國家地理:為了改變世界 我們必須進行抗議(1)

America has been plunged into another Emmett Till moment of racial reckoning and soul searching. The protests and acts of civil disobedience currently roiling the nation will continue to flare like California wildfires. They must. This nation was built on protest.

如今，美國陷入了又一個愛默特·提爾似的種族清算與靈魂反省的時刻。目前席卷美國的抗議活動和公民非暴力反抗，將繼續(xù)像加州野火一樣蔓延。一定會這樣的。這個國家就是在抗議中建立起來的。

The excruciating images of the final tortured moments of George Floyd, an African American who died in police custody on a Minneapolis street last month, must continue to fuel a national fury. The nature of Floyd's death forces America to confront an immoral reality: the United States remains stubbornly committed to a long-standing practice of violent and often lethal policing of African Americans.

上個月，在明尼阿波利斯大街上，被警察逮捕并當場死亡的非裔美國人喬治·弗洛伊德，其最后遭受折磨的畫面令人痛心，勢必繼續(xù)加劇全美人民的憤怒。弗洛伊德之死的本質(zhì)將迫使美國面對一個不道德的現(xiàn)實：美國警察仍然頑固地致力于長期以來的對非裔美國人進行暴力和致命的行為。

Till would have turned 79 next month had he lived. Instead, the 14-year-old black boy was lynched in 1955. A native of Chicago, Till was visiting relatives in rural Mississippi when he committed the capital crime of whistling at a white grocery store clerk. Hours later, he paid in blood.

如果提爾還活著，下個月將滿79歲。但實際上是，這個14歲的黑人男孩在1955年被私刑處死。提爾是一位土生土長的芝加哥人，當時他是去拜訪密西西比州鄉(xiāng)下的親戚，他犯“死罪”的原因是對著一個雜貨店白人售貨員吹口哨。就在幾個小時后，他付出了血償?shù)拇鷥r。

After Till's body was recovered from the Tallahatchie River three days later, a nation was stunned when pictures of his horribly disfigured face were published. When a mortician offered to "touch up" the corpse for the funeral, Till's mother refused. She demanded that the nation -- and the world -- see what racial hatred looked like up close. A mother's protest helped spark a civil rights movement.

三天后，提爾的尸體發(fā)現(xiàn)于塔拉哈奇河中。當他被毀容嚴重的照片公布之后，整個美國震驚了。當一位殯儀師提出要為葬禮“修補”尸體時，提爾的母親拒絕了。她要整個美國，甚至整個世界，近距離看看種族仇恨是什么樣子。這位母親的抗議引發(fā)了一場民權(quán)運動。

"You must continuously tell Emmett's story until man's consciousness is risen. Only then will there be justice for Emmett Till," she was famously quoted as saying.

“你必須不停地講述愛默特的故事，直到人們的意識提高。只有這樣愛默特提爾才能得到正義。她這句著名的話此后經(jīng)常被引述。