，

are in place today.

在今天发生了。

We have segregated schools, neighborhoods, workplaces,

我们有着种族隔离的学校， 社区和公共场所，

and it's not the people wearing hoods that are keeping these policies in place.

然而使得这些政策产生效果的， 并不是带着三K党帽子的人。

My work is about the long-term impact of slavery.

我的工作是有关奴隶制的长期影响。

We're not just dealing with the residue of systemic racism.

我们不仅仅是在解决 系统种族主义残留的问题。

It's the basis of every single thing we do.

它是我们做的每件事的基础。

Again we have intentionally segregated neighborhoods,

我们有种族隔离的社区，

workplaces and schools.

公共场所和学校。

We have voter suppression.

黑人投票者被镇压。

We have disproportionate representation of minorities incarcerated.

我们有着不成比例的被监禁的人数。

We have environmental racism. We have police brutality.

我们面临环境种族主义， 遭遇警察的残暴对待。

I brought you a few things today.

我给你们带了几件东西。

The stealth aspect of racism

种族主义的隐秘，

is part of its power.

就是它力量的一部分。

When you're discriminated against,

当你被歧视的时候，

你不能永远证明你是被歧视的。

you can't always prove you're being discriminated against.

Racism has the power to hide,

种族主义有着隐藏的力量，

and when it hides, it's kept safe

当它藏起来的时候，它是安全的，

because it blends in.

因为它融入了文化环境中。

I created this robe to illustrate that.

我制作这些长袍来表明，

The basis of capitalism in America is slavery.

美国资本主义的基础就是奴隶制。

Slaves were the capital in capitalism.

奴隶是资本主义的资本。

The first Grand Wizard in 1868, Nathan Bedford Forrest,

1868 年，第一个大巫师， 内森贝 · 弗福雷斯

was a Confederate soldier and a millionaire slave trader.

是一个美利坚邦联士兵， 也是一个靠奴隶贸易发家的百万富翁。

The wealth that was created from chattel slavery --

他从奴隶贸易创造的财富——

that's slaves as property -- would boggle the mind.

视奴隶为财产的观念—— 是我心中挥之不去的阴影。

Cotton sales alone in 1860 equalled 200 million dollars.

单单棉花贸易一项就产生了 大约两亿美元的价值。

That would equal five billion dollars today.

这个数字等于现在的五十亿美元。

A lot of that wealth can be seen today through generational wealth.

很多今天的财富都是 代代相传下来的。

Oh, I forgot the other crops as well.

哦，我忘记了这些经济作物。

You have indigo, rice and tobacco.

槐蓝（用作染料）， 大米以及烟草。

In 2015, I made one robe a week for the entire year.

在 2015 年这一年里， 我每周制作一个长袍。

After making 75 robes, I had an epiphany.

在制作了 75 件长袍之后，我顿悟了。

I have a realization that white supremacy is there,

我意识到了白人至上主义就在这里，

but the biggest force of white supremacy is not the KKK,

白人至上主义背后 最大的力量并不是三K党，

it's the normalization of systemic racism.

而是系统种族主义的正常化。

There was something else I realized.

我还意识到一件事，

The robes had no more power over me at all.

长袍对我来说已经没有 任何威慑作用了。

But if we as a people collectively

但是如果我们，作为一个集体，

look at these objects --

看着这些东西——

branding irons, shackles, robes --

烙铁，手铐，长袍，

and realize that they are part of our history,

我们能意识到它们是 我们历史的一部分，

we can find a way to where they have no more power over us.

我们就可以找到一种方法， 使得它们不再能威慑我们。

If we look at systemic racism and acknowledge

如果我们能够直面系统种族主义，

that it's sown into the very fabric of who we are as a country,

并且承认它已经 植入到我们国家的根基。

then we can actually do something about the intentional segregation

那么我们就能在种族隔离的 学校，社区和公共场所，

in our schools, neighborhoods and workplaces.

对有意的种族隔离 采取一些实际的行动。

But then and only then can we actually address

但是只有在我们能够说出，

and confront this legacy of slavery

以及面对这奴隶制的遗毒，

and dismantle this ugly legacy of slavery.

才能消除丑陋的奴隶制 遗留下的东西。

Thank you very much.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）