Listen, I'm worried about our democracy. Nowadays, we have leaders who use division itself as a political tool. They downplay or even encourage, in some cases, a deadly assault to overturn an election. And a bunch of them are working really hard to make it harder to vote. The retreat from these processes of democracy, you know, ballot access, legislative debate, judicial review, they are worrisome enough. But what's even more concerning to me is the retreat from the purposes of democracy. These old-fashioned notions of government of, by and for the people. The rule of law as superior to the rule of any one personality. Liberty and justice for all.
各位,我对我们的民主感到担忧。 如今,我们有些领导者 将分裂本身当做政治手段。 他们暗箱操作, 甚至在某些情况下鼓动 致命的袭击来颠覆选举。 同时他们有些人在特别努力地 让投票变得更加麻烦。 这些民主过程的逐渐缺失, 像是投票权分配, 立法辩论,司法复议, 它们已经足够令人担忧。 但更加令我担忧的是 是我们在逐渐远离民主的目的。 包括这些过时的 “人民自治、人民主政、人民为本”的政府理念。 法律高于个人意志, 自由与公正属于每一个人。
COVID made it harder to overlook deep disparities among us in health and wealth and education, and deep unfairness in too much of our policing, leaving a lot of Americans questioning whether our national commitment to social and economic justice is real. For some time now, in the words of one friend of mine, the self-evident truth that all people deserve life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness seems a long way from settled in the American mind.
新冠疫情让我们更难以忽视我们在 健康、财富、教育方面的不平等, 以及我们制定大多政策 时深重的不公正。 这让我们很多美国人质问道, 我们国家对社会正义与经济公平 的承诺到底是不是真的。 一段时间以来, 在我一位朋友看来, 那条不言而喻的真理, 也就是所有人值得拥有生存、 自由与追求幸福的权利, 已经不再被美国人民所信任了。
So to me, American democracy, the supposed model of the form, Is up for grabs.
所以,对于我来说,美式民主, 也就是我们所设想的形式, 应该是面向所有人的。
I'm worried, not just as a lawyer or a former public official, but also and mainly as a patriot. I grew up on the south side of Chicago, in a crowded two-bedroom tenement, with my mother, my sister, my grandparents and various relatives who came and went. I went to big, overcrowded, underresourced, sometimes violent public schools. And yet my grandmother would never permit us to say we were poor. Just broke, she'd say, because broke is temporary. Think about it. Here is this refugee from the Jim Crow South who still believed in an America where with hard work, preparation and faith, both religious and civic, you could lift yourself from your circumstances of birth. I am for her the result and the symbol of her faith in America, so you better believe I'm a patriot.
我感到忧虑,无论是作为律师, 还是前政府官员, 更主要的是作为一名爱国者。 我在芝加哥南部长大, 当时我生活在一个拥挤的 两卧廉租公寓里, 同我的母亲,姐姐,祖父母 和来来去去的亲戚住在一起。 我在那些庞大又拥挤,资源不足, 有时又充斥着暴力的公立学校。 但是我的祖母从不允许 我们说我们很穷。 她会说我们只是破产, 因为破产是暂时的。 她可是一个南方种族隔离的受害者, 但她仍对美国充满信心, 她觉得,凭借努力、准备与信念, 无论在宗教自由方面还是公民权方面, 你都可以改变自己的命运。 对于她来说,我就是她 对于美国信念的结果和象征, 所以你可以相信我是一名爱国者。
But patriotism for Black Americans is tricky. It's tricky to love a country that doesn't always love you back. I think of the Black men who set off to fight for freedom in the world wars and then came home to be denied those very freedoms. Some of them lynched while wearing their military uniforms. I think of the Black laborers who built great public universities, whose doors were closed to them. The Black voters who elected great public leaders whose policies like the GI Bill were closed to them. For a lot of our history, American democracy itself has been closed to Black people. Lots of grandmothers like mine have grandsons and granddaughters who never had their chance. Still don't.
但对于美国黑人来说, 爱国主义就很困难。 困难在于,你爱的这个国家, 不一定会回馈你的爱。 我想到了那些被派往世界各地 为自由而战的黑人士兵, 他们战后归乡却没能 获得应有的自由。 他们中有人身着军装被私刑处死。 我想到了那些建造了 优秀公立大学的黑人工人们, 却无法进入这些大学学习。 那些黑人选民选出了伟大的领导者, 但他们所制定的诸如退伍军人法案 的政策却不适用于黑人。 我们历史中的很长一段时间, 美国民主是不让黑人参与的。 很多像我祖母一样的人, 他们的孙辈依旧没能获得 这些民主机会, 到现在都没有。
I remember in college, a white classmate asked me, "Why on earth would you want to be Black?" When I told her I hadn't considered the alternative --
我记得上大学的时候, 一个白人同学问我: “你到底为什么想做一个黑人?” 当我告诉她我还没 考虑过其他选项……
(Laughter)
(笑声)
and never would, she seemed startled and confused. I attribute this in part to the fact that I spoke and dressed like a preppy. I get that part. But mostly I think she was confused because she couldn't imagine why any Black person in his or her right mind wouldn't trade places with her. I think it would blow her mind, as it may some of yours, when I say I am also proud to be a patriot. Given our history, being Black and patriotic will certainly strike some people as strange, if not absurd.
……也永远不会的时候, 她似乎感到吃惊与不解。 可能因为我的谈吐和穿着很学院风, 这点我能理解。 但我认为,她感到困惑的原因, 主要是她无法想象 为什么任何理智的黑人 都不会去站在她的角度想问题。 我想她和在座的一些人一样, 当我说我身为爱国者而骄傲时, 会感到惊讶。 鉴于我们的历史, 如果黑人表达爱国情感, 有些人一定会觉得很奇怪, 甚至觉得荒谬。
I don't know when patriotism turned into, you know, lapel pins and flyovers and silly arguments about pro football players taking a knee. My love of country is about national aspiration. America is the only nation in human history organized not by geography or a common culture or language or religion or even race, but by a handful of civic ideals. And we've come to define those ideals over time and through struggle as equality, opportunity and fair play. Why? Because that's what makes freedom possible. That's the America my grandmother believed in. That's the America that has made us a magnet to talent from all over the world. That's the America that makes me and countless other men and women from every race and background a patriot.
我不知道什么时候开始, 爱国主义就变成了 戴(国旗)领花针,看飞行阅兵表演, 还有职业橄榄球员是不是需要 单膝跪下的愚蠢争论。 我对国家的热爱 源自对国家理想的渴望。 美国是人类历史上唯一一个 不以地缘、共同文化、 语言、宗教, 甚至不以种族建国的, 而是以许多公民理想建国的国家。 经过漫长的岁月和艰苦的斗争, 我们将这些理想定义为 平等、机遇与公平竞争。 为什么? 因为是这些让自由变得可能。 这就是我祖母所相信的美国。 这就是能像磁铁一样 吸引全世界人才的美国。 这就是让我与 其他许许多多男男女女 不论种族与出身 都成为爱国者的美国。
In a way, the founders, for all their flaws, designed America to be a nation of values, a sort of a country with a conscience. And we’ve struggled with and against that conscience from the start. But true patriots understand, given that context, that America cannot be great without also being good. So when we cage refugee children to discourage their parents from seeking sanctuary here, true patriots know we cannot be great without being good. When bullets fly in houses of worship or in schools or in nightclubs or in grocery stores, and our leaders choose the slogans of the gun lobby over the lives of innocents, patriots know we cannot be great without being good. When unarmed Black and brown citizens are shot down by unaccountable police, when our justice system is not yet consistently just, patriots know we cannot be great without being good. When the economy moves on and leaves broken lives and broken expectations behind it, and our leaders just shrug, or when the public schools continue to fail poor children, and when we can always find the money for a weapons system the military doesn't want, but not the money for the health care a young family or senior needs, patriots know or must ask themselves: Can we be great without being good? And when we choose a power grab over a fair vote ... every true patriot knows we cannot be great without being good.
某种意义上,纵使有缺陷, 建国者们将美国设计成为了 一个充满价值的国度, 就是一个有良知的国家。 而我们从一开始,就面临着 如何与良知抗争的困境。 但在这种背景下, 真正的爱国者明白, 如果美国不实现善良和正义, 也就不可能真正伟大。 所以当我们囚禁难民的孩子, 来阻止他们的家长到这追求庇护, 真正的爱国者知道 我们不善良,就不会伟大。 当子弹飞入宗教场所、 学校、夜总会, 或是超市的时候, 我们的领导者选择的是枪支集团的宣言 而不是无辜的生命的时候, 爱国者们知道, 我们不善良,就不会伟大。 当不负责任的警察开枪打倒 手无寸铁的黑人或棕色人种, 当我们的司法系统 仍未做到持续性的公正, 爱国者们知道, 我们不善良,就不会伟大。 当经济持续发展, 却抛下那些破产的人 和他们破碎的期望, 而我们的领导人只是耸耸肩, 又或是当公立学校 继续辜负那些贫穷的孩子, 而我们总是能拨出钱来, 给军队装备 他们根本用不上的武器系统, 却不拨款给那些新生家庭 或是老人所需的医疗服务, 爱国者们知道,或是要扪心自问: 我们能在不善良的时候变得伟大吗? 还有当我们选择攫取权力 而无视公平投票时, 每一个真正的爱国者都知道, 我们不善良,就不会伟大。
Patriotism demands more than ceremony and sanctimony. It's about more than what you say you believe. it's about living the values of equality, opportunity and fair play. Even when it's inconvenient, even when it gets in the way of partisan advantage, even when it compels us to be mindful of and compassionate towards the lowly, the vulnerable, the different and the despised. Because that’s what American democracy is for.
爱国需要的远不止 仪式和虚伪的虔诚。 也远不止嘴上说的信仰。 爱国是以身践行平等、 机遇和公平竞争的价值观。 即使这有时很麻烦, 即使这会妨碍党派利益, 即使这迫使我们去留意并体恤 社会上卑微的、脆弱的、 异样的和受轻视的人。 因为这才是美国民主的使命。
Of course, we have policies to fix, whether in job growth or education, in immigration or the justice system, or in these processes of democracy itself. But before we can fix our policies, we have to fix our politics. And by that, I am not just talking about better tone or hyperpartisanship or a willingness to compromise. As important as all of that is, I'm talking about our purpose. Sure, we should debate, and we always do, what role government should play in any of this, in meeting our civic obligations. But let's try for once not to forget in the heat of the debate that social and economic justice was the point from the start. But I think saving our democracy will take more, not just from elected officials or civic leaders or the media, but more from each one of us. And we're going to have to start, I think, by putting our cynicism down. I'm going to give you an example of what I mean.
当然,我们需要修正一些政策, 无论是在就业增长、教育、 移民和司法体制等方面, 还是民主进程本身。 但在修正政策前, 我们需要先修复我们的政治。 我说的不仅仅是改善语气, 减少极端党派斗争 或者增加妥协意愿。 跟这些同样重要的是:我们的目标。 确实,我们应该辩论, 我们也一直在辩论, 政府应该在这些方面扮演着什么角色, 在履行公民义务时发挥着怎样的作用。 但请大家不要深陷辩论本身无法自拔, 实现社会和经济的公平正义 才是辩论的初衷。 但我觉得,要挽救 我们的民主远不止这些, 不能只依靠当选的官员, 或者公民领袖,抑或媒体, 而是更需要我们每个人的努力。 我认为,我们必须开始放下 愤世嫉俗的态度。 我给大家举一个例子。
Near the end of my time in office, America faced a crisis not unlike today's when there were all these unaccompanied children, some as young as three and four years old, who were flooding across the southern border, having fled over thousands of miles from violence in Central America. And then, just like now, the federal authorities were overwhelmed. So President Obama, who was in office at the time, called on a number of states to temporarily shelter and care for some of these children while they were being processed under our laws. Feelings around immigration ran hot then, just like now. Even so, I agreed that our Commonwealth would help because sheltering poor children fleeing unspeakable violence was, to me, an act of patriotism. America has given sanctuary to desperate children for more than a century. We rescued Irish children from famine, Russian and Ukrainian children from religious persecution, Cambodian children from genocide, Haitian children from earthquakes, Sudanese children from civil war, our own New Orleans children from Hurricane Katrina. Once in 1939, we turned our backs on Jewish children fleeing the Nazis. And it remains a blight on our national reputation, as I fear the separation of children in the last administration will be remembered. The point is that our esteem and our power is enhanced when we rescue the desperate -- and diminished when we don't.
在我任期即将结束时, 美国面临一个和今天相似的危机, 那时,许多无人陪伴的孩子, 有的甚至只有三、四岁, 他们跋涉了数千英里, 逃离了中美洲的暴力冲突, 如潮水般跨过南部边境。 像现在一样, 当时的联邦政府不堪重负。 当时在位的奥巴马总统, 呼吁若干州政府 在这些孩子被依法审核时, 为他们提供暂时的庇护和照顾。 当时人们对移民的 情绪高涨,就像现在一样。 即便如此, 我赞成联邦政府提供帮助, 因为,保护那些 从可怕的暴力中逃脱的可怜孩子, 对我来说,是爱国的一种行为。 一个多世纪以来, 美国一直是绝望儿童的避难所。 我们解救了受饥荒之苦 的爱尔兰儿童、 受宗教迫害的俄罗斯 和乌克兰儿童、 惨遇种族清洗的柬埔寨儿童、 遭地震之灾的海地儿童、 内战炮火中的苏丹孩子、 还有我们遭受卡特里娜飓风灾害 的新奥尔良的孩子。 曾经,在1939年, 我们拒绝了逃离纳粹的犹太孩子。 这仍然是我们 国家声誉上的污点, 就像我担心上届政府分离儿童的事件 同样会被铭记。 关键是,当我们挽救这些绝望的人时, 我们国家的尊严和实力将增强, 反之则会衰退。
Still, I'm not naive. I knew my decision would be controversial, and indeed, for that decision, I was called on hate radio and in social media everything but a child of God. A couple of days after I announced my decision, on an unusually quiet Saturday morning, my wife Diane gave me a list of stuff to go get at the Home Depot, proving for some of you who know her that there is no office high enough that excuses you from one of her honey-do lists.
当然,我并不天真。 我知道我的决定可能备受争议, 我也确实因为这个决定, 在仇恨电台和社交媒体上, 我被贬低为各种东西, 除了“上帝的孩子”。 在我宣布决定的几天之后, 在一个异常安静周六早晨, 我的妻子戴安给了我一张 去家得宝(美国家居连锁店)的购物清单, 你们要是认识她的话,就会知道, 对她而言,再高的职位 也要帮妻子干家务活。
(Laughter)
(笑声)
It was early in the day, and I thought I'd just slip out quickly, you know, on my own, without bothering my security detail. What harm could come of that, right? I knew exactly where I was going and where to find everything on my list. So I set off in the truck, in a T-shirt and jeans and flip-flops, dark glasses and a baseball cap. And it didn't matter. I was outed by the manager in the very first aisle. “Good morning, governor! Welcome to the Home Depot. How can I help you?" I encountered a man in the checkout line who was red-hot mad. You know, not hostile or threatening, just really angry and loud, and he let me have it. "Governor," he said, "I couldn't disagree with you more about your decision," he said. "My own wife is an immigrant. She came here legally. That's the way it ought to be. And I just want you to know I think you're wrong."
那天一大早, 你们懂的,我想自己快速溜出去, 不惊动我的安保人员。 去商场买点东西有什么危险的,对吧? 我非常清楚商场的位置, 也知道清单上的东西都摆在哪里。 我就穿着T恤衫,牛仔裤和人字拖, 戴着我的墨镜和棒球帽 启动了我的卡车。 这都没什么用。 我刚逛到第一个通道 就被经理发现了。 “早上好,州长!” “欢迎来到家得宝, 我能为您做些什么?” 结账队伍里有个怒气冲冲的男人。 他没有敌意和威胁, 只是很生气很大声, 他把气撒在我身上。 “州长,”他说, “我实在不同意你的决定,”他说 “我自己的妻子是一个移民, 她是合法来到这里的。 这才是正当的方式, 我只是想让你知道你错了。”
Now, in that circumstance, there was no point in trying to engage with him about how being a refugee is legal under American law. I just thanked him for his feedback. But everybody in the checkout line and in that area of the store knew who was mad at whom and what he was mad about. Now I had six other encounters in the store on the same subject. And in every one of those someone came up and whispered: "Governor, you're doing the right thing." "Governor, thanks for looking out for those kids." "Governor, I'm with you." The calls to the office were two and three to one in favor of sheltering those children. And when I reflect on that, I think to myself: When did we learn to shout our anger and to whisper our kindness? It's completely upside down. I don't know if that's the reality TV culture we live in or what, but it's totally backwards. It's time we learned again to shout kindness, to shout compassion, to shout justice. That's the purpose of American democracy and the source of our greatness.
在当时的情况下, 试图说服他, 根据美国法律, 难民也是合法的,毫无意义。 我只是对他的反馈表达了感谢。 但排队结账的所有人和周围的人, 都知道谁在对谁发泄愤怒, 他又是为什么愤怒。 之后我在商场里又遇到了 6 个人, 跟我谈论了同样的问题。 每一个人都走上前来,悄声说: “州长,你做得对。” “州长,谢谢你关照那些孩子们。” “州长,我赞同你的做法。” 给州政府的来电中, 有三分之二到四分之三的人, 是支持保护那些孩子的。 当我反思这件事时,我心想: 我们何时学会了 大声宣泄愤怒 而小声表达善良? 这完全弄反了。 我不知道我们是不是活在真人秀里, 但这一切都弄反了。 是时候让我们重新学会 为善良呐喊,为同情呐喊, 为正义呐喊。 这才是美国民主的意义, 是我们伟大的源泉。
Blessedly, we're starting to see more and more expressions of this kind of thing across this country. More and more people coming off the sidelines, overcoming their cynicism and fatalism and standing up for America at her generous and optimistic best. From women who are demanding to be treated with the respect and decency everyone deserves. From survivors of domestic violence and abuse demanding to be seen and heard and believed. From Black and brown people who are demanding consistent professionalism and the presumption of innocence from police. From students who are demanding we choose their lives and safety over the proliferation of military weapons in civilian hands. From all those lawyers who showed up at polling places in 2020 or at airports after the so-called Muslim ban, demanding respect for the rule of law. Black Lives Matter. Time's Up. Black Girl Magic. Occupy Wall Street, Families Belong Together. At any given time on any given issue, they may make any one of us uncomfortable. But they have taken to the legislatures, to the ballot boxes, to the courtrooms and peacefully to the streets to lay claim to their democracy, its purpose as well as its processes, and ultimately to affirm the American conscience. They are shouting kindness.
幸运的是,我们正在看到 在整个国家里,此起彼伏的发声。 越来越多的人不再袖手旁观, 克服了他们的愤世嫉俗和宿命论, 站出来支持最慷慨最乐观的美国。 这声音来自 那些要求被人人应得的 尊重和体面对待的女性。 来自那些要求被看到、听到和相信的 家庭暴力和虐待的幸存者。 来自那些要求警察 始终保持专业精神和无罪推定的 黑色和棕色皮肤的人。 来自那些要求我们重视他们生命安全 而非任由武器在平民中泛滥的学生们。 来自那些 在所谓穆斯林禁令颁布后, 出现在 2020 年投票站和机场 要求尊重法律的律师们。 “黑人的命也是命”。“时间到了”。 “黑人女孩魔法”。“占领华尔街”。 “家人就应在一起” 在任何时间,任何问题上, 他们可能会让我们之中 的有些人感到不舒服。 但他们走向立法机构、投票箱、 法庭,并和平地走上街头, 要求他们的民主, 不仅是民主的目的, 还有民主的进程, 并最终肯定美国人的良心。 他们在为善良呐喊。
If American-style democracy is to have a chance, more of us had better put our own cynicism down, summon up our own patriotism and join them.
如果美式民主指的是能获得机会, 那么我们最好放下愤世嫉俗, 唤起我们的爱国主义, 加入他们。
Thank you very much.
非常感谢大家。
(Applause)
(掌声)