(Laughter)

（笑聲）

I've been thinking about that a lot the last few years,

過去這幾年，我一直在思考這個問題，

and I know I have company.

而且我知道有很多人跟我一樣。

Look, I get it --

好，我知道同樣的問題 有色人種已經問了好幾世紀。

people of color have been asking that question for centuries.

但現在有同樣疑問的白種人持續增加，

But I think a growing number of white folks are too,

尤其是現今的局勢──

given what's been going on out there

我們國內的局勢。

in our country.

請注意，我剛才說的是： 「我們白種人是怎麼一回事？」

And notice I said, "What's up with us white people?"

因為此刻，我說的白種人 不是「那些」──

because right now, I'm not talking about those white people,

那些持萬字符、戴斗篷、 手持火把的白種人。

the ones with the swastikas and the hoods and the tiki torches.

那些人的確是問題及威脅。

They are a problem and a threat.

他們將恐怖主義滲透到全國各地，

They perpetrate most of the terrorism in our country,

你們住在夏洛特鎮的人比誰都清楚。

as you all in Charlottesville know better than most.

我說的是比那更大、更普遍的問題。

But I'm talking about something bigger and more pervasive.

我指的是我們所有人，

I'm talking about all of us,

廣義的白種人。

white folks writ large.

或許，尤其是跟我類似的，

And maybe, especially, people sort of like me,

自詡為先進的一群，

self-described progressive,

我們不想當種族主義者。

don't want to be racist.

而是當一個好的白人。

Good white people.

（笑聲）

(Laughter)

現場有好白人嗎？

Any good white people in the room?

（笑聲）

(Laughter)

父母從小教我成為一個好白人。

I was raised to be that sort of person.

六、七十年代時我還是一個小小孩，

I was a little kid in the '60s and '70s,

讓我說一下我的父母是怎樣的人：

and to give you some sense of my parents:

當時做的民意調查顯示只有極少數──

actual public opinion polls at the time

大約 20% 的白種美國人，

showed that only a small minority, about 20 percent of white Americans,

認同且支持馬丁•路德•金

approved and supported

及他在黑人民權運動上的努力──

Martin Luther King and his work with the civil rights movement

當他還在世時。

while Dr. King was still alive.

我敢驕傲地說，我的父母 正屬於那少數的一群。

I'm proud to say my parents were in that group.

在我家種族問題可公開討論。

Race got talked about in our house.

每次電視上出現種族議題的節目時，

And when the shows that dealt with race would come on the television,

他們會叫我們幾個孩子坐下來看，

they would sit us kids down, made sure we watched:

像是薛尼．鮑迪的電影、《根》等等。

the Sidney Poitier movies, "Roots" ...

所傳達的訊息大聲且清楚，

The message was loud and clear,

我聽懂了：

and I got it:

種族歧視是不對的， 有種族歧視的人是壞人。

racism is wrong; racists are bad people.

當時，

At the same time,

我們住在明尼蘇達州的 一個白人為主的地方。

we lived in a very white place in Minnesota.

我現在所說只代表個人言論，

And I'll just speak for myself,

當時電視螢幕上的種族歧視者讓我相信

I think that allowed me to believe that those white racists on the TV screen

那些種族歧視都發生在其他的地方。

were being beamed in from some other place.

跟我們一點關係都沒有。

It wasn't about us, really.

我並不覺得自己也牽連在內。

I did not feel implicated.

可以說，我現在還在從 早年的印象中醒悟過來。

Now, I would say, I'm still in recovery from that early impression.

我進入新聞這一行

I got into journalism

有一部分就是因為我在乎公平、公正。

in part because I cared about things like equality and justice.

有很長一段時間， 種族主義讓我困惑不已。

For a long time, racism was just such a puzzle to me.

如果它根本就是錯的， 為什麼大家還坐視它的存在？

Why is it still with us when it's so clearly wrong?

為何如此有持續力？

Why such a persistent force?

或許我的困惑是來自我看錯了方向，

Maybe I was puzzled because I wasn't yet looking in the right place

還是問錯了問題。

or asking the right questions.

你們有注意到嗎？

Have you noticed

在白人主流的媒體中，

that when people in our mostly white media

只要出現被認為是種族議題的報導，

report on what they consider to be racial issues,

我們認為是種族議題的新聞，

what we consider to be racial issues,

通常也就是我們將攝影機的鏡頭

what that usually means is that we're pointing our cameras

以及麥克風及目光

and our microphones and our gaze

轉到有色人種身上，

at people of color,

提出的問題也通常是：

asking questions like,

「那麼黑人、美國原住民、 拉丁美洲人或亞裔美國人

"How are Black folks or Native Americans, Latino or Asian Americans,

他們覺得怎樣？」

how are they doing?"

可能是某個特定社區， 還是針對某些議題──

in a given community or with respect to some issue --

經濟、教育之類。

the economy, education.

我做了許多年那類的新聞工作，夠了。

I've done my share of that kind of journalism

在喬治·茲莫曼槍殺了 特雷沃恩·馬丁後，

over many years.

陸續又發生了一連串的高階員警

But then George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin,

槍擊未攜帶武器的黑人事件，

followed by this unending string of high-profile police shootings

接著「黑人的命也是命」運動展開、

of unarmed Black people,

位於查爾斯頓的狄倫·魯夫屠殺案，

the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement,

「奧斯卡太白」輿論大潮 （#OscarsSoWhite）──

Dylann Roof and the Charleston massacre,

所有這些發生在美國日常生活的事件，

#OscarsSoWhite --

公開的種族主義事件──

all the incidents from the day-to-day of American life,

都被以智慧手機拍下，

these overtly racist incidents

在網上流傳而廣為人知。

that we now get to see because they're captured on smartphones

而在這些事件表面之下，

and sent across the internet.

根深蒂固的數據、 無數的研究結果顯露出

And beneath those visible events,

我們所有的公共機構中 存在著系統化的種族歧視，

the stubborn data,

普遍見於住宅分配隔離、工作歧視、

the studies showing systemic racism in every institution we have:

還有長久以來存在於學校、

housing segregation, job discrimination,

刑事司法系統中的不平等待遇。

the deeply racialized inequities in our schools

最讓我無法忍受的是──

and criminal justice system.

我知道我也不是唯一一個──

And what really did it for me,

唐納·川普的崛起，

and I know I'm not alone in this, either:

讓我發現有絕大多數的美國白人

the rise of Donald Trump

若非熱烈歡迎，至少也認可接受

and the discovery that a solid majority of white Americans

他那赤裸裸、充滿仇恨的 白人取向的政治理念。

would embrace or at least accept

身為人類，這是最令我不安的一點。

such a raw, bitter kind of white identity politics.

身為記者，我發現我把鏡頭轉向了，

This was all disturbing to me as a human being.

我在想：

As a journalist, I found myself turning the lens around,

「哇！故事主角換成白人了，

thinking,

白種人上新聞了，」

"Wow, white folks are the story.

同時我也想：「有可能嗎？

Whiteness is a story,"

以白種人為題 製做一系列的 Podcast？」

And also thinking, "Can I do that?

（笑聲）

What would a podcast series about whiteness sound like?"

「噢，先說一聲，這節目 可能會讓人覺得不自在。」

(Laughter)

我從未看過任何深入探討 白人種族議題的報導，

"And oh, by the way -- this could get uncomfortable."

當然，幾世紀以來，有色人種， 尤其是黑人知識分子──

I had seen almost no journalism that looked deeply at whiteness,

曾對白人至上的文化提出尖銳的批評，

but, of course, people of color and especially Black intellectuals

我也知道過去二、三十年來，

have made sharp critiques of white supremacist culture

有些學者做了有趣的研究工作──

for centuries,

從白人的角度去看「種族」：

and I knew that in the last two or three decades,

它的定義、起源、在世界各地的狀況。

scholars had done interesting work

我開始閱讀涉獵，

looking at race through the frame of whiteness,

也請教了許多研究種族 及種族歷史領域內的專家。

what it is, how we got it, how it works in the world.

我提出的第一個問題是：

I started reading,

「請問身為白人的這個概念

and I reached out to some leading experts on race and the history of race.

是起源於何處？」

One of the first questions I asked was,

科學證據一目瞭然。

"Where did this idea of being a white person

所有的人類都是同一個物種。

come from in the first place?"

我們都是相關聯的，

Science is clear.

最早都是同一個祖先，來自非洲。

We are one human race.

有一部分的人離開了非洲大陸 去到比較冷、比較暗的地方

We're all related,

因而流失了他們的黑色素，

all descended from a common ancestor in Africa.

一些人流失的多過其他人。

Some people walked out of Africa into colder, darker places

（笑聲）

and lost a lot of their melanin,

但是，我們的基因 99.9% 一樣。

some of us more than others.

同一族群中的基因多樣性

(Laughter)

遠多過跨族群間的多樣性。

But genetically, we are all 99.9 percent the same.

沒有哪個基因是白人特有， 或是黑人、亞洲人特有的，

There's more genetic diversity within what we call racial groups

各色人種都是一樣的。

than there is between racial groups.

所以究竟種族是怎麼來的？

There's no gene for whiteness or blackness or Asian-ness

我們從哪得來這個概念？

or what have you.

種族主義何時開始？

So how did this happen?

如果你要我推論的話，

How did we get this thing?

用我之前天真的想法去分析的話，

How did racism start?

我可能會說：

I think if you had asked me to speculate on that,

「我猜很久很久以前，在某個地方，

in my ignorance, some years ago,

人們碰到彼此時，

I probably would have said,

發現對方與自己不同。

"Well, I guess somewhere back in deep history,

『你的膚色與我不同、髮色也不同 、

people encountered one another,

又奇裝異服。

and they found each other strange.

我想我應該可以下結論說：

'Your skin is a different color, your hair is different,

既然你跟我不同，

you dress funny.

那你應該就是不如我，

I guess I'll just go ahead and jump to the conclusion

那我無需禮遇還是平等對待你。 』」

that since you're different

是嗎？

that you're somehow less than me,

那不正是我們所想像、認為的嗎？

and maybe that makes it OK for me to mistreat you.'"

而且，在那種情況下，

Right?

簡直是巨大且悲慘的誤解。

Is that something like what we imagine or assume?

不過這推論顯然不對。

And under that kind of scenario,

首先，種族是近代的發明。

it's all a big, tragic misunderstanding.

只有幾百年歷史。

But it seems that's wrong.

在那之前，是的，

First of all, race is a recent invention.

用來區分彼此的是宗教、 部落族群、語言等等的。

It's just a few hundred years old.

但是以人類的整體歷史來看， 人們幾乎沒有種族觀念。

Before that, yes, people divided themselves

舉例來說，在古希臘──

by religion, tribal group, language,

這是我從歷史學家 內爾·艾爾文·潘特那學到的──

things like that.

古希臘人自認為比 所有其他所知的人更傑出，

But for most of human history,

不是因為他們天生 就比較擅長某些事物。

people had no notion of race.

而是因為他們認為他們 發展出了最先進的文明。

In Ancient Greece, for example --

所以在環顧了周遭的衣索比亞人、

and I learned this from the historian Nell Irvin Painter --

還有波斯人及凱爾特人後，

the Greeks thought they were better than the other people they knew about,

下結論說：「跟我們相比， 他們基本上就是野蠻人。

but not because of some idea that they were innately superior.

從文明來看，他們就是 比不上我們希臘人。」

They just thought that they'd developed the most advanced culture.

沒錯，古老的世界上充斥著奴隸制度，

So they looked around at the Ethiopians,

但是奴役的對象除了 與自己長得不像的人，

but also the Persians and the Celts,

也包含了跟自己同類的人。

and they said, "They're all kind of barbaric compared to us.

你們知道英文的奴隸 (slave) 是從 Slav 這個字演變來的嗎？

Culturally, they're just not Greek."

因為斯拉夫人被各種人奴役得最多，

And yes, in the ancient world, there was lots of slavery,

包括西歐人在內，

but people enslaved people who didn't look like them,

長達幾世紀之久。

and they often enslaved people who did.

奴役其實也跟種族無關，

Did you know that the English word "slave" is derived from the word "Slav"?

因為當時還沒有人想到種族這個概念。

Because Slavic people were enslaved by all kinds of folks,

那麼是誰起頭的呢？

including Western Europeans,

我拿這問題問 另一個傑出的歷史學家──

for centuries.

伊布拉姆·肯迪。

Slavery wasn't about race either,

我並不期望他給我的回答中

because no one had thought up race yet.

會有明確的人名還是日期，

So who did?

就像問是誰發明電燈泡那樣。

I put that question to another leading historian,

（笑聲）

Ibram Kendi.

可是他真的就是那樣說。

I didn't expect he would answer the question

（笑聲）

in the form of one person's name and a date,

他說在做了詳盡的研究後，

as if we were talking about the light bulb.

他找到了他相信應該是第一個 提倡種族觀念的文章。

(Laughter)

他也找到了罪魁禍首。

But he did.

這個人其實應該很有名， 還是說惡名昭彰。

(Laughter)

他的名字是戈梅斯·德祖拉拉。

He said, in his exhaustive research,

葡萄牙人。

he found what he believed to be the first articulation of racist ideas.

他在 1450 年代寫了一本書，

And he named the culprit.

書中有個沒人做過的創舉，

This guy should be more famous,

這是肯迪博士的說法。

or infamous.

德祖拉拉一竿子打翻一船人，

His name is Gomes de Zurara.

將遼闊、多元的非洲大陸上所有的人

Portuguese man.

歸類為一個單獨的群體，

Wrote a book in the 1450s

形容他們是如野獸般低等的生物。

in which he did something that no one had ever done before,

全然不顧在殖民時代之前的非洲大陸

according to Dr. Kendi.

曾出現世界上最複雜先進的文明。

He lumped together all the people of Africa --

他為何出此斷言？

a vast, diverse continent --

結果是為了金錢利益。

and he described them as a distinct group,

首先，德祖拉拉是受雇的寫手，

inferior and beastly.

雇主是葡萄牙國王，

Never mind that in that precolonial time

在這本書問世的幾年前，

some of the most sophisticated cultures in the world were in Africa.

奴隸販子──

Why would this guy make this claim?

聽清楚囉──

Turns out, it helps to follow the money.

跟葡萄牙皇室關係密切的奴隸販子是

First of all, Zurara was hired to write that book

大西洋地區最早開發奴隸買賣的──

by the Portuguese king,

他們是第一批直接航向 撒哈拉以南的非洲大陸的歐洲人

and just a few years before,

──俘虜、奴役非洲人。

slave traders --

突然之間，

here we go --

這本關於非洲人如何低等的書

slave traders tied to the Portuguese crown

讓奴隸買賣者能自圓其說──

had effectively pioneered the Atlantic slave trade.

向他人、教會及自身

They were the first Europeans to sail directly to sub-Saharan Africa

證明奴役的正當性。

to kidnap and enslave African people.

就靠著他的一支筆，

So it was suddenly really helpful

德祖拉拉編造出黑人與白人，

to have a story about the inferiority of African people

基本上他藉著對非洲人的形容

to justify this new trade

去創造出所謂黑人的概念，

to other people, to the church,

就像肯迪博士所說的，

to themselves.

沒有白，也就不會有黑。

And with the stroke of a pen,

其他歐洲國家紛紛效法葡萄牙人，

Zurara invented both blackness and whiteness,

前往非洲開發免費的奴隸財產，

because he basically created the notion of blackness

採信德祖拉拉書中捏造的

through this description of Africans,

非洲人乃低等人的說法。

and as Dr. Kendi says,

我發現這一說真相大白。

blackness has no meaning without whiteness.

種族歧視原來並非源自誤解，

Other European countries followed the Portuguese lead

而是出自謊言。

in looking to Africa for human property and free labor

當時，在殖民地的美洲大陸上，

and in adopting this fiction

那些自稱為白人的一群

about the inferiority of African people.

則是忙著將這些種族言論寫進法律中，

I found this clarifying.

剝奪那些他們歸類為黑人的人權，

Racism didn't start with a misunderstanding,

將他們編入我們那套 狠毒的奴隸財產制中，

it started with a lie.

同時也制定法律 提供窮困的白人某些好處，

Meanwhile, over here in colonial America,

雖然不見得是很大的實質利益，

the people now calling themselves white got busy taking these racist ideas

但至少有免於淪落成奴隸的權利，

and turning them into law,

身邊所愛的人也不會被抓去賣掉，

laws that stripped all human rights from the people they were calling Black

但是也有真的不錯的東西。

and locking them into our particularly vicious brand of chattel slavery,

有些地方，例如維吉尼亞州， 曾釋放出免費土地，

and laws that gave even the poorest white people benefits,

但是只發給白人，

not big benefits in material terms

這類事情遠在 美國獨立戰爭前就已開始，

but the right to not be enslaved for life,

卻持續到戰後很長一段時間。

the right to not have your loved ones torn from your arms and sold,

我現在可以想像

and sometimes real goodies.

有些人聽到這裡── 如果真有在聽的話──

The handouts of free land in places like Virginia

可能會想：

to white people only

「拜託！那都是過去的歷史啦。 一點都不重要吧？

started long before the American Revolution

現在已經不是那樣了。

and continued long after.

可不可以忘掉過去，向前看啊？」

Now, I can imagine

好像沒錯？

there would be people listening to me -- if they're still listening --

我只想說，至少對我個人而言，

who might be thinking,

知道這段歷史改變了

"Come on, this is all ancient history. Why does this matter?

我對今日種族議題的看法。

Things have changed.

回顧前面我所提到的， 有兩點各位可以帶回去深思：

Can't we just get over it and move on?"

一、生物學上並沒有種族這回事，

Right?

那是有心人編造的故事；