A Case for Color Blindness | Coleman Hughes | TED

翻译人员: Sarah Liu 校对人员: suya f.

I want to do a quick exercise.

我想做一个小练习。

Close your eyes.

闭上你的眼睛。

I want you to picture your best friend.

想象你最好的朋友。

Think about what specifically you love about them.

想想你最喜欢他们什么。

What trait makes them them?

是什么特质造就了他们？

Now open your eyes.

现在睁开眼睛。

I don't know what each of you came up with,

我不知道你们想到了什么，

but I'm pretty sure I know what you didn't come up with.

但我很确信你们没想到什么。

I’m pretty sure none of you thought,

我敢肯定你们谁也没有想到，

"What makes Jim Jim is the fact that he's six-foot-two and a redhead."

“吉姆之所以是吉姆，是因为他 身高六英尺二英寸，还有一头红发。”

I'm guessing you chose their inner qualities,

我猜你们选择想象他们的内在品质，

their sense of humor,

他们的幽默感，

their generosity, their intelligence,

他们的慷慨，他们的智慧和品质，

qualities they would have no matter what they looked like.

无论他们长什么样。

There's one more quality I'm pretty sure you didn't choose.

我敢肯定还有一种特质 是你们没有想到的。

Their race.

他们的种族。

Of all the things you could list about somebody,

在能列出的关于一个人的所有事情中，

their race is just about the least interesting you can name,

他们的种族是你能说出的最不有趣的，

right down there with height and hair color.

就像身高和头发颜色一样。

Sure, race can be good source material for jokes at a comedy club,

当然，种族可以成为喜剧 俱乐部里笑话的好素材，

but in the real world,

但现实世界中，

a person's race doesn't tell you whether they're kind or selfish,

一个人的种族并不能告诉 你他们是善良还是自私

whether their beliefs are right or wrong,

他们的信仰是对还是错，

whether they'll become your best friend or your worst enemy.

他们会成为你最好的朋友 还是最坏的敌人。

But over the past ten years,

然而，在过去的十年中，

our societies have become more and more fixated on racial identity.

我们的社会对种族身份 越来越过分关注。

We've all been invited to reflect on our inner whiteness or inner Blackness,

我们都受邀反思我们内在的 白人特质或黑人特质，

as if these racial essences define who we are.

似乎这些种族本质 定义了我们是谁。

Meanwhile, American society has experienced the greatest crisis

与此同时，美国社会经历了一代人以来

in race relations in a generation.

种族关系最严重的危机。

Gallup has been asking Americans how they feel about race relations,

盖洛普一直在询问美国人 对种族关系的看法，

and this chart is the result.

这张图展示了调查结果。

So as you can see, between 2001 and 2013,

正如你所看到的， 在2001年至2013年间，

most Americans felt good about race relations.

大多数美国人对种族关系感到满意。

Then both lines take a nosedive.

然后，这两条线都急剧下降。

It's no exaggeration to call this one of the greatest crises of our time.

毫不夸张地说，可以将这称为 我们这个时代最严重的危机之一。

And clearly we need new ways of thinking about race

很显然，如果我们要扭转这一趋势，

if we're going to reverse this trend.

我们需要以新的方式思考种族问题。

So today I'm going to offer an old idea,

因此，今天我将提出一个古老的想法，

but it's an idea that's been widely misunderstood.

但这个想法经常被人误解。

You've probably heard it before, it's called color blindness.

你可能之前听过它，它叫做色盲。

What do I mean by color blindness?

我所说的色盲是什么意思呢？

After all, we all see race.

毕竟，我们都能看到种族。

We can't help it.

我们无法避免看到种族。

And what's more, race can influence how we're treated

而且更重要的是，种族可以 影响我们受到的对待

and how we treat other people.

以及我们对待他人的方式。

So in that sense, nobody is truly colorblind.

在这种意义上，没有人 是真正色盲的。

But to interpret the word colorblind so literally

但是，要如此字面理解色盲这个词

is to misunderstand it.

是误解了它的含义。

Colorblind is a word like warmhearted.

色盲就像热心肠这样的词。

It uses a physical metaphor to capture an abstract idea.

它使用了一个物理隐喻 来表达一个抽象的概念。

To call someone warmhearted isn’t to talk about the temperature of their heart

称某人为热心肠并不是 在谈论他们心脏的温度，

but about the kindness of their soul.

而是在谈论他们灵魂的善良。

And similarly, to advocate for color blindness

同样地，倡导色盲

is not to pretend you don't notice race.

并不是假装你不注意种族。

It's to support a principle

它是支持一个原则的，

that we should try our best to treat people without regard to race,

即我们应尽力在我们的 个人生活和公共政策中，

both in our personal lives and in our public policy.

不受种族的影响来对待人们。

And you might be thinking, what's so controversial about that?

也许你会想，这有什么争议呢？

Well, the fact is the philosophy of color blindness is under attack.

事实上，色盲理念正受到质疑。

Critics say that it's naive

批评者说这种观点太天真，

or that we're not yet ready for it as a society

或者我们作为一个社会 尚未准备好接受它，

or even that it's white supremacy in disguise.

甚至认为它是伪装的 白人至上主义。

And many people agree with these feelings.

许多人同意这些看法。

For example, a few years ago,

举例来说，几年前，

a young adult fantasy author came under pressure

一位年轻的幻想小说作者受到压力，

to halt the release of her new book.

要求暂停她新书的发行。

Why?

为什么呢？

Because the marketing blurb for the book went like this:

因为该书的营销 宣传词是这样的：

"In a world where the princess is the monster,

“在一个公主是怪物、

oppression is blind to skin color,

压迫不分肤色，

and good and evil exist in shades of gray ..."

善恶存在于灰色地带的世界中...“。

Now that one sentence clause

这其中关于压迫

about oppression being blind to skin color,

不受肤色影响的一句话，

describing a fantasy world, mind you,

要注意这是在描述一个幻想世界，

was enough to provoke an online backlash.

足以引发线上强烈反对。

Now, part of this reaction to color blindness

现实中对色盲的这种反应

is actually a fault of its advocates.

部分是该理念的支持者的责任。

People will say things like,

人们会说诸如，

“I don’t see color” as a way of expressing support for color blindness.

“我不看颜色”之类的话 来表达对色盲的支持。

But this phrase is guaranteed to produce confusion

但这种表达方式保证会造成困惑，

because you do see color, right?

因为事实上你是看得到颜色的，对吗？

I think we should all get rid of this phrase

我认为我们应该摒弃这个表达，

and replace it with what we really mean to say,

取而代之的是我们真正想表达的：

which is, "I try to treat people without regard to race."

“我尽量不考虑人们的种族 来对待他们。”

Now, that said,

话虽如此，

most of the pushback to color blindness comes from critics

对色盲理念的大部分 反对来自那些误导性地

who misrepresent it as somehow a conservative idea.

将其描述为 一种保守主义观念的批评者。

Now, this could not be further from the truth.

实际上，这与事实背道而驰。

The philosophy of color blindness does not come from conservatives.

色盲理念并非源自保守派。

It actually comes from the radical wing of the antislavery movement

事实上，它起源于19世纪

in the 19th century.

废奴运动的激进派。

The earliest mentions of color blindness come from Wendell Phillips,

最早提及色盲的人 是温德尔·菲利普斯，

who was the president of the American Anti-Slavery Society

他是美国废奴协会的主席，

and a man whose nickname was "abolition's golden trumpet."

被誉为“废奴运动的黄金号角“。

He believed in immediate full equality for Black Americans.

他信奉立即实现黑人 美国人的完全平等。

And in 1865, he called for the creation of a "government colorblind,"

在1865年，他呼吁建立 一个“无视肤色的政府“，

by which he meant the permanent end of all laws that mention race.

他指的是永久废除 所有涉及种族的法律。

What about the other critiques of color blindness?

那么，对色盲理念的其他批评呢？

Wouldn’t color blindness render us unable to fight racism?

难道色盲不会使我们无法 与种族主义作斗争吗？

Wouldn't it mean getting rid of policies like affirmative action

难道这意味着要废除 像平权法案这样

that benefit people of color?

惠及有色人种的政策吗？

I believe that eliminating race-based policies

我认为消除基于种族的政策

does not equal eliminating policies meant to reduce inequality.

并不等同于废除旨在 减少不平等的政策。

It simply means that those policies should be executed

这只是意味着这些政策 应该基于阶级

on the basis of class instead of race.

而不是种族来执行。

Why class over race?

为什么选择阶级而不是种族？

I'll give two reasons.

我将给出两个理由。

First because class is almost always a better proxy

首先，因为阶级几乎总是比种族

for true disadvantage than race.

更好地代表真正的劣势。

Imagine we picked ten Americans at random.

想象一下我们随机挑选了十个美国人。

And our task is to sort them from least privileged on one end

我们的任务是将他们 从最不受特权

to most privileged on the other.

到最受特权排序。

Now, there's no direct measure of privilege,

现在，没有直接的特权衡量标准，

so we have to choose a proxy measure.

因此我们必须选择一个替代指标。

My claim here is that lining them up by income or wealth

我在这里的观点是， 按收入或财富排列，

would get us closer to achieving that task

比仅按种族排列

than simply lining people up by race.

更有助于实现这个任务。

That's what I mean when I say that class is usually a better proxy

这就是我所说的阶级通常比种族

for disadvantage than race.

更好地代表劣势的意思。

And the second reason is that class-based policies tend to be more popular

第二个原因是基于阶级的政策 往往更受欢迎，

and less controversial because they don't penalize anyone

更少引起争议，因为它们不会 因为不可变的生物特征

for immutable biological traits.

而惩罚任何人。

Think of policies like need-based financial aid

想想那些基于需求的 财政援助政策

or the earned-income tax credit.

或所得税抵免政策。

These are policies that address inequality

这些政策解决了不平等问题，

without anyone having to feel the sting of racial discrimination.

而无需任何人感受到 种族歧视的刺痛。

I want to give you an example of a disastrous race-based policy.

我想给你举一个灾难性的 基于种族的政策的例子。

It was called the Restaurant Revitalization Fund.

这被称为餐厅振兴基金。

Over 70,000 restaurants closed in 2020 due to the pandemic,

2020年，由于大流行， 有超过7万家餐厅关闭，

and this fund allocated 29 billion dollars to help these restaurants.

而该基金拨款290亿美元 以帮助这些餐厅。

But for the first three weeks of the program,

但在该计划的前三周，

only people of color, women and veterans could apply.

只有有色人种、妇女和 退伍军人可以申请。

So soon after it began,

就在该计划开始不久后，

white male restaurant owners sued, alleging discrimination.

白人男性餐厅老板提起诉讼， 声称受到了歧视。

A judge ruled in their favor, and the program was stopped.

法官做出了对他们有利的裁决， 该计划停止了。

But by that time, two thirds of the money was already gone.

但那时，三分之二的资金已经用完。

And it wasn't just white men that got discriminated against in this policy.

而且受到这项政策歧视的 不仅仅是白人男性。

Around 3,000 women and people of color were promised money

在该政策下，约有3,000名妇女和 有色人种被承诺获得资金，

before the judge stopped the program

但在法官停止该计划后，

and then unpromised that money just after.

他们又被取消了这笔承诺。

And the remaining 10 billion then went to white men

剩下的100亿美元随后分发给了

who had initially been put at the back of the line.

最初排在队尾的白人男性。

So the net result of this policy was a double dose of discrimination.

因此，这项政策的 最终结果是双重歧视。

Initially, thousands of white men were discriminated against

最初，数千名白人男性受到了歧视，

and then thousands of women and people of color were discriminated against.

然后数千名妇女 和有色人种受到了歧视。

And it's a virtual guarantee

可以几乎肯定，

that there are people out there who lost their restaurant

有人失去了他们的餐厅，

in both of those camps because they were the wrong skin color.

因为他们的肤色不符合政策要求。

Can anyone really argue

有人真的能辩称，

that a colorblind program wouldn't have produced better results for everybody?

一个无关肤色的计划不会 为每个人产生更好的结果吗？

So I just gave an example of a disastrous race-based policy.

我刚刚举了一个灾难性的 以种族为基础的政策例子。

Now, I want to give you an example

现在，我想给你们举一个

of a colorblind policy that has worked quite well.

无关肤色而 运作良好的政策的例子。

America has been struggling with the issue of racial bias in policing

长期以来，美国一直在努力解决

for a very long time.

警务方面的种族偏见问题。

And a solution to one aspect of this problem

解决这个问题的一种方式

is to issue tickets using traffic cameras instead of human beings.

是使用交通摄像头 而不是人工开具罚单。

Cops can be racially biased, consciously or not,

警察可能会出现种族偏见， 无论是有意识的还是无意识的，

but traffic cameras, red light cameras and speeding cameras can't.

但交通摄像头、红灯摄像头 和超速摄像头不会有这种问题。

So you would think anyone interested in reducing racial bias in policing

因此，你会认为任何有意减少 警务中的种族偏见的人

would support these traffic cameras.

都会支持这些交通摄像头。

But you'd be wrong.

但你会错。

Some have opposed them on the grounds

有些人反对交通摄像头，

that they don't yield statistically equal ticketing rates by race,

理由是它们不会产生统计意义上的 种族平等的罚单比率，

and they remain illegal in many US states.

并且在美国的许多州 它们仍然是非法的。

So here's an example

这里有一个例子，

where the philosophy of color blindness cuts through confusion like a knife.

证明了色盲哲学 可以像刀一样切破混乱。

If we’re guided by color blindness,

如果我们以色盲为指导，

our goal should be to eliminate bias from systems that affect people's lives

我们的目标应该是尽可能地消除

wherever possible,

影响人生的系统中的偏见，

not to manufacture statistically equal outcomes by any means necessary.

而不是通过任何必要手段 制造统计意义上的平等结果。

So my talk has been focused on America,

所以我的演讲侧重于美国，

but my message is really for any key decision maker

但我的信息实际上是针对 世界上任何地方的

at any institution anywhere in the world.

任何重要决策者的。

If you care about fighting racism, embrace color blindness.

如果您关心反对种族主义， 请接受色盲。

Support class-based policies.

支持基于阶级的政策。

Create colorblind processes in your own world.

在你们自己的世界中 创建无色观念的流程。

If you're a professor,

如果你是教授，

grade your students' papers blind to their names.

请匿名批改学生的论文。

Think creatively about how to apply color blindness to your life.

有创意地考虑如何将 无色观念应用于你的生活。

Color blindness is the best principle by which to govern a multiracial,

无色观念是管理多种种族、 多种族群的

multiethnic democracy.

民主社会的最佳原则。

It's the best way to lower the temperature of tribal conflict in the long run.

从长远来看，这是降低 部落冲突温度的最佳方式。

And if we wait for the moment when society is ready for it,

如果我们等待社会做好准备，

we'll be waiting forever.

那将是永远等下去。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）

Chris Anderson: Coleman, thank you for this.

克里斯·安德森：科尔曼， 谢谢你的分享。

You know, Mellody Hobson came to TED a few years ago,

你知道，几年前， 梅洛迪·霍布森来到了 TED，

and she had a very different message for us.

并传达了截然不同的信息。

She said, be color brave, not colorblind.

她说，要勇敢面对种族问题， 而非视而不见。

Her argument was that being colorblind is dangerous

她的观点是，视而不见是危险的，

because it's effectively ignoring the problem.

因为实质上是忽视了问题。

What would you want to say to her?

你想对她说些什么?

Coleman Hughes: Yeah.

科尔曼·休斯：是的。

One thing I would say is, like I said,

我想说的一点是，正如我所说的，

color blindness as a philosophy, that is the goal.

视色如无物作为一种哲学理念， 那就是目标。

That's an idea that comes from the anti-slavery movement, right?

这是一种来自反奴隶制运动 的理念，对吧？

That's not an example of ignoring the problem.

这不是忽视问题的例子。

That's an example of having the best philosophy

这就是我认为，这是解决问题的

with which to address the problem, in my view.

最佳理念的一个例子。

CA: But could you argue that that dealt with one part of the problem

CA：但你能说， 这解决了问题的一部分，

but in today's world, there are still many situations where it's not enough.

但在今天的世界里， 仍然有许多情况它还不足够。

Take this story of an orchestra, right,

以管弦乐团为例，对吧，

an orchestra, and it's largely white.

一个管弦乐团，主要由白人组成。

And that doesn't feel right.

这感觉不对。

So they institute a policy of color blindness where,

所以他们制定了一个无法进行

you know, there can't be any racial discrimination

任何种族歧视的颜色盲政策，

because new musicians are auditioned behind a screen.

因为新音乐家是在幕后试听的。

That's colorblind.

这就是颜色盲。

So, so far, so good.

所以，到目前为止，一切都很顺利。

And maybe that helps.

也许这有所帮助。

But maybe the actual situation

但也许实际情况是，

is that the minority kids in that area

该地区的少数族裔孩子们

just don't have access to instruments,

没有接触乐器的机会，

it's just harder for them ever to get the kind of training and stuff they need.

对于他们来说， 获得所需的培训等更加困难。

And the orchestra needs to be taking a lead to bring people through

乐团需要采取领导作用， 通过培养人才，

so that there are people in that orchestra who can inspire the kids

使得乐团中有能够激励孩子们的人， 以及更多可以为孩子们

and so forth.

树立榜样的人。

CH: Yeah, so I would propose a different --

CH: 是的，所以我会提出 一个不同的建议——

So if I were leading that orchestra, what I would do is I'd say,

如果我是那个乐团的负责人，我会说，

let's continue to audition everyone behind the veil,

让我们继续让所有人 在幕后进行试音，

be colorblind in that sense,

在这方面做到无视肤色差异，

and then let's separately invest in the community

然后我们另外投资于社区，

so that we can get kids instruments when they're young

以便我们能在孩子们年幼时 为他们提供乐器，

and then judge them by a colorblind standard

然后在他们试音时，

when they come to audition.

按照无视肤色的标准来评判他们。

See, if you rig it at this level,

你看，如果你在这个层面上做手脚，

then you're just changing the bar by which you would measure progress

那只是在改变你本来

to begin with, right?

要衡量进步的标准，对吧？

So I think that is a kind of an artificial solution,

所以我认为这是一种 有点人为的解决办法，

whereas we want to maintain colorblind standards,

而我们想要保持 无视肤色的标准，

but actually address the root causes of the problem.

实际上是要解决问题的根本原因。

(Applause)

（掌声）

CA: Coleman, you're an incredibly powerful voice on this issue,

CA：科尔曼，你在这个问题上 是一个非常有影响力的声音，

and I really thank you for the courage to come here, make this case.

我真的感谢你有勇气来到这里， 提出这个论点。

Good luck with the book.

祝你的书写顺利。

CH: Thank you, TED.

CH: 谢谢，TED。