The lie that invented racism | John Biewen

Transcriber: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Camille Martínez

翻译人员: Kate Tang 校对人员: Reem Bsheer

我们白人到底是怎么了？

（笑声）

在过去几年里，我针对这个问题思索了很多，

What is up with us white people?

并且我也知道有人和我一样 在思考这个问题。

听着，我明白---

(Laughter)

有色人群已经提出这个问题长达数个世纪，

I've been thinking about that a lot the last few years,

但是我认为越来越多的白人也有相同的疑问，

and I know I have company.

Look, I get it --

people of color have been asking that question for centuries.

考虑到发生在这片土地上的一切事物：

在我国，

But I think a growing number of white folks are too,

请注意我之前说过 ”我们白人到底是怎么了？“

given what's been going on out there

因为我现在并没有打算讨论这群白人，

in our country.

就是那些胸前挂着万字符，头戴着兜帽，手握提基火炬的人。

And notice I said, "What's up with us white people?"

because right now, I'm not talking about those white people,

他们是一种社会问题，一种威胁。

the ones with the swastikas and the hoods and the tiki torches.

他们在我们国家境内犯下了几乎所有的恐怖主义罪行，

正如在夏律第镇（美国弗吉尼亚州的一座城市）上的你们知道得比大多数人要清楚。

They are a problem and a threat.

但是我想讲一个影响更大，更广泛分布的现象：

They perpetrate most of the terrorism in our country,

我指的就是我们所有人，

as you all in Charlottesville know better than most.

显而易见，就是我们所有白人

But I'm talking about something bigger and more pervasive.

而且或许尤其是像我这样的白人

都声称自己思想开明

I'm talking about all of us,

并不想成为种族主义者

white folks writ large.

And maybe, especially, people sort of like me,

我们都是品德高尚的白人

（笑声）

self-described progressive,

现在房间里有谁觉得自己是品德高尚的白人吗？

（笑声）

don't want to be racist.

我从小就被培养成这种人。

Good white people.

(Laughter)

六七十年代的时候，我还是个小孩，

Any good white people in the room?

先给你们介绍一下我的父母：

(Laughter)

I was raised to be that sort of person.

马丁·路德·金还在世的时候，当年真实的公众民调

I was a little kid in the '60s and '70s,

显示只有很小一部分白人，大概占总数量的20%，

and to give you some sense of my parents:

赞成并且支持

actual public opinion polls at the time

马丁·路德·金

showed that only a small minority, about 20 percent of white Americans,

以及他为了公民权利运动所做出的贡献。

approved and supported

我可以很自豪的说，我的父母 是这其中的一部分。

Martin Luther King and his work with the civil rights movement

种族在我们家是被讨论的。

while Dr. King was still alive.

当有关种族的节目在电视上播放时，

I'm proud to say my parents were in that group.

他们会让我们这些孩子坐下， 并确保我们在看：

Race got talked about in our house.

西德尼·波蒂埃的电影，“Roots”...

And when the shows that dealt with race would come on the television,

这立意是清晰明了的，

they would sit us kids down, made sure we watched:

我也理解了：

the Sidney Poitier movies, "Roots" ...

种族歧视是错误的，种族主义者是坏人。

The message was loud and clear,

与此同时，

and I got it:

我们住在明尼苏达州一个白人聚居地。

racism is wrong; racists are bad people.

对我而言，

我觉得那让我相信，那些电视上 坚信种族主义的白人，

At the same time,

we lived in a very white place in Minnesota.

都来自外地。

And I'll just speak for myself,

I think that allowed me to believe that those white racists on the TV screen

跟我们没有关系。

我并没有觉得受到了牵连。

were being beamed in from some other place.

直到现在，我认为，我还正在从 那个早期的印象中缓过来。

It wasn't about us, really.

I did not feel implicated.

我投身于新闻学，

部分原因是因为我关心平等和正义， 诸如此类的主题。

Now, I would say, I'm still in recovery from that early impression.

I got into journalism

很长一段时间，种族歧视对我来说 就是一个谜团。

in part because I cared about things like equality and justice.

这个思想显而易见是错误的， 却为什么依然存在？

For a long time, racism was just such a puzzle to me.

为什么它有如此持久的力量？

Why is it still with us when it's so clearly wrong?

也许我困惑的原因是因为我没有找到 正确的切入点

或者问正确的问题。

Why such a persistent force?

你们有没有发现

Maybe I was puzzled because I wasn't yet looking in the right place

当白人居多的媒体

or asking the right questions.

报道他们认为的种族问题

Have you noticed

以及我们认为的种族问题时，

that when people in our mostly white media

这通常代表将我们的摄像机，

report on what they consider to be racial issues,

我们的话筒和视线

直指有色人种，

what we consider to be racial issues,

问着“黑人或者土著人，拉丁裔或者亚裔 过得如何”

what that usually means is that we're pointing our cameras

“他们过得还好吗？”

and our microphones and our gaze

at people of color,

诸如此类的问题

asking questions like,

这些常常关于一个特定的社区， 或者针对某些论点 --

"How are Black folks or Native Americans, Latino or Asian Americans,

经济，又或者是教育。

how are they doing?"

许多年里，

in a given community or with respect to some issue --

我也为那种新闻出过力。

the economy, education.

但后来乔治·齐默尔曼（George Zimmerman） 杀死了特雷沃恩·马丁（Trayvon Martin）

I've done my share of that kind of journalism

随之而来的是一连串的警察

over many years.

But then George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin,

高调枪杀手无寸铁的黑人的案例。

黑人权益运动的崛起，

followed by this unending string of high-profile police shootings

迪兰·鲁夫（Dylann Roof）和查尔斯顿大屠杀，

“奥斯卡好白”的词条 --

of unarmed Black people,

所有这些来自美国人日常生活中的例子，

the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement,

Dylann Roof and the Charleston massacre,

这些无比种族歧视，

#OscarsSoWhite --

并被手机拍下，

all the incidents from the day-to-day of American life,

在网络上传播的例子。

而在这些表面上的事件之下，

these overtly racist incidents

that we now get to see because they're captured on smartphones

那些固执的数据，

显示系统性种族歧视遍布 我们所有的制度的论文：

and sent across the internet.

And beneath those visible events,

住房隔离，工作歧视，

the stubborn data,

the studies showing systemic racism in every institution we have:

学校中深深种族化的不平等

以及司法系统。

housing segregation, job discrimination,

而最撼动我的一件事，

而且我知道我也不是一个人：

the deeply racialized inequities in our schools

特朗普的崛起，

and criminal justice system.

以及很大一部分美国白人

And what really did it for me,

and I know I'm not alone in this, either:

会包容或者至少接受

the rise of Donald Trump

and the discovery that a solid majority of white Americans

这种赤裸，严酷的白人化政治的发现。

would embrace or at least accept

这些对我这个人类来说十分令人不安。

such a raw, bitter kind of white identity politics.

作为一名新闻工作者，我发现 我在将镜头转过来，

This was all disturbing to me as a human being.

想着，

“哇，白人是故事的中心。

As a journalist, I found myself turning the lens around,

白人主义也是一种故事,”

thinking,

也同时在想，“我可以这么做吗？

"Wow, white folks are the story.

一个关于白人主义的播客系列 听上去会是什么样？”

Whiteness is a story,"

（笑声）

And also thinking, "Can I do that?

“哦，顺便一提，这可能会变得很不舒服。”

What would a podcast series about whiteness sound like?"

我几乎从没看到过深入观察白人主义，

(Laughter)

"And oh, by the way -- this could get uncomfortable."

但，当然了，有色人种，特别是黑人知识分子

I had seen almost no journalism that looked deeply at whiteness,

几世纪以来，都在针对白人至上主义

做出尖锐的批判，

but, of course, people of color and especially Black intellectuals

我知道在过去的二三十年里，

学者们通过白人主义剖析种族

have made sharp critiques of white supremacist culture

也做了一些有趣的研究，

for centuries,

and I knew that in the last two or three decades,

它是什么，从何而来，以及它在这个世界上 如何运转。

scholars had done interesting work

looking at race through the frame of whiteness,

我开始阅读，

并联系了一些研究种族及其历史的专家。

what it is, how we got it, how it works in the world.

I started reading,

我问的第一个问题之一便是，

and I reached out to some leading experts on race and the history of race.

“身为一名白人的理念

是从何而来的？”

One of the first questions I asked was,

其中的科学很清晰。

"Where did this idea of being a white person

我们都是同一种人类。

come from in the first place?"

我们都互相关联，

都是来自非洲的统一个祖先的后代。

Science is clear.

有些人离开非洲去到了更冷，更黑的地方

We are one human race.

We're all related,

all descended from a common ancestor in Africa.

也失去了很多的黑色素，

我们其中有些人失去了更多。

Some people walked out of Africa into colder, darker places

（笑声）

但从基因层面来讲，我们的相似度高达 百分之99.9。

and lost a lot of their melanin,

some of us more than others.

我们所定义的种族，内部的基因多元性

(Laughter)

But genetically, we are all 99.9 percent the same.

比不同种族之间的差异更多。

世界上没有白人，黑人，亚裔人，

There's more genetic diversity within what we call racial groups

或者你的种族的特有基因。

than there is between racial groups.

所以这一切从何而起呢？

我们如何得到这个东西？

There's no gene for whiteness or blackness or Asian-ness

种族歧视是怎么开始的呢？

or what have you.

我觉得如果你让我，带着我多年前的无知，

So how did this happen?

How did we get this thing?

去探寻这一切的话，

How did racism start?

我可能会说，

I think if you had asked me to speculate on that,

“嗯，我猜历史长河中的某一个瞬间，

in my ignorance, some years ago,

大家遇到了彼此，

I probably would have said,

并且觉得其他人都很奇怪。

"Well, I guess somewhere back in deep history,

’你的皮肤跟我的不是一个颜色， 你的头发与我不同，

你的穿着很奇怪。

people encountered one another,

我想我大概可以得出结论

and they found each other strange.

既然你与我不同

你在某种程度上低于我，

'Your skin is a different color, your hair is different,

you dress funny.

所以也许我可以不公平对待你。’”

I guess I'll just go ahead and jump to the conclusion

对吧？

这是不是很像我们会想象或设想的？

that since you're different

that you're somehow less than me,

and maybe that makes it OK for me to mistreat you.'"

在那样的场景之下，

一切都是巨大的，悲剧性的误会。

Right?

Is that something like what we imagine or assume?

但也许这是错的。

And under that kind of scenario,

首先，种族是一个新兴的发明。

it's all a big, tragic misunderstanding.

它仅有几百年的历史。

But it seems that's wrong.

在那之前，对，人们确实通过

First of all, race is a recent invention.

宗教，部落，语言，诸如此类的东西，

It's just a few hundred years old.

相互区分。

Before that, yes, people divided themselves

但在大部分的人类历史中，

人们没有对种族的概念。

by religion, tribal group, language,

在古希腊，举个例子 --

我从历史学家内尔·欧文·佩因特 那里学到的--

things like that.

But for most of human history,

people had no notion of race.

希腊人觉得他们比所有他们所知道的人 都要好，

In Ancient Greece, for example --

and I learned this from the historian Nell Irvin Painter --

但并不是因为他们觉得自己 与生俱来地高人一等。

the Greeks thought they were better than the other people they knew about,

他们只是觉得他们建立了最超前的文明。

but not because of some idea that they were innately superior.

所以他们看着周围的埃塞俄比亚人，

They just thought that they'd developed the most advanced culture.

还有波斯人以及凯尔特人，

然后说， “他们与我们相比 都有点野蛮。

So they looked around at the Ethiopians,

从文化角度，他们只是不是希腊人。”

but also the Persians and the Celts,

and they said, "They're all kind of barbaric compared to us.

是的，在古代，奴隶制很普遍，

Culturally, they're just not Greek."

但人们奴役那些与他们不同的人，

而他们也经常奴役那些与他们相似的人。

And yes, in the ancient world, there was lots of slavery,

你知道吗，英语单词 “slave（奴隶）” 源自于单词 “slav（斯拉夫人）” ？

but people enslaved people who didn't look like them,

and they often enslaved people who did.

因为世纪以来，

Did you know that the English word "slave" is derived from the word "Slav"?

斯拉夫人被各种不同的人奴役，

包括西欧人。

Because Slavic people were enslaved by all kinds of folks,

奴隶制也并不关于种族，

因为还没有人知晓种族。

including Western Europeans,

for centuries.

所以谁最先了解了呢？

Slavery wasn't about race either,

我将这个问题交给另一位顶尖历史学家，

because no one had thought up race yet.

伊布拉姆·肯迪。

我并没有期待他给我一个

So who did?

连名带日期的答案，

I put that question to another leading historian,

向我们讲述灯泡的故事一样。

Ibram Kendi.

（笑声）

I didn't expect he would answer the question

但他做到了。

（笑声）

in the form of one person's name and a date,

他说，通过他详尽的研究，

as if we were talking about the light bulb.

他发现了他认为的 关于种族歧视的最早记载。

(Laughter)

But he did.

(Laughter)

他将此人称为罪魁祸首。

He said, in his exhaustive research,

这家伙应该更出名，

he found what he believed to be the first articulation of racist ideas.

或者，换句话说，臭名昭著。

他的名字是戈梅斯·德祖拉拉。

And he named the culprit.

葡萄牙人。

他在1450年代写了一本书，

This guy should be more famous,

or infamous.

据肯迪博士说，他在书中干了一件

His name is Gomes de Zurara.

从未有人干过的事情。

Portuguese man.

他把非洲 -- 一个辽阔，多元的大洲 --

Wrote a book in the 1450s

的所有人归并在一起

in which he did something that no one had ever done before,

according to Dr. Kendi.

并将他们描述为一个独特的大类，

He lumped together all the people of Africa --

一个低等且野蛮的大类。

a vast, diverse continent --

全然不顾在殖民地时期前的当时

and he described them as a distinct group,

许多世界上最先进的文明都位于非洲。

inferior and beastly.

此人为什么会下此定论呢？

Never mind that in that precolonial time

some of the most sophisticated cultures in the world were in Africa.

结果是，这一切与金钱有关。

首先，祖拉拉是受葡萄牙国王之命

Why would this guy make this claim?

写下这本书的，

Turns out, it helps to follow the money.

而且就在几年前，

奴隶贩子们 --

First of all, Zurara was hired to write that book

重点来了 --

与葡萄牙皇室挂钩的奴隶贩子们

by the Portuguese king,

and just a few years before,

有效地领头了大西洋奴隶贸易。

slave traders --

here we go --

他们是欧洲第一批航海到撒哈拉沙漠 以南的非洲地区

slave traders tied to the Portuguese crown

绑架及奴役非洲人的人。

had effectively pioneered the Atlantic slave trade.

所以，眼下突然变得很重要的一件事

They were the first Europeans to sail directly to sub-Saharan Africa

就是拥有一个关于非洲人十分低等的故事

to kidnap and enslave African people.

来为这种新的交易辩解

So it was suddenly really helpful

无论是对他人，对教堂，

to have a story about the inferiority of African people

甚至对他们自己。

通过一支笔和墨水，

to justify this new trade

祖拉拉发明了黑人和白人，

to other people, to the church,

to themselves.

因为他基本上通过描述非洲人

And with the stroke of a pen,

创造了黑人的概念，

Zurara invented both blackness and whiteness,

而据肯迪博士所说，

because he basically created the notion of blackness

没有白人的黑人概念是空洞的。

through this description of Africans,

其他欧洲国家紧跟着葡萄牙

and as Dr. Kendi says,

blackness has no meaning without whiteness.

也开始在非洲寻找人力资本和免费劳动力

Other European countries followed the Portuguese lead

并受那本杜撰的影响

找寻着非洲人的劣等性。

in looking to Africa for human property and free labor

我觉得这一切都让人茅塞顿开。

and in adopting this fiction

种族歧视并不始于一个误会，

about the inferiority of African people.

它源自一个谎言。

I found this clarifying.

与此同时，在我们所处的殖民地的美洲，

Racism didn't start with a misunderstanding,

那些现在将自己称为白人的人们 开始将这些种族歧视性的点子

it started with a lie.

Meanwhile, over here in colonial America,

转化为法律，

the people now calling themselves white got busy taking these racist ideas

剥夺了被称为黑人的人权

and turning them into law,

并将他们困进我们邪恶的 动产奴隶制中的法律，

laws that stripped all human rights from the people they were calling Black

以及给予最贫穷的白人优待的法律，

and locking them into our particularly vicious brand of chattel slavery,

不是物质上的巨额好处

而是一辈子不被奴役的权利，

and laws that gave even the poorest white people benefits,

亲人不会与你被迫分离， 不会被卖掉的权利，

not big benefits in material terms

甚至有时也会是真实的好物。

but the right to not be enslaved for life,

在弗吉尼亚州之类的地方仅为白人 开放免费的土地这种事

the right to not have your loved ones torn from your arms and sold,

and sometimes real goodies.

在美国革命之前就已开始

The handouts of free land in places like Virginia

并在其之后也一直延续着。

to white people only

started long before the American Revolution

现在，我可以想象

在座会有人听着我说的这些 -- 如果他们还在听的话 --

and continued long after.

想着，“拜托，这都是古老的历史， 说这些又有什么意义呢？

Now, I can imagine

there would be people listening to me -- if they're still listening --

时代在转变。

为什么不能忘掉这一切，向前看呢？”

who might be thinking,

"Come on, this is all ancient history. Why does this matter?

对吧？

但我会主张，至少对我来说，

Things have changed.

Can't we just get over it and move on?"

学习这段历史，对我们如今理解 种族歧视的方式

Right?

带来了巨大的转变。

But I would argue, for me certainly,

为了复习，快速总结我到现在 阐述的两个重点：

learning this history has brought a real shift

第一，种族并不是生物学上的定义，

in the way that I understand racism today.

它是一个某些人决定讲述的故事；

To review, two quick takeaways from what I've said so far:

第二，人们讲述那个故事

one, race is not a thing biologically,

是为残忍的压榨他人从而谋取利益正名。

it's a story some people decided to tell;

and two, people told that story

我并没有从学校学到这两点。

to justify the brutal exploitation of other human beings for profit.

我猜测在座的大部分都没有。

如果你有，那你曾拥有一名很特殊的老师。

对吧？

I didn't learn those two facts in school.

但当它们渗透进我们的思想，

I suspect most of us didn't.

首先变得很明了的是

If you did, you had a special teacher.

种族歧视不完全是一个关于态度，

Right?

But once they sink in,

或者个人偏执的问题。

for one thing, it becomes clear

不，它是一个工具。

that racism is not mainly a problem of attitudes,

它是一个分裂我们并支撑各种体系的工具 --

of individual bigotry.

经济，政治，亦或是社会

No, it's a tool.

这种有利于一些人并损害另一些人的体系。

It's a tool to divide us and to prop up systems --

这种工具被用来说服很多白人

economic, political and social systems

他们可能并没有感受到这阶级感严重的社会 所带来的红利

that advantage some people and disadvantage others.

And it's a tool to convince a lot of white folks

但这种工具会让他们支持现状。

who may or may not be getting a great deal out of our highly stratified society

“事情可能会更差。至少我是白人。”

to support the status quo.

当我掌握了种族歧视的起源，

"Could be worse. At least I'm white."

我不再被它依然存在的事实所困惑。

Once I grasped the origins of racism,

我想，你知道的，回头看，

我曾认为种族歧视就像地平说 --

I stopped being mystified by the fact that it's still with us.

就是一个坏的，过时的想法， 可能不久之后自己就会消失。

I guess, you know, looking back,

I thought about racism as being sort of like the flat Earth --

但不，这是白人主义的工具

just bad, outdated thinking that would fade away on its own

且还在做着它被赋予的工作。

before long.

拥有权利的人每天在工作中

But no, this tool of whiteness

还在推广和强调这个古老的武器

is still doing the job it was invented to do.

无论是在权利中心，

Powerful people go to work every day,

又或是我们能叫得出名字的演播室里。。。

leveraging and reinforcing this old weapon

我们不需要去计较

这些人是否真的相信他们所说，

in the halls of power,

他们是否真的存在歧视。

in some broadcast studios we could mention ...

这不是这一切的重点。

And we don't need to fuss over

真正重要的是经济实力和权利。

whether these people believe what they're saying,

whether they're really racist.

最后，我觉得最重要的教训 --

That's not what it's about.

It's about pocketbooks and power.

让我特别针对白人讲这一点：

Finally, I think the biggest lesson of all --

当我们了解了是与我们相像的人

and let me talk in particular to the white folks for a minute:

发明了种族这个概念

来为他们和我们谋取更多利益，

once we understand that people who look like us

是不是发现这更应该是我们来解决的问题呢？

invented the very notion of race

这是一个白人的问题。

in order to advantage themselves and us,

我在很长一段时间里羞于承认，

isn't it easier to see that it's our problem to solve?

我把种族歧视看做是需要由有色人种 改变的事情，

It's a white people problem.

有点像我儿时在电视上看到的人。

I'm embarrassed to say that for a long time,

I thought of racism as being mainly a struggle for people of color to fight,

或者，像身处体育赛事的边线一样，

sort of like the people on the TV screen when I was a kid.

一边是有色人种，

另一边是真正的种族歧视主义者，

Or, as if I was on the sidelines at a sports contest,

那些南部的治安官，

戴着官帽的人们。

on one side people of color,

我曾经真诚地支持有色人种 赢得这场纷争。

on the other those real racists,

但是不。

the Southern sheriff,

the people in hoods.

没有什么边线

And I was sincerely rooting for people of color to win the struggle.

我们都在这一切之中。

我们都牵连其中。

But no.

如果我不加入废除一个体系的纷争

There are no sidelines.

这对我来说有益，

We're all in it.

我是一个共犯。

We are implicated.

And if I'm not joining the struggle to dismantle a system

这与耻辱或者懊悔无关。

白人的懊悔不会改变任何事，

that advantages me,

而且实话实说，我并没有觉得很懊悔。

I am complicit.

This isn't about shame or guilt.

历史不是你我的错。

White guilt doesn't get anything done,

我感受到的是一种强烈的义务

and honestly, I don't feel a lot of guilt.

History isn't my fault or yours.

去做点事情。

What I do feel is a stronger sense of responsibility

所有这些改变了我 看待和实操我的工作的方式

无论是作为一个纪录片旁白

to do something.

还是一名老师。

All this has altered the way that I think about and approach my work

但除此之外，这一切代表了什么?

这对我们来说意味着什么？

as a documentary storyteller

这代表我们应该支持倡导 种族和谐的领导人吗？

and as a teacher.

But beyond that, besides that, what does it mean?

What does it mean for any of us?

在我们的社区里，

Does it mean that we support leaders

我们有没有找到致力于改变不公平的 制度的人

who want to push ahead with a conversation about reparations?

并支持他们的工作？

In our communities,

在工作中，

are we finding people who are working to transform unjust institutions

我是那个不情愿

去参加多元性和平等主题会议的人，

and supporting that work?

还是那个钻研如何成为 我不同种族同事的同谋的那个人？

At my job,

am I the white person who shows up grudgingly

for the diversity and equity meeting,

在我来看无论我们身在何处，

or am I trying to figure out how to be a real accomplice

我们都应该保持谦逊和卑微

to my colleagues of color?

Seems to me wherever we show up,

已经放下这不属于我们的权利的意愿。

we need to show up with humility and vulnerability

and a willingness to put down this power that we did not earn.

我认为我们依然会得到好处

如果我们创造一个社会

一个不迫害或打压任何人的社会。

I believe we also stand to benefit

但最终我们应该这么做，

if we could create a society

that's not built on the exploitation or oppression of anyone.

我们应该参与进来，

弄清楚如何做出行动。

因为这是正确的。

But in the end we should do this,

we should show up,

谢谢观看

（掌声）

figure out how to take action.

Because it's right.

Thank you.

(Applause)