瘋小貓的華麗冒險

美國的總統選戰如火如茶，民主黨的兩位「候選候選人」還沒分出勝負 -- 希拉蕊可能是史上第一位女性參選人，而歐巴馬則可能是史上第一位黑人參選人。兩位的身份都很特殊，也各有支持/反對者。上個月，歐巴馬的牧師 Reverend Wright（黑人）在教會禮拜時發表了一些情緒性言論，主要是提到黑人仍然在美國受到欺壓之類的反美言論。保守的狐狸電視台抓住這個爆點，將其片段剪接之後拿來大書特書，牧師煽動的話語當然激怒了電視機前的美國人（白人和黑人），各方壓力逼迫歐巴馬表態，兩天之後，他即發表此篇演說，討論美國的種族問題。這是他參選以來第一次正面談論種族問題，可能也是美國史上所有總統/總統候選人的第一人。

第二個禮拜，這個話題還燙著，Peggy 就拿到了演講稿印給大家（不過稿子太難，我們的進度很慢，現在才讀到一半左右）。

雖然才讀到一半，我已為歐巴馬（或歐巴馬的智囊團）深深折服。為什麼人家可以寫出這樣令人動容的演講稿？若不是出於真心、若不是他原本就對此問題有見地、怎麼能寫出這樣有智慧的演講稿？（當然，我也會聯想到，為什麼台灣的政治人物沒有任何人可以說出這樣的話？）

演說全文很長，原文連結在這裡（歐巴馬官網），中文翻譯在這裡（徐聖俠先生譯）

March 18, 2008
Transcript
Barak Obama's Speech on Race

The following is the text as prepared for delivery of Senator Barack Obama's speech on race in Philadelphia, as provided by his presidential campaign.

1	"We the people, in order to form a more perfect union."
2	Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America's improbable experiment in democracy. Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny (['tɪrənɪ] 暴政) and persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787.
3	The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. It was stained (染污) by this nation's original sin (原罪) of slavery, a question that divided the colonies and brought the convention to a stalemate (['stelˌmet] 僵局) until the founders choose to allow the slave trade to continue for at least twenty years, and to leave any final resolution to future generations.
4	Of course, the answer to the slavery question was already embedded within our Constitution -- a Constitution that had at its very core the ideal of equal citizenship under the law; a Constitution that promised its people liberty, and justice, and a union that could be and should be perfected over time.
5	And yet words on a parchment (羊皮紙) would not be enough to deliver (解救) slaves from bondage (奴隸身份 = slavery), or provide men and women of every color and creed (宗教信仰 ~= credo) their full rights and obligations as citizens of the United States. What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part - through protests and struggle, on the streets and in the courts, through a civil war and civil disobedience and always at great risk -- to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time.
6	This was one of the tasks we set forth (公開) at the beginning of this campaign -- to continue the long march of those who came before us, a march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America. I chose to run for the presidency at this moment in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together -- unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction -- towards a better future for our children and our grandchildren.
7	This belief comes from my unyielding faith in the decency (禮儀、善良正派) and generosity of the American people. But it also comes from my own American story.

以上是歐巴馬的開場白。

第一句話 "We the People, in order to form a more perfect union." 是美國憲法的序言，也是這篇演講的中心思想：我們要建立更美好的聯邦（國家）。藏在這句話背後的，是深深印在每一個 quarter 硬幣上的 "e pluribus unum" -- 合眾為一。我們不是一群不同膚色、不同祖先、或者不同文化的人，我們是一個國家。

第三段點出了美國的黑白種族問題在開國時即存在。雖然 1776 年的獨立宣言第一句話就提到：all men are created equal，但當時蓄奴制度早已存在，提出獨立宣言的人們當然知道他們在睜眼說瞎話。最後他們只好允許奴隸交易制度繼續運作二十年，將這個種族難題留給後代子孫來解決。

然而，歐巴馬保留沒說的事實是：20年後，儘管奴隸交易制度不再，人們不能再從非洲買入更多黑奴，但蓄奴仍是合法的。獨立宣言後的90年（1865），南北戰爭結束，蓄奴制終被廢除，但黑人們的地位仍然很糟，在社會上倍受岐視。再過90年（1955），馬丁路德領導的公民權運動打破種族隔離的不平等法律，黑人們終於可以與白人平起平坐 -- 但也僅限於法律，日常生活中黑人仍然受到許多不平等待遇。兩百多年來，黑人們掙扎著生存。

但是這些歐巴馬都沒有說。

這幾段文字不談黑人在美國的悲情歷史、不談美國現有的種族問題、也不談牧師先生的煽動語言，卻平平靜靜地打開憲法，不卑不亢地指出，我們應該『朝著同一個方向前進、讓我們的子孫有更好的未來』。

啊...台灣人什麼時候才能平平靜靜地坐下來，說，『拋開過去的本省人外省人恩怨，我們一起向前走吧』？


▲ Quarter 硬幣（圖片出處：http://www.statequartergear.com/coins/2005quarters.html）

----------------------- 附錄：歐巴馬的牧師 Reverend Wright 說的話（片段）-----------------------

"... The government gives them (黑人) drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law (三振出局法。犯罪被抓三次就直接判無期徒刑), and then wants us to sing 'God bless America'. No! No, no. God damn America, that's in Bible, for killing innocent people, God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human! God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme.
... Let's not mention that we were in a war of that millions more would have died.
... We've bombed Hiroshima (廣島), we've bombed Nagasaki (長崎), we've nuked (以核武攻擊) far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon and we never batted (眨眼) an eye. . . . We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant (憤慨) because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back into our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost (歇息、棲息)...."

翻成中文：
『...政府给他們（黑人）毒品，擴建監牢，三次犯罪便终身监禁，它還想讓我們唱「上帝保佑美國」。不不不，上帝詛咒美國，《聖經》說的，因為美國殺害無辜的人；因為美國不把我們這些公民（黑人）當人看！只要美國以上帝和最高者自居，它就会被詛咒。
... 更別提我們現在正打的扙，超過百萬人因而死去。
... 我們（美國）炸了廣島，我們炸了長崎，我們用核武攻擊它們的強度比紐約市和五角大廈所受的打擊厲害千萬倍，我們眼睛也沒眨一下。我們（美國）支持國家恐怖主義，利用他們來對付巴勒斯坦與南非黑人，而現在我們感到氣憤，只因為那些我們在海外種下的孽因啊，回到我們的跟前來報應了！美國懦夫爬回巢穴裡喘息...』

小貓註：的確是超級煽動的語言啊！和咱的選舉場子有拼... XD