美國黑人青年被射殺 種族問題仍堪憂
A media firestorm has swept across the US since Aug 9 when Michael Brown, an 18-year-old black man, was fatally shot by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.
8月9日，18歲黑人青年邁克爾•布朗在美國密蘇里州弗格森市遭一名警察槍擊後身亡，事件引發媒體熱議。Residents in the area took to the streets to protest what they feel is racial injustice in US law enforcement practices. Protests carried on for days and grew so intense in certain areas that the police deployed military-grade armored vehicles, tear gas and rubber bullets.
當地民衆紛紛上街抗議，認爲這是美國執法中的種族歧視。抗議持續數天，在一些地區愈演愈烈，警察甚至派出軍事裝甲車，並動用催淚瓦斯與橡膠子彈。
Brown was initially stopped by the officer for jaywalking. When confrontation ensued, the officer, who is white, shot Brown at least six times. The officer claims he acted in self-defense. Brown was unarmed at the time he was killed. An investigation into what really happened is currently underway. But many people are wondering if the same thing would have happened had Brown been white.
起初，布朗因亂穿馬路被警察攔住，在隨後的雙方對峙中，一名白人警察至少向布朗連開6槍。雖然該警察稱自己是正當防衛，但布朗被射殺身亡時手中並無武器。目前，事件真相正在進一步調查中。然而，很多人卻提出質疑：如果布朗是一名白人，慘劇是否還會重演？
The killing of Brown might be the catalyst of the Ferguson unrest, but as explanatory journalism website points out, the underlying cause of the turmoil is years of racial tensions between Ferguson’s minority communities, police, and local government.
布朗之死也許是弗格森騷亂的導火索，但正如解釋性新聞網站所言，弗格森地區的少數民族羣體、警察與當地政府間多年來緊張的種族矛盾纔是造成這場騷亂的根本原因。Prior to the shooting, Americans were already discussing the history of police violence against black men, and general racism as well. In 2012 Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teen, was fatally shot by a neighborhood watch guard in Florida. The guard, George Zimmerman, was acquitted of all charges related to the killing.
早在槍擊案發生之前，關於警察對待黑人暴力執法，以及普遍存在的種族歧視就曾遭到美國民衆的熱議。2012年，弗羅裏達州一名手無寸鐵的黑人青年特雷沃恩•馬丁被附近社區警衛射殺身亡，而這位名叫喬治•齊默爾的警衛最後卻被無罪釋放。An old problem
問題由來已久But this time in Ferguson, the problems may have been worsened by the lack of black representation in local government. According to the US Census Bureau, Ferguson is about 67 percent black. But both its mayor and police chief are white. Out of 53 commissioned police officers, only three are black, according to the Los Angeles Times.
此次，導致弗格森事件繼續惡化的一大原因或許是當地政府中缺少黑人代表。美國人口普查局數據顯示，弗格森人口總數中約67%爲黑人，但該市市長與警察局局長均爲白人。而據《洛杉磯時報》報道，當地僱傭的53名警察中，只有3名爲黑人。The disparities also apply to the number of police actions against white and black residents. A report from the Missouri attorney general’s office found black people made up more than 93 percent of arrests carried out by Ferguson police in 2013.
此外，差異還體現在被警察對白人與黑人居民的執法數量上：來自密蘇里州司法部長辦公室的報告顯示，2013年弗格森警察逮捕人數中，93%以上均爲黑人。US president Barack Obama, in a speech calling for calm in Ferguson on Aug 18, acknowledged the deep racial divisions that continue to plague not only Ferguson but cities across the US, reported The New York Times.
據《紐約時報》報道，8月19日，美國總統奧巴馬發表演講，呼籲弗格森民衆保持冷靜，並承認：不僅是弗格森、整個美國都存在巨大的種族差異。“In too many communities around the country, a gulf of mistrust exists between local residents and law enforcement,” Obama said. “In too many communities, too many young men of color are left behind and seen only as objects of fear.”
奧巴馬說，“在全國的太多社區，當地居民和執法部門之間都存在着一條不信任的鴻溝，在太多社區，有太多的有色人種青年被社會拋棄，並被視爲恐懼的對象。”Annette Gordon-Reed, writing in the Financial Times, points out that the US has yet to overcome its tortured racial past. Deep-rooted prejudices have made black people, particularly young black men, presumptive criminals outside the boundaries of full citizenship, Gordon-Reed says.
安妮特•戈登•裏德在《金融時報》中指出，美國仍未擺脫種族對立的歷史陰影，根深蒂固的偏見讓黑人羣體，尤其是年輕的黑人羣體被假定爲罪犯，將他們隔離在充分享有公民權的邊界之外。This conclusion can be drawn if one looks at the record of police conduct, says Gordon-Reed —“from instances of brutal treatment of blacks in custody, to racial disparities in drug arrests and sentencing”.
戈登•裏德還說，如果查看美國警察執法記錄，結論就不言而喻——“從黑人羣體在監獄中遭到粗魯對待，到毒品逮捕與量刑時的種族歧視”，這樣的例子比比皆是。
