【双语聚焦】停止仇恨亚裔,要做的还有很多

最近,佐治亚州亚特兰大发生一起枪击事件,造成8人死亡。8名受害者中有6名是亚裔女性,她们因种族身份而成为袭击目标,一名美国白人男子被控谋杀。此案无疑是美国人仇恨亚洲人的最直接体现。

The recent shootings in Atlanta, Georgia, which killed eight people, were the worst possible demonstration of hatred towards Asians in the United States. Six of the eight victims were women of Asian descent, and they were targeted because of their ethnicity. A white American man stands accused of the killings.

当然,美国对“其他种族”的仇恨由来已久,从对待美洲原住民印第安人,到奴隶制,再到今天对待穆斯林和黑人。而亚洲人一直是“其他种族”的一部分。

Of course, America has a long history of hatred of "the other," beginning with the Native Americans who inhabited the continent before the country was formed through to the institution of slavery and to today's horrible treatment of Muslims and Blacks. And, yes, Asians have always been part of that "other."

从1875年禁止中国妇女进入美国的《佩奇法案》,到7年后禁止所有中国人移民美国的《排华法案》,美国一直对中国人乃至亚洲人怀有普遍的敌意。

Dating to the Page Act, in 1875, which banned Chinese women from entering the United States and then the Chinese Exclusion Act, which followed seven years later and blocked all Chinese from immigrating to the country, America has always shown animus toward Chinese in particular and Asians in general.

△ 2021年3月19日,美国总统拜登和副总统哈里斯在前往亚特兰大与“亚裔和太平洋岛民”(AAPI)民权组织领袖会面后,于当日下午就美国国内种族主义言论以及针对亚太裔的仇恨行为等问题发表讲话。

美国前总统特朗普此前发表的卑劣言论,在一定程度上导致了美国社会的反亚洲情绪。他对中国的恶评(间接)引发了亚特兰大谋杀案。

Any discussion about politics contributing to anti-Asian feelings in the US would not be complete without referring to the vile rhetoric used by former President Trump. His angry language about China and its leaders provided the spark that made the murders in Atlanta possible.

但亚特兰大只是一个例子。

But Atlanta is just one example.

据广受关注的《纽约客》周刊报道,在过去几年里,美国各地针对亚洲人的袭击事件急剧上升。该杂志称:“位于圣贝纳迪诺的加州州立大学仇恨和极端主义研究中心最近调查了全美16个主要城市的警察部门,发现与2019年相比,2020年针对亚裔的仇恨犯罪增加了一倍多。”

According to the New Yorker, a respected weekly magazine, there has been a sharp rise in attacks against Asians throughout the US over the past couple of years. Quoting the magazine: "The Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, at California State University, San Bernardino, recently surveyed police departments in sixteen major cities across the country and found that anti-Asian hate crimes had more than doubled between 2019 and 2020.”

就目前而言,美国政治精英忽视了一点,他们自身也是制造反亚裔情绪的共谋。亚特兰大谋杀案发生后,这些政治精英在为美国亚裔群体提供支持时,借鉴了过去用来团结其他受害群体的相同措辞。拜登总统表示,“我们的沉默是共谋”。26位州长共同在这份声明中表示:“发生在亚裔美国人身上的事情根本就不是美国式的所作所为。我们谴责针对AAPI(亚裔美国人和太平洋岛民)群体的种族主义、暴力和仇恨,我们必须更加努力保护、鼓励和支持亚裔美国人群体。”

For now, America's political class is ignoring its complicity in creating anti-Asian hysteria. In offering support for America's Asian community following the Atlanta murders, it has read from the same script used to rally other groups that have been victimized in the past. "Our silence is complicity," President Biden said. Twenty-six governors added their names to this statement: "What is happening to Asian Americans is simply un-American. We condemn racism, violence and hatred against our AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander) communities, and we must do more to protect, lift up, and support the Asian American community.”

光说不练是不行的,这一点我们后文再谈。

Words alone will not work, a point we will return to later.

△ 当地时间2021年3月18日,美国华盛顿,美国白宫降半旗,悼念在亚特兰大枪击事件中的遇难者。

美国媒体和娱乐业也应该为煽动亚裔仇恨负责。作家 Viet Thanh Nguyen 写道,一方面,许多亚洲人被认为是成功的、受过教育的模范少数族裔,对白人来说不是威胁;另一方面,他们也“受到广播中的种族主义言论、电台播音员的清唱笑话、美国战争电影和喜剧中邪恶又可笑的'小日本’'中国佬’和'韩国佬’形象的攻击。”

America's media and the entertainment industry also deserve blame for stoking anti-Asian hate. Author Viet Thanh Nguyen writes that on one hand many Asians are considered a model minority, successful, educated and not a threat to Whites, but they also are "assaulted by the racism of the airwaves, the ching-chong jokes of radio shock jocks, the villainous or comical japs and chinks and gooks of American war movies and comedies."

亚特兰大枪击事件发生后不久,一位美国媒体评论员写道:“将亚洲人丑化为五官扁平、带有浓重口音的漫画式人物,是在美国最受欢迎的消遣方式。”更糟糕的是,亚裔女性的漫画形象往往是性工作者,她们默默忍受着毫无稳定可言的匿名生活。媒体给亚裔女性塑造的角色是别人的附庸。难怪亚裔女性成为仇恨事件目标的可能性是亚裔男性的两倍多。

Shortly after the deadly events in Atlanta, a US media critic wrote: "Reducing Asians to flat, heavily accented caricatures is a favorite pastime in this country." Worse, the caricature of an Asian woman too often is that of sex worker, silently tolerating her anonymous life that offers no path to stability. If not tasked with satisfying men, then her media-created role remains subservient to someone else. It is no wonder Asian women are more than twice as likely as Asian men to be the target of a hate incident.

说了这么多,除了那些空话套话之外,发生在亚特兰大的恐怖事件是否会带来实质性的影响?新一轮的亚裔仇恨真的会改变美国吗?

So, will the horror of Atlanta lead to something more than empty phrases and a few hashtags? Will this latest spasm of Asian hatred actually change America?

△ 当地时间2021年3月21日,加拿大蒙特利尔,上千民众参加反对仇恨亚裔的游行示威。

恐怕不会。我们没有理由感到乐观。想想美国人在过去20年来是如何故意分裂自己国家的:对伊拉克发动的战争、“茶党”的崛起、针对民主党总统候选人破坏性的种族主义和性别歧视、特朗普对法西斯思想的信奉以及接二连三的大规模枪击事件,这些事件将美国人置于不同的阵营——左翼认为右翼孤注一掷地坚持着已遭受质疑的世界观,而右翼坚持认为左翼创造的是一个破坏美国传统价值观的社会。

There is no reason to be optimistic. Consider how Americans have intentionally fractured their country over the past two decades. In rapid succession, the launching of war against Iraq, the rise of the Tea Party, the corrosive racism and sexism directed at Democratic Party presidential candidates, the embrace of fascist ideas by Trump and the constant mass killings by gun have placed Americans into distinct camps: The left believes the right is desperate to hold onto a worldview that has been discredited, while the right insists the left wants to create a society that destroys traditional American values.

要想真正解决对亚裔的仇恨问题,政治家们必须制定政策,让民权和平等取得实质进展。商业媒体必须始终如一地塑造有关所有亚洲人的正面形象。美国人必须抛开分歧,并同意根除针对任何群体的仇恨。最后,人们必须忘掉那种“模范少数族裔”的神话——因为它制造了一种错误而危险的想法,即“亚洲人受到尊重,不会遭到仇恨”。

For anti-Asian hate to really be addressed, politicians must establish policies that allow for meaningful progress in civil rights and equality. The corporate-owned media must consistently offer positive representations of all Asians. Americans must set aside their differences and agree that hate directed at any group must be eradicated. And, lastly, that "model minority" myth must be erased from people's minds because it creates a false and dangerous idea that Asians are respected and not subjected to hate.

到目前为止,上面提到的群体中没有一个有勇气尽自己的那份力量。社交媒体上的热搜话题和线下的集会——换句话说,无声的语言和响亮的声音——必须发挥作用。而且这些工作多多益善,永远都不够。

Right now, none of the groups mentioned above has the courage to do their part. Hashtags and rallies -- in other words, silent and loud words -- will have to do. And they will never be sufficient.

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