I grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, and I didn't know very many white people, but I was raised in a Southern Black church that was under the shadow of white supremacy and run by Black people who in many ways were taught to hate themselves. The generation that raised me was still familiar with lynchings. So in order to not be murdered by racists, some of the Black people in the generation before me learned to make themselves smaller. We couldn't be too loud, too smart, too attractive, too bold. On some level, they felt like anything that we did that made us stand out might get us murdered.
我在佐治亚州的亚特兰大市长大, 我不认识很多白人, 但是我是在一个被白人至上 主义阴影笼罩下的 一个南方黑人教堂长大的。 那是一个黑人运营的教堂, 他们被教着去讨厌他们自己。 抚养我长大的这代人的记忆 对绞刑还是依旧熟悉。 所以为了不让自己 被种族主义者杀害, 在我这代之前的黑人们 学会了让自己看起来不起眼一点。 我们不能太大声, 太聪明,太引人注目,太勇敢。 一定程度上,他们觉得 去做任何令我们突出的事情 都会引来杀身之祸。
In the midst of that, I emerged, this straight-A student who rapped, loved "Weird Al" Yankovic and read comic books. So much for not standing out. So the grownups around me regularly discouraged my artistry. To them, comic books were the pursuit of a kid who didn't really understand the world. They told me that art was silly and I was in for some hard lessons about the real world.
在这样一种时代下,我出现了, 这个会说唱的, 爱 “怪人奥尔” 扬科维奇 和读漫画书的全 A 优等生。 仅仅是为了试图 让自己显得不出众一点。 所以我身边的大人 经常打压我的艺术性。 对他们来说,漫画书才是 对世界懵懂的小孩子该追求的。 他们告诉我艺术是愚蠢的, 然后我会经历一些 关于现实世界的教训。
Back then, I only had one other friend who was into comic books and he went to a different school. So when I was around 11, he and I went to our very first comic book convention. They were so unused to seeing Black kids there, that one grown white man mistook me for security and showed me his convention badge in order to get in. Remember, I was 11. But me and my friend loved these conventions. Finally, we had other people to talk to about the important questions, like, why does the Hulk always wear purple pants? About a year or so later with every free moment that we had me and that same friend were actively drawing comic books. His father took notice of this and he sat us down in the living room. He loved us both, and he decided it was time to set us straight. He said, "It's great that you two love these comic books, but you need to pick a serious profession, something that's going to take care of you and your families. And you’re not going to be able to do that with comic books.” My friend's father wasn't trying to hurt us. He was trying to prepare us for the world and underneath that was this fear that was shared by my own parents. That being a Black artist would make me stand out and that I might be murdered by racists.
那时候,我只有一个 喜欢漫画书的朋友, 但他还去了另一所学校。 所以在我 11 岁左右时, 我们俩去了我们人生中 第一个漫画书展览会。 他们几乎没见过黑人小孩子去那里, 所以一个白人大人 错把我带到了保安那里 然后给我看了他的入场证。 记得,我那时 11 岁。 但是我和我朋友爱这些展览。 终于,我们有另一个人 可以聊一些重要的问题, 比如,为什么绿巨人 总穿紫色的裤子? 在那之后一年左右 每一秒的空闲时间里, 我和那个朋友都在积极地画漫画书。 他爸爸发现了这件事后 和我们在客厅里坐下。 他爱我们,于是他决定是 时候和我们说清楚了。 他说:“你们两个喜欢 这些漫画书,这很好, 但是你们需要选一个认真的职业, 一个可以养活你们 自己和家人的职业。 凭漫画书是做不到的。” 我朋友的爸爸不是 故意要伤害我们的。 他是为了使我们为现实世界做准备, 本质上我的父母也有着同样的恐惧。 就是作为一个黑人艺术家 会让我变得出众, 我也可能因此被种族主义者谋杀。
And it's not like that was a far jump. My parents were born in the early 50s. In 1955, a white woman accused a 14-year-old boy of whistling at her. He was Black and two grown white men brutally murdered him just for her accusation. These men never went to prison. The boy's name was Emmett Till. So my parents grew up in a time where just the accusation of whistling at a white woman could get a Black boy brutally murdered. So why wouldn't they be concerned about me standing out as some bohemian artsy dude? So as a Black artist, I've had to ask myself: when the world seems like it's burning, is art really worth it?
这其实不是一个很跳跃的想法。 我的父母生在 1950 年代, 在 1955 年,一个白人女人 控告一个 14 岁的男孩对她吹口哨。 他是个黑人, 所以只因为她的控告, 两个成年白人将他残忍地杀害了。 这些人始终没有被送进监狱。 这个男孩的名字是 爱默特·提尔 (Emmett Till)。 所以我的父母成长于一个 仅凭一个对白人 女人吹口哨的控告 就可以引来一个黑人男孩 残忍的杀身之祸的时代。 作为一个波西米亚的有艺术气的小伙子, 他们怎能不会担心我变得太出众呢? 所以作为一个黑人艺术家, 我问过我自己: 当世界好像陷入了危机的时候, 艺术真的值得吗?
I grew up and I worked serious jobs and did art on the side. Let me tell you about the most serious job that I ever worked. I ran an insurance agency and I know everything that you've learned about me so far screams insurance agent. Predictably, I hated that job. So after a few years and against all the wise advice I heard in my life, I decided to close my insurance agency and try my hand at writing graphic novels. I wanted to address the social issues that I was passionate about. Police brutality, sexism, racism, that kind of thing. But to make it clear, I was leaving the serious insurance job in order to pursue writing comic books. You know, art, which is silly, especially in the face of a world that seemed dedicated to murdering me.
我长大后做了些正经的工作, 同时也在拿艺术当副业。 让我告诉你关于 我最正经的那份工作。 我运营了一家保险公司, 我知道你们目前对我的了解 好像都在告诉你们 我是一个保险代理。 可以预料的事,我讨厌那份工作。 所以几年之后,我违反了我人生中听过 的所有明智的建议, 我决定关掉我的保险公司 然后开始试着写漫画小说。 我希望去讲我热爱的那些社会问题。 像警察暴力执法, 性别歧视,种族歧视那些。 但是坦白讲, 我离开那个正经的保险工作 是为了画漫画书。 你知道的,艺术, 一个愚蠢的东西, 尤其是放在一个 专注于谋杀我的世道里。
This was 2016 and there was this reality show host running for president. You guys probably never heard of him, but there were all these disturbing things arising in the world. Nazis were feeling bolder. People were feeling less shame about their racism, hate crimes arising. In response, my Black and Brown friends organize public protest and boycotts. A lot of my liberal white friends were marching on the Capitol every weekend. And I wanted to write a comic book. Was I being silly? Vain? I never made a living off of art before and now I just quit my job when it seemed like the world was falling apart. Art is silly, right?
那是在 2016 年, 有这么一个真人秀 主持人要竞选总统。 你们可能从来没听说过他, 但是当时世界各地都开始 有令人不安的事情发生。 纳粹们更大胆了。 人们对他们的种族主义 感到没那么羞耻, 仇恨犯罪逐渐产生。 作为回应, 我的黑人和棕色人种朋友们 组织了公众抗议和抵制。 我很多的自由派白人朋友每周末 都去美国国会大厦游行示威。 但我想着写一本漫画。 我是在犯傻吗? 在做无用功吗? 我从没靠艺术养活过自己, 而现在我就把工作辞了, 尤其是当世界好像在瓦解的时候。 艺术是愚蠢的,对吗?
I struggled with this for a while. So I took a month to travel in the UK for the first time. I was nervous about this trip because I was traveling alone. And I didn't know how people in these countries felt about Black people, but I went to Berlin, Prague, Budapest, and this tiny British town called Melksham.
我纠结了一段时间。 所以我用了一个月的时间 第一次去英国旅行。 这次旅行我很紧张, 因为我是一个人旅行。 我也不知道这些国家的人 对黑人的看法是怎样的, 但是我去了柏林, 布拉格,布达佩斯, 还有这个叫梅尔克舍姆的英国小镇。
In Berlin, I sat down with the owner of the biggest comic book store chain there. And we talked about how as a kid, his favorite hero was Captain America, but certain issues of that comic book he never got to read as a kid because Captain America was fighting Nazis in those books. And nothing with Nazis was allowed in Germany, even if they were getting beat up. So let's think about that for a moment. In Germany, Nazis were banished from everything while here in the States, we've erected statues to Confederates who betrayed our country. Anyway, I thought about this man, this comic book fan who grew up in Germany, but fell in love with the story of an American icon. And I realized a well-written comic book or graphic novel could reach someone all the way across the world.
在柏林,我和那里最大的漫画书 连锁商店老板坐在一起。 我们讲了在他小时候, 他最喜欢的英雄是美国队长, 但是他从没有读过 那部漫画的某一些期 因为在那些书里, 美国队长在打纳粹。 而任何关于纳粹的东西 在德国都是被禁止的, 哪怕他们是在被打败。 那我们想想: 在德国, 纳粹是被完全禁止的 与此同时在美国, 我们为背叛我们国家的 同盟者树立了雕像。 总之,我想到了这个人, 这个在德国长大的, 但是爱着美国偶像的故事的粉丝。 于是我意识到了一部写得好 的漫画书或漫画小说 可以被世界另一端的人看到。
And I thought about revolution, how whenever society needs to change, that change is inspired at least in part by the artist. I thought about how dictators and despots regularly murder and discredit artists. Hitler's people came up with a term specifically to discredit artists: degenerate art. They were burning books and paintings. But why, why were the leaders of the Nazi party dedicating their attention to destroying art? If art really has no power, if it's really a silly waste of time, then why are dictators afraid of it? Why were Nazis burning books and paintings? Why was McCarthy so dedicated to blacklisting artists in the 1950s? Why was Stalin's government so focused on censoring artists in Russia? Because art scares dictators. Because they understood something that I've been struggling to understand my entire life. Art is powerful. Art is important. Art can change hearts and minds all the way across the world.
我想到了革命, 无论什么时候社会需要改变, 那个改变都是至少在 某种程度上受艺术家影响的。 我想到独裁者们和暴君们是 如何经常地谋杀和败坏艺术家们的。 希特勒的人专门发明了一个词 去败坏艺术家们的名声: “堕落艺术”。 他们烧毁了书和画。 但是为什么, 为什么纳粹党的领导者们 专心致力于消灭艺术呢? 如果艺术真的没有力量, 如果真的在是愚蠢的浪费时间的话, 那么为什么独裁者们害怕它呢? 为什么纳粹们要烧毁书和画呢? 为什么麦卡锡在 1950 年代 那么一心要把艺术家列入黑名单呢? 为什么斯大林的政府那么专注于 审查在俄罗斯的艺术家呢? 因为艺术使独裁者畏惧。 因为他们明白这个 我纠结了一生去弄懂的事情。 艺术是强大的。 艺术是重要的。 艺术可以改变 整个世界的心灵和思想。
In 1894, Russian author, Leo Tolstoy wrote "The Kingdom of God Is Within You". It's a book that advocates for nonviolence. In the 1920s, Mahatma Gandhi listed Tolstoy's book as one of the three most important influences in his life. So Tolstoy inspired Gandhi. And you know who Gandhi inspired? Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. So how would the civil rights movement in America have changed if Tolstoy had never written his book? Would I even be here talking to you now? Tolstoy's book made real changes in the world by inspiring people. During the civil rights struggle, Black people would stand hand in hand as police and dogs attacked us and we'd sing gospel songs. Those songs, that art inspired these people and it helped them make it through. Activism is how we change the world. And there are different ways to engage in activism. And for me, that way is art.
在 1894 年,俄罗斯作家列夫·托尔斯泰 (Leo Tolstoy) 写了《天国在你们心中》。 这是一本提倡非暴力的书。 1920 年代,圣雄甘地 (Mahatma Gandhi) 将托尔斯泰的书列为 对他人生产生的最重要 的影响的三本书其一。 托尔斯泰启发了甘地。 那你知道甘地启发了谁吗? 马丁·路德·金。 所以如果托尔斯泰 从没有写他的书的话, 美国的民权运动会 发生怎样的变化呢? 托尔斯泰的书启发了 人们去真正改变了世界。 在民权运动中, 黑人会手拉手的站在一起 被警察和警犬攻击 同时唱着福音歌。 那些歌, 是艺术激励了这些人, 并帮助了他们渡过难关。 行动主义是我们改变世界的方式。 也有不同参与行动主义的方式。 艺术是我的方式。
So I came back to the States and I wrote about all those issues that I mentioned before: the police brutality, the sexism, the racism. Honestly, I didn't know how the world was going to receive it from me. I just knew that I was tired of giving my life to things that I didn't care about. So I hired a comic book artist, I ran a Kickstarter campaign and my graphic novel became "The Burning Metronome." It's a supernatural murder mystery about otherworldly creatures who absorb magical power from human cruelty. They watch human beings and they give us the chance to choose between compassion and cruelty. In one of the stories a police officer has an opportunity to go back and undo a time when he was unnecessarily violent to someone.
所以我回到了美国, 然后写了关于我之前提出了所有问题: 警察暴力执法, 性别主义,种族主义。 坦白讲,我不知道这个世界 能如何从我这里得到它。 我只知道我再也不想把 我的生命花在我不在乎的事情上了。 所以我雇了一位漫画家, 我开始了众筹 然后我的漫画小说变成了 《燃烧的节拍器》。 这是一个关于从人类残暴中 吸取魔法能量的异界生物的 超自然谋杀推理小说。 他们观察人类, 并且给我们机会去 在慈悲和残暴间选择。 在其中一个故事里, 一个警察有机会去回到过去 去选择不去做他对一个人 使用的不必要的暴力行为。
So what happened as a result of me writing this book? I was interviewed on TV news, newspapers. The university invited me to teach writing in their master's program. I'm a professor now. But more importantly, I was able to reach into my heart, pull out the truest parts of my soul and see it have a positive impact on other people's lives.
所以我写完这本书 的后结果是什么呢? 我被电视新闻和报纸采访。 大学邀请我去教 他们的研究生写作课。 我现在是名教授。 但是更重要的是, 我可以触碰到我自己的心, 将我灵魂最真实的部分拿出来, 并看着它对别人的 生活产生积极的影响。
I was signing books in this comic book store and this man made small talk with me for about 20 minutes. Eventually he said that my book made him think about how he does his job. So of course I asked, what do you do for a living? He was a police officer. So my book made a police officer think about how he does his job. That never happened when I sold insurance.
我在这个漫画书店签书, 然后这个人和 我聊了 20 分钟左右。 最后他说我的书让他思考 他是如何做他的工作的。 我理所应当地问他,你是做什么的? 他是一名警官。 所以我的书让一名警官思考 他是如何做他的工作的。 在我卖保险的时候这从来没发生过。
I write comic books and graphic novels for a living. Now I'm a full-time artist. If I hadn't written that book, none of you would be listening to me right now. And listen, my parents weren't wrong to warn me about the lethal tendencies of this country. Just last year, a white supremacist sent me death threats over a book that I hadn't even finished writing yet. But obviously the only reason he was threatened is because he recognized the power of art to change hearts and minds all the way across the world. So I say to you now, if there's any art you want to create, if there's something in your heart, if you have something to say, we need you now. Your art can be activism. It can inspire people and change the world. If you're afraid, that's OK. Just don't let it stop you. Go make art and scare a dictator. Is art worth it? Hell yeah.
我以写漫画书和漫画小说为生。 现在我是个专职艺术家。 如果我从没有写过那本书的话, 你们现在谁也不会在听我讲话。 而且听好,关于在这个 国家里致死的趋向, 我的父母对我的警告并没有错。 就在去年, 一个白人至上主义者给我发了关于 一本我还没有写完的 书的我死亡威胁。 很明显的是他会觉得被威胁 是因为他意识到了艺术的力量 可以改变整个世界的心灵和思想。 所以我现在告诉你, 如果你有任何想创作的艺术, 如果你心里有任何东西 , 如果你有想说的话, 我们现在需要你。 你的艺术可以是激进主义。 他可以激励人们并且改变世界。 如果你害怕的话,没关系。 但是不要让它阻止你。 去创作艺术然后令独裁者害怕吧。 艺术值得吗? 当然了。
Thank you.
谢谢。