So, my journey began in the Bronx, New York, in a one-bedroom apartment, with my two sisters and immigrant mother. I loved our neighborhood. It was lively. There was all this merengue blasting, neighbors socializing on building stoops and animated conversations over domino playing. It was home, and it was sweet. But it wasn't simple. In fact, everyone at school knew the block where we lived, because it was where people came to buy weed and other drugs. And with drug-dealing comes conflict, so we often went to sleep to the sound of gunshots.
我的生命旅途, 是從紐約布朗克斯區的一間 一房一廳公寓開始的。 我有兩個姐姐和移民的媽媽。 我很喜愛我們的社區, 那裡非常熱鬧。 經常有人在大跳美倫格舞。 鄰居們在門廊上聊天, 玩骨牌時參雜著生動活潑的對話。 那是我的家, 一個甜蜜的家。 但是我們的社區並不單純。 事實上,學校的每個人 都知道我們住的那個區域, 因為大家都知道那裡 可以買到大麻和其他的毒品。 而伴隨著毒品交易 就一定有衝突事件, 所以我們時常在槍聲中入眠。
I spent much of my childhood worried, worried about our safety. And so did our mother. She worried that the violence we witnessed would overtake our lives; that our poverty meant that the neighbors with whom we lived and shared space would harm us. Our entire life was in the Bronx, but my mother's anxiety spurred her into action, and soon we were driving so fast to Connecticut --
我小時候經常很擔心, 擔心我們的安全。 我的母親也一樣。 她擔心我們目睹的暴力行為, 會在我們的生命裡留下陰影; 而我們的貧窮也意味著 與我們住在同一空間的鄰居, 可能會傷害我們。 我們的整個生活圈都在布朗克斯區, 但是我母親的憂慮 促使她採取行動。 不久後,我們驅車前往 康乃狄克州,一路狂飆,
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
to boarding school campuses, with full scholarships in tow. Man, don't underestimate the power of a mother determined to keep her children safe.
去到一所有全額獎學金的寄宿學校。 老兄,千萬不要低估 一個母親的能力, 尤其是當她決心 保護孩子的安全的時候。
(Cheers) (Applause)
(歡呼) (鼓掌)
At boarding school, for the first time, I was able to sleep without worry. I could leave my dorm room unlocked, walk barefoot in the grass, and look up to see a night sky full of stars. Happy novelties.
在住宿學校, 平生第一次, 我得以無憂無慮的入睡。 我可以不用鎖宿舍的門, 赤腳走在草地上, 仰頭看著佈滿星星的夜空。 這些是讓我很快樂的新鮮事。
But there were other novelties as well. Very quickly, I felt like I didn't belong. I learned that I didn't speak the right way, and to demonstrate the proper ways of speaking, my teachers gave me frequent lessons, in public, on the appropriate way to enunciate certain words.
但是還有其他的新鮮事。 很快地,我覺得格格不入。 我發現我說話的方式 和其他人不一樣, 為了示範如何正確地說話, 我的老師經常當眾糾正我, 如何正確地唸一些語詞。
A teacher once instructed me in the hallway: "Aaaaaas-king." She said this loudly. "Dena, it's not 'axing,' like you're running around with an axe. That's silly."
有一次,老師直接在走廊上教我: 「Aaaaaas-king」(問) 她說得很大聲。 「蒂娜,不是『axing』 那是你拿著一把斧頭到處走。 那很可笑。」
Now at this point, you can imagine the snickers of my classmates, but she continued: "Think about breaking the word into 'ass' and 'king,' and then put the two together to say it correctly -- 'Asking.'"
在那時,你可想像 我的同班同學都在竊笑, 但是她繼續說: 「試試把這個字分成『ass』 和『king』兩個字, 然後把這兩個字連起來, 正確地唸出來—— Asking」。
There were some other moments that reminded me that I didn't belong. Once, I walked into a classmate's dorm room, and I watched her watch her valuables around me. Like, why would she do that? I thought to myself. And then there was the time when another classmate walked into my dorm room, and yelled, "Ew!" as I was applying hair grease to my scalp.
其它時候我也經常覺得格格不入。 有一次,我走進一個 同學的宿舍房間, 我注意到她一直在注意 在我身邊的貴重物品。 我那時想,她為什麼會這樣呢? 另一次是, 有另一位同學走進我的宿舍房間, 當她看到我在頭髮上抹油。 她大聲叫,「噁!」
There is emotional damage done when young people can't be themselves, when they are forced to edit who they are in order to be acceptable. It's a kind of violence.
年輕人會有情緒傷害, 如果他不能做他自己, 或是他被迫改變自己 來讓別人接納他們。 那是一種暴力行為。
Ultimately, I'm a quintessential success story. I attended boarding school and college in New England, studied abroad in Chile and returned to the Bronx to be a middle school teacher. I received a Truman Scholarship, a Fulbright and a Soros Fellowship. And I could list more.
終究,我是一個典型的成功故事。 我就學於新英格蘭州的 寄宿學校和大學, 也去過智利留學, 然後我回到布朗柯斯區 當一位中學老師。 我拿過杜魯門獎學金、 富布萊特獎學金、和索羅斯獎學金。 我可以繼續告訴你其它的。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
But I won't.
但我不會。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
I earned my doctorate at Columbia University.
我從哥倫比亞大學得到博士學位。
(Cheers)
(歡呼)
(Applause)
(掌聲)
And then I landed a job at Yale.
然後從耶魯大學拿到一個工作。
(Applause)
(掌聲)
I am proud of everything that I've been able to accomplish on my journey thus far.
我對我到目前為止的所有成就 感到驕傲。
I have eternal imposter syndrome. Either I've been invited because I'm a token, which really isn't about me, but rather, about a box someone needed to check off. Or, I am exceptional, which means I've had to leave the people I love behind. It's the price that I and so many others pay for learning while black.
但是我一直有冒牌者症候群。 我被邀請的原因, 是因為我象徵著某一群人, 而不是因為我個人, 又或者因為我在別人的待辦事項上。 或是,我的出類拔萃, 是因為我必須拋下我深愛的人。 但這些是我和其他許多黑人 為了學習所付出的代價。
(Applause)
(掌聲)
I police myself all the time. Are my pants too tight? Should I wear my hair up or in a fro? Should I speak up for myself, or will the power of my words be reduced to: "She's angry"?
我常常檢視自己。 我的褲子太緊嗎? 我應該把頭髮盤上去 或是讓它自然蓬鬆? 我是否應該為自己發言, 或者我說話的力道是否 被解讀為「她生氣了」?
Why did I have to leave the Bronx to gain access to a better education? And why, in the process of getting that better education, did I have to endure the trauma of erasing what made me, me -- a black girl from the Bronx, raised by an Antiguan mother? So when I think about our current education reform initiatives, I can't help asking: What are our students of color learning about themselves?
我為何要離開布朗克斯區 去得到更好的教育? 還有為什麼, 為了得到更好的教育過程當中, 我必須忍受不能當自己的創傷? 不能當一位來自布朗克斯區, 由安提瓜母親所養大的黑人女孩? 所以當我思考 我們現在的教育改革計劃, 我不禁要問: 我們有色人種的學生, 對他們自己了不了解?
Three -- three decades of research reveal that students of color are suspended and expelled at a rate three times greater than white students, and are punished in harsher ways for the same infractions. They also learn this through the absence of their lives and narratives in the curricula. The Cooperative Children's Book Center did a review of nearly 4,000 books and found that only three percent were about African-Americans. And they further learn this through the lack of teachers that look like them. An analysis of data from the National Center for Education Statistics found that 45 percent of our nation's pre-K to high school students were people of color, while only 17 percent of our teachers are.
30 年來的研究顯示, 有色人種學生被休學和退學的比率, 是白人學生的三倍, 同樣的違規行為, 他們被處罰得較嚴厲。 他們也了解 課本中缺少了他們的生活與故事。 合作兒童圖書中心 做了近四千本書的審查, 發現只有百分之三的書 是有關非裔美國人的。 他們更進一步知道 和他們面貌相同的教師也很少。 國家教育統計中心的 分析資料當中發現, 我們國家從學前到高中 有 45% 的學生 是有色人種, 但有色人種的教師只有 17%。
Our youth of color pay a profound price when their schooling sends them the message that they must be controlled, that they must leave their identities at home in order to be successful. Every child deserves an education that guarantees the safety to learn in the comfort of one's own skin.
我們的有色人種青年 付出了相當大的代價, 因為他們的學校給他們的訊息是 他們必須被控制, 他們必須將他們的身分留在家裡, 才能夠出人頭地。 每個小孩 無論膚色, 都有安心學習的權利。
(Applause)
(掌聲)
It is possible to create emotionally and physically safe classrooms where students also thrive academically. I know, because I did it in my classroom when I returned to teach in the Bronx.
創造身心安全的教學環境 學生的課業才有可能 表現得越來越好。 我知道這點,因為當我 回到朗克斯區去教書的時候, 我的班級就是如此。
So what did that look like? I centered my instruction on the lives, histories and identities of my students. And I did all of this because I wanted my students to know that everyone around them was supporting them to be their best self. So while I could not control the instability of their homes, the uncertainty of their next meal, or the loud neighbors that kept them from sleep, I provided them with a loving classroom that made them feel proud of who they are, that made them know that they mattered.
所以那是什麼樣子呢? 我的教學是以 學生的生活、歷史 和他們的身分為中心。 我如此做是因為我要我的學生知道, 他們周圍的所有人都支持他們 發揮最好的一面。 雖然我無法控制 他們的家庭穩不穩定, 他們的下一餐在哪裡, 或者吵鬧的鄰居讓他們無法睡覺, 但我可以提供他們一個愛的教室, 讓他們對自己是誰感到驕傲, 讓他們知道他們很重要。
You know, every time I hear or say the word "asking," I am in high school again. I am thinking about "ass" and "king" and putting the two together so that I speak in a way where someone in power will want to listen.
你知道, 每次我聽到或要說 「asking」這個字的時候, 我就又回想到高中時期。 我會想把「ass」和「king」 兩個字連在一起說出來, 因為這樣的說話方式, 有權勢的人才能聽見我說的話。
There is a better way, one that doesn't force kids of color into a double bind; a way for them to preserve their ties to their families, homes and communities; a way that teaches them to trust their instincts and to have faith in their own creative genius.
但有一種更好的方式, 一種不用迫使有色人種孩子 進退兩難的方式; 一種讓他們可以與他們的親人、 家庭和社區維持緊密關係的方式; 一種教導他們相信自己的本能, 並對自己的創造天分有信心的方式。
Thank you.
謝謝。
(Applause)
(掌聲)