I received an invitation

不久前

to spend a few days at the historic home of James Madison.

我接受邀請

James Madison, of course,

到詹姆斯．麥迪遜故居待個幾天

was the fourth president of the United States,

沒錯，就是詹姆斯．麥迪遜

the father of the Constitution,

美國的第四任總統

the architect of the Bill of Rights.

憲法之父

And as a historian,

權利法案起草者

I was really excited to go to this historic site,

我身為歷史學家

because I understand and appreciate the power of place.

能造訪這樣的歷史當然非常興奮

Now, Madison called his estate Montpelier.

因為我了解也欣賞這個地方的魔力

And Montpelier is absolutely beautiful.

麥迪遜稱這地方為蒙特佩利爾

It's several thousand acres of rolling hills,

這裡真的是很漂亮的地方

farmland and forest,

占地數千英畝的山丘

with absolutely breathtaking views of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

還有藍嶺山脈絕美的風景

But it's a haunting beauty,

但這是令人「難忘」的美景

because Montpelier was also a slave labor camp.

因為蒙特佩利爾 曾經也是奴隸勞改營

You see, James Madison enslaved more than 100 people

麥迪遜在他的一生

over the course of his lifetime.

曾奴役超過 100 人

And he never freed a single soul,

而且他從未釋放任何一個人

not even upon his death.

就連臨終那一刻也沒打算

The centerpiece of Montpelier is Madison's mansion.

蒙特佩利爾的中心 就是麥迪遜的故居

Now this is where James Madison grew up,

這就是他長大的地方

this is where he returned to after his presidency,

也是他總統卸任後回來的地方

this is where he eventually died.

在他故居的中間有一個圖書室

And the centerpiece of Madison's mansion is his library.

就在二樓

This room on the second floor,

他就在這裡構思出權利法案

where Madison conceived and conceptualized the Bill of Rights.

當我第一次來這裡的時候

When I visited for the first time,

教育總監克里斯提安．柯斯

the director of education, Christian Cotz --

一個看起來很酷的白人小夥子

cool white dude --

（笑聲）

(Laughter)

馬上就帶我去圖書室

took me almost immediately to the library.

能夠站在這個地方真的很棒

And it was amazing, being able to stand in this place

美國史上的一個重要時刻就在這裡發生

where such an important moment in American history happened.

但待在這邊一會後

But then after a little while there,

克里斯提安帶我下樓到故居的地下室

Christian actually took me downstairs to the cellars of the mansion.

故居的地下室

Now, in the cellars of the mansion,

就是非裔美國人被奴役的地方

that's where the enslaved African Americans who managed the house

他們大半輩子都在這裡打理這座宅第

spent most of their time.

當時那裡正要辦一場 關於美國奴隸制度的新展覽

It's also where they were installing a new exhibition on slavery in America.

當我們在那邊的時候

And while we were there,

克里斯提安叫我做一件 我覺得有點奇怪的事情

Christian instructed me to do something I thought was a little bit strange.

他叫我把手

He told me to take my hand

放在地下室磚牆上，然後沿著牆走

and place it on the brick walls of the cellar and to slide it along,

直到我感受磚塊上的隆起

until I felt these impressions or ridges in the face of the brick.

我要在這個曾經囚禁奴隸的地方

Now look,

待上好幾天

I was going to be staying on-site on this former slave plantation

我並不想要激怒任何白人

for a couple of days,

（笑聲）

so I wasn't trying to upset any white people.

因為過完幾夜之後

(Laughter)

我要確定還能走得出去

Because when this was over,

（笑聲）

I wanted to make sure that I could get out.

但當我沿著地窖的牆走的時候

(Laughter)

我忍不住想到我女兒

But as I'm actually sliding my hand along the cellar wall,

她那時候大概也才兩三歲左右

I couldn't help but think about my daughters,

因為每次她跳下車時

and my youngest one in particular,

她會用手滑過車子

who was only about two or three years old at the time,

這真的是有夠噁心

because every time she hopped out of our car,

然後

she would take her hand and slide it along the outside,

如果我無法及時阻止她

which is absolutely disgusting.

她就會把手指放進嘴巴裡

And then --

這完全讓我抓狂

and then, if I couldn't get to her in time,

儘管我是個歷史學家 那卻是我當時的想法

she would take her fingers and pop them in her mouth,

（笑聲）

which would drive me absolutely crazy.

但我確實能感受磚牆上的痕跡

So this is what I'm thinking about while I'm supposed to be a historian.

我能感受到磚牆的突起

(Laughter)

我花了點時間才知道那是什麼

But then, I actually do feel these impressions in the brick.

那就是

I feel these ridges in the brick.

小小的手印

And it takes a second to realize what they are.

因為詹姆斯．麥迪遜故居中的所有磚頭

What they are

都是他奴役的小孩所製作的

are tiny hand prints.

就在那時讓我意識到

Because all of the bricks at James Madison's estate

這間圖書室

were made by the children that he enslaved.

也就是詹姆斯．麥迪遜 構思權利法案的地方

And that's when it hit me

奠基在他奴役的小孩

that the library

製作的磚頭上

in which James Madison conceives and conceptualizes the Bill of Rights

這就是沉重的歷史

rests on a foundation of bricks

這是段沉重歷史 因為實在是很難想像

made by the children that he enslaved.

這樣的不人性

And this is hard history.

讓人去奴役小孩去製造磚頭

It's hard history, because it's difficult to imagine

只為了你們的舒適與便利

the kind of inhumanity

這是段沉重的歷史

that leads one to enslave children

因為很難談論奴隸制度中的暴力

to make bricks for your comfort and convenience.

痛打、鞭打、綁架

It's hard history,

家庭被迫分離

because it's hard to talk about the violence of slavery,

這是一段沉重歷史 因為很難去教導白人特權

the beatings, the whippings, the kidnappings,

也就是為奴隸制度辯護的意識形態

the forced family separations.

所以與其對抗沉重歷史

It's hard history, because it's hard to teach white supremacy,

我們傾向避免這段歷史

which is the ideology that justified slavery.

有時這也意味著把事情矇騙過去

And so rather than confront hard history,

我不知道已經聽過別人說過多少次了

we tend to avoid it.

南北內戰主要的導火線是 「州權」之爭

Now, sometimes that means just making stuff up.

參與過南北戰爭的人

I can't tell you how many times I've heard people say

聽到會很訝異的

that "states' rights" was the primary cause of the Civil War.

（笑聲）

That would actually come as a surprise

有時候我們嘗試 合理化這段沉重歷史

to the people who fought in the Civil War.

大家來參觀蒙特佩利爾

(Laughter)

我指的是「白人」來參觀的時候

Sometimes, we try to rationalize hard history.

他們來參觀的時候

When people visit Montpelier --

知道麥迪遜奴役人民時

and by "people," in this instance, I mean white people --

他們常常會問

when they visit Montpelier

「但他不是好主人嗎？」

and learn about Madison enslaving people,

「好主人？」

they often ask,

沒有所謂的好主人

"But wasn't he a good master?"

只有糟糕和更糟糕的主人

A "good master?"

有時候

There is no such thing as a good master.

我們只是假裝過去並沒有發生

There is only worse and worser.

我不知道已經聽過別人說過多少次了

And sometimes,

「很難想像南方農田外的地方 也有奴隸制度」

we just pretend the past didn't happen.

不，這並不難想像

I can't tell you how many times I've heard people say,

奴隸制度存在美國每一塊土地上

"It's hard to imagine slavery existing outside of the plantation South."

它就在我的家鄉紐約州上

No, it ain't.

在美國獨立革命後存在了 50 年

Slavery existed in every American colony,

我們為什麼會這樣做？

slavery existed in my home state of New York

為什麼我們會拒絕面對沉重歷史？

for 50 years after the American Revolution.

文藝表演者兼教育家的雷吉．吉布森

So why do we do this?

說出了事實

Why do we avoid confronting hard history?

他說美國人的問題就是 我們非常討厭歷史

Literary performer and educator Regie Gibson

我們喜愛的是

had the truth of it when he said

懷舊

that our problem as Americans is we actually hate history.

懷舊

What we love

我們喜愛過去的故事

is nostalgia.

這樣我們面對現況 才能感到更舒服一點

Nostalgia.

西班牙作家暨哲學家喬治．桑塔亞那

We love stories about the past

曾說那些不記得過去之人

that make us feel comfortable about the present.

身為一名歷史學家 我花了很多時間思考這個論述

But we can't keep doing this.

某方面而言，它是適用在美國的

George Santayana, the Spanish writer and philosopher,

但另一方面，是不適用的

said that those who cannot remember the past

因為這句話還包含著一個觀念

are condemned to repeat it.

也就是在某種程度上

Now as a historian, I spend a lot of time thinking about this very statement,

我們會從一開始就去阻止

and in a sense, it applies to us in America.

那些曾造成不平等的事情

But in a way, it doesn't.

我們並沒有

Because, inherent in this statement,

想想看種族間的財富差距

is the notion that at some point,

財富是由一代人累積起來的財富

we stopped doing the things

然後再把財富轉移到下一代

that have created inequality in the first place.

白人家庭財富的中位數是

And a harsh reality is,

147,000 美元

we haven't.

黑人家庭財富的中位數是

Consider the racial wealth gap.

4,000 美元

Wealth is generated by accumulating resources in one generation

你們要如何解釋不斷加劇的差距？

and transferring them to subsequent generations.

沉重歷史

Median white household wealth

我的曾曾祖父出生就是奴隸

is 147,000 dollars.

在 1850 年代的喬治亞州傑斯帕縣

Median Black household wealth

當他被奴役時 他不被允許累積任何東西

is four thousand dollars.

他被解放時也一無所有

How do you explain this growing gap?

他從未拿到製造磚頭的酬勞

Hard history.

我的曾祖父也是 1870 年代 出生在喬治亞州傑斯帕縣

My great-great-grandfather was born enslaved

他當時確實累積了一些土地

in Jasper County, Georgia, in the 1850s.

但在 1910 年代 吉姆．克勞法奪走他的土地

While enslaved, he was never allowed to accumulate anything,

接著就殺了他

and he was emancipated with nothing.

我的祖父，老雷納德．傑富瑞

He was never compensated for the bricks that he made.

生在喬治亞州

My great-grandfather was also born in Jasper County, Georgia, in the 1870s,

但沒有什麼東西是留給他的

and he actually managed to accumulate a fair bit of land.

所以他實際上成長於 紐澤西州的紐瓦克市

But then, in nineteen-teens, Jim Crow took that land from him.

他生命中大部分的時間都在當警衛

And then Jim Crow took his life.

工作歧視、隔離教育和劃清界線

My grandfather, Leonard Jeffries Senior,

讓他永遠無法打進中產階級

was born in Georgia,

他在 1990 年代初期過世時

but there was nothing left for him there,

留給兩個兒子的

so he actually grew up in Newark, New Jersey.

只有一份壽險

And he spent most of his life working as a custodian.

僅能夠支付他喪禮的費用

Job discrimination, segregated education and redlining

輪到我父母，兩個都是社工

kept him from ever breaking into the middle class.

他們在 1980 年時買了一棟房子

And so when he passed away in the early 1990s,

買在紐約布魯克林區的皇冠高地

he left to his two sons

花了 55,000 美元

nothing more than a life-insurance policy

當時皇冠高地是黑人居住區域

that was barely enough to cover his funeral expenses.

這地方有點危險

Now my parents, both social workers,

在 1980 年代中期時 我和我哥哥常在睡夢中

they actually managed to purchase a home

會聽到槍響

in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, New York, in 1980,

但我父母會保護我們

for 55,000 dollars.

我父母也堅守那個家

Now Crown Heights, at the time, was an all-Black neighborhood,

40 年了

and it was kind of rough.

他們依舊在那裡

My brother and I often went to sleep,

大約在 20 年前

by the mid-1980s,

典型的美國事發生了

hearing gunshots.

就在 20 年前

But my parents protected us,

有天他們在這全是 黑人的社區上床去睡

and my parents also held onto that home.

隔天起床時

For 40 years.

這個社區住滿了白人

And they're still there.

（笑聲）

But something quintessentially American happened

這是仕紳化的結果

about 20 years ago.

不僅他們的鄰居神奇消失了

About 20 years ago,

他們的房價

they went to sleep one night in an all-Black neighborhood,

也一飛衝天

and they woke up the next morning

所以他們用 55,000 美元買到的房子

in an all-white neighborhood.

附帶一提，29% 的利率

(Laughter)

現在那棟房子市值高達 當時買進價錢的 30 倍

And as a result of gentrification,

30 倍

not only did all their neighbors mysteriously disappear,

大家一起來跟我算數學

but the value of their home

就是 55,000 乘以 30，有好多 0

skyrocketed.

好多錢啊

So that home that they purchased for 55,000 dollars --

（笑聲）

at 29 percent interest, by the way --

那就代表

that home is now worth 30 times what they paid it for.

他們這個唯一的資產

Thirty times.

當他們有一天走的時候 這間房子會傳到我和我哥哥手上

Do the math with me.

這將會是我家族歷史上第一次

That's 55,000 times 30, carry the zeros --

在被奴役超過 150 年以來的第一次

That's a lot of money.

極具意義的財產轉移

(Laughter)

並不是因為我家人沒有存錢

So that means,

不是因為他們不努力工作

as their single and sole asset,

不是因為他們不重視教育

when the time comes for them to pass that asset on to my brother and I,

而是因為沉重的歷史

that will be the first time in my family's history,

所以當我回想到過去

more than 150 years after the end of slavery,

對於我們不記得過去這件事我顧慮的

that there will be a meaningful transfer of wealth in my family.

並不是如果我們不記得歷史 我們就會重蹈覆轍

And it's not because family members haven't saved,

我的擔憂和恐懼是 如果我們不記得過去

haven't worked hard,

我們會繼續走這條路

haven't valued education.

我們會從頭開始繼續做那些

It's because of hard history.

造成不平等和不公平的事情

So when I think about the past,

中斷沉重歷史

my concern about not remembering it

我們能透過追尋真相做到

is not that we will repeat it if we don't remember it.

透過直接面對沉重歷史達到

My concern, my fear is that if we don't remember the past,

放大這段歷史，讓全世界都看到

we will continue it.

我們能講述真相來做到這件事

We will continue to do the things

老師教導這段沉重歷史給學生

that created inequality and injustice in the first place.

不這麼做就是教育的弊端

So what we must do

而且父母也應該和小孩講述事實

is we must disrupt the continuum of hard history.

這樣他們才會理解

And we can do this by seeking truth.

我們是怎麼形成一個國家的

By confronting hard history directly.

最後我們必須依據事實行事

By magnifying hard history for all the world to see.

不論個人或群體

We can do this by speaking truth.

公眾還是私下

Teachers teaching hard history to their students.

小層面和大層面

To do anything else is to commit educational malpractice.

我們必須做那些能夠

And parents have to speak truth to their children,

讓世界道德轉向正義的事情

so that they understand

什麼都不做

where we have come from as a nation.

只是不公平的共犯

And finally, we must all act on truth.

歷史提醒我們

Individually and collectively,

我們，身為一個國家

publicly and privately,

站在政治巨人的肩膀上

in small ways and in large ways.

像是詹姆斯．麥迪遜

We must do the things that will bend the arc of the moral universe

但沉重歷史提醒我們

towards justice.

我們，身為一個國家

To do nothing is to be complicit

我們也站在被奴役的 非裔美國小孩的肩膀上

in inequality.

黑人小男孩和小女孩們

History reminds us

他們徒手造磚

that we, as a nation,

建立了這個國家的基石

stand on the shoulders of political giants

如果我們認真想要創造 一個公平正義的社會

like James Madison.

那我們應該要好好記得

But hard history reminds us that we, as a nation,

我們也應該記得那些被奴役的人

also stand on the shoulders of enslaved African American children.

謝謝

Little Black boys and little Black girls

（掌聲）

who, with their bare hands, made the bricks

that serve as the foundation for this nation.

And if we are serious about creating a fair and just society,

then we would do well to remember that,

and we would do well to remember them.