a race in the contemporary way that we understand race

如果我說時間也有「種族」之分，

in the United States?

這裡的種族是指 當代美國人所了解的種族，

Typically, we talk about race in terms of black and white issues.

你覺得如何？

In the African-American communities from which I come,

一般來說，我們會用 黑白問題來談種族。

we have a long-standing multi-generational joke

在我所居住的非裔美國人社區中，

about what we call "CP time,"

有一個流傳了數個世代的笑話，

or "colored people's time."

說的是我們所謂的「CP 時間」，

Now, we no longer refer to African-Americans as "colored,"

即「有色人種的時間」。

but this long-standing joke

我們已不再將非裔美國人 稱為「有色」的，

about our perpetual lateness to church,

但這個流傳已久的笑話

to cookouts, to family events

講的是我們永遠會遲到， 不論是上教堂、

and even to our own funerals, remains.

去野炊、去家庭活動，

I personally am a stickler for time.

連去遺體我們自己的 葬禮都會遲到。

It's almost as if my mother, when I was growing up, said,

我個人對時間很固執。

"We will not be those black people."

幾乎就像是我媽媽 在我成長過程中說的：

So we typically arrive to events 30 minutes early.

「我們不要成為那種黑人。」

But today, I want to talk to you more about the political nature of time,

所以通常我們去哪裡 都會早到三十分鐘。

for if time had a race,

但今天我想和各位談 比較多的是時間的政治本質，

it would be white.

因為如果時間也有 種族之分的話，它會是白人。

White people own time.

白人擁有時間。

I know, I know.

我知道，我知道。

Making such "incendiary statements" makes us uncomfortable:

做出這種「煽風點火的陳述」 讓我們感到不舒服：

Haven't we moved past the point where race really matters?

種族具有影響的時候 不是已經過去了嗎？

Isn't race a heavy-handed concept?

種族不是一種強制打壓的觀念嗎？

Shouldn't we go ahead with our enlightened, progressive selves

我們不是應該帶著 開明進步的自我向前走，

and relegate useless concepts like race to the dustbins of history?

把像種族意識這類無用的觀念 丟到歷史的垃圾桶嗎？

How will we ever get over racism if we keep on talking about race?

如果我們不斷談種族， 我們怎麼可能會忘懷它？

Perhaps we should lock up our concepts of race in a time capsule,

也許我們應該把種族觀念 鎖入一個時間膠囊裡，

bury them and dig them up in a thousand years,

把它埋起來，一千年後再挖出來，

peer at them with the clearly more enlightened,

讓未來很明顯更開明 更沒有種族意識的我們

raceless versions of ourselves that belong to the future.

來凝視這些觀念。

But you see there,

但你們要知道，

that desire to mitigate the impact of race and racism shows up

想要緩和種族和種族主義造 成之影響的慾望卻跑出來了，

in how we attempt to manage time,

出現在我們試圖 管理時間的方式中，

in the ways we narrate history,

出現在我們敘述歷史的方式中，

in the ways we attempt to shove the negative truths of the present

出現在我們試圖將現在的負面真相 丟到過去的方式中，

into the past,

出現在我們試圖爭論說

in the ways we attempt to argue that the future that we hope for

「我們渴望的未來其實就是 我們所處的現在」的方式中。

is the present in which we're currently living.

2008 年，歐巴馬當選美國總統時，

Now, when Barack Obama became President of the US in 2008,

很多美國人宣稱我們 進入了「後種族」時代，

many Americans declared that we were post-racial.

我來自學術界，

I'm from the academy

在那裡我們超愛「後」的，

where we're enamored with being post-everything.

我們是後現代主義的， 我們是後結構主義的，

We're postmodern, we're post-structural, we're post-feminist.

我們是後女權主義的。

"Post" has become a simple academic appendage

「後」已經成為一個 簡單的學術附屬品，

that we apply to a range of terms

被我們加在各種用詞上，

to mark the way we were.

來標示出我們以前的樣子。

But prefixes alone don't have the power to make race and racism

但只靠在字首加一個字 無法把種族和種族歧視

a thing of the past.

變成過去式。

The US was never "pre-race."

美國從來沒有「前種族」過。

So to claim that we're post-race when we have yet to grapple with the impact

所以，在我們還沒有 努力解決種族對於黑人、

of race on black people, Latinos or the indigenous

拉丁裔，或原住民的影響時，

is disingenuous.

就聲稱我們進入「後種族」 時期，實在太虛偽。

Just about the moment we were preparing to celebrate

就在我們準備要慶祝

our post-racial future,

「後種族」未來的時候，

our political conditions became the most racial they've been

我們的政治情勢卻達到 五十年來最種族歧視的高峰。

in the last 50 years.

今天，我想提出 三項觀察給各位參考，

So today, I want to offer to you three observations,

分別是關於過去、現在，及未來。

about the past, the present and the future of time,

因為它們和對抗 種族主義和白人支配有關。

as it relates to the combating of racism and white dominance.

首先：過去。

First: the past.

時間有段歷史，

Time has a history,

黑人也有。

and so do black people.

但是我們把時間 當成是無時間性的，

But we treat time as though it is timeless,

好像它一直都是如此，

as though it has always been this way,

好像它沒有一段

as though it doesn't have a political history

和掠奪原住民土地相關的歷史，

bound up with the plunder of indigenous lands,

對原住民進行大屠殺的歷史，

the genocide of indigenous people

將非洲人從家鄉綁架過來的歷史。

and the stealing of Africans from their homeland.

當白種男性的歐洲哲學家最初想將

When white male European philosophers

時間和歷史給概念化時， 其中一位提出了這段著名的聲稱：

first thought to conceptualize time and history, one famously declared,

「非洲不是世界歷史的一部份。」

"[Africa] is no historical part of the World."

基本上他說的是

He was essentially saying

非洲人是不在歷史裡的人種，

that Africans were people outside of history

他們對於時間或是進步發展

who had had no impact on time

一直都沒有影響。

or the march of progress.

這種黑人過去一直 對歷史沒有影響的想法，

This idea, that black people have had no impact on history,

就是白人至上主義的 基礎想法之一。

is one of the foundational ideas of white supremacy.

它也是 1926 年卡特 G. 伍德森 創立了「黑人歷史週」的原因。

It's the reason that Carter G. Woodson created "Negro History Week" in 1926.

這也是我們在美國每年二月都要

It's the reason that we continue to celebrate Black History Month

慶祝「黑人歷史月」的原因。

in the US every February.

我們還會看到一種想法，

Now, we also see this idea

認為黑人若不是在時間的邊界之外，

that black people are people either alternately outside of the bounds of time

就是困在過去裡，

or stuck in the past,

在一個和我現在情況 很像的情境當中，

in a scenario where, much as I'm doing right now,

一個黑人站出來， 堅持認為種族問題依舊存在，

a black person stands up and insists that racism still matters,

然後有個人──通常是白人，

and a person, usually white,

對他們說：「為什麼 你們還困在過去？

says to them,

為什麼你們不能向前走？

"Why are you stuck in the past?

我們已有一位黑人總統了。

Why can't you move on?

種族問題都已經過去了。」

We have a black president.

威廉福克納有句名言：

We're past all that."

「過去從來沒有死亡，

William Faulkner famously said,

過去甚至還沒有過去。」

"The past is never dead.

但我的好朋友 克莉絲蒂道森教授說：

It's not even past."

「我們的記憶比 我們的壽命更長。」

But my good friend Professor Kristie Dotson says,

我們所有人身上都背著

"Our memory is longer than our lifespan."

家庭和社區的希望和夢想。

We carry, all of us,

我們沒有放下過去的奢侈權力。

family and communal hopes and dreams with us.

但有時候，

We don't have the luxury of letting go of the past.

我們的政治情勢十分混亂，

But sometimes,

以致於我們不知道我們 是活在過去，還是活在現在。

our political conditions are so troubling

舉例來說，當「黑命貴」的抗議者

that we don't know if we're living in the past

走上街頭抗議警方 不公正地射殺黑人公民時，

or we're living in the present.

那些流出來的抗議照片

Take, for instance, when Black Lives Matter protesters

感覺就像五十年前拍的照片一樣。

go out to protest unjust killings of black citizens by police,

「過去」不肯放我們走。

and the pictures that emerge from the protest

但，我們還是要奮力 朝「現在」前進。

look like they could have been taken 50 years ago.

在「現在」，我會主張

The past won't let us go.

我們現在正在經歷的種族鬥爭

But still, let us press our way into the present.

都是因時間和空間所發生的衝突。

At present, I would argue

我是什麼意思？

that the racial struggles we are experiencing

我剛剛已經告訴各位， 白人擁有時間。

are clashes over time and space.

有權的人掌控了工作日的步調。

What do I mean?

他們能決定我們的時間 到底值多少錢。

Well, I've already told you that white people own time.

喬治利普茲教授主張

Those in power dictate the pace of the workday.

白人甚至掌控了社會包容的步調。

They dictate how much money our time is actually worth.

他們能決定弱勢團體要花多少時間

And Professor George Lipsitz argues

才能取得他們在爭取的權力。

that white people even dictate the pace of social inclusion.

讓我很快地繞回過去， 給各位一個例子。

They dictate how long it will actually take

想想看非裔美國人民權運動，

for minority groups to receive the rights that they have been fighting for.

及運動領導人大喊著 「現在就要自由」，

Let me loop back to the past quickly to give you an example.

他們就是在挑戰 白人社會包容的緩慢步調。

If you think about the Civil Rights Movement

到了 1965 年， 選舉法案通過的那一年，

and the cries of its leaders for "Freedom Now,"

從內戰結束，到將投票權

they were challenging the slow pace of white social inclusion.

賦予非裔美國人社區，

By 1965, the year the Voting Rights Act was passed,

已經過了整整一百年。

there had been a full 100 years

儘管戰爭一觸即發，

between the end of the Civil War

仍然花了整整一百年， 才讓真正的社會包容實現。

and the conferral of voting rights on African-American communities.

自從 2012 年，

Despite the urgency of a war,

美國各地的保守派州議院 花費越來越多的心力

it still took a full 100 years for actual social inclusion to occur.

試圖撤回非裔美國人的投票權，

Since 2012,

手段包括通過限制性的 「選民身份法」

conservative state legislatures across the US have ramped up attempts

以及削減提早投票的機會。

to roll back African-American voting rights

去年七月，一個聯邦法庭駁回了 北卡羅來納州的選民身份法，

by passing restrictive voter ID laws

理由是「針對非裔美國人，

and curtailing early voting opportunities.

且這針對性精準到 和要動手術一樣。」

This past July, a federal court struck down North Carolina's voter ID law

限制非裔美國人融入國家，

saying it "... targeted African-Americans with surgical precision."

是我們試圖藉由管理和控制時間，

Restricting African-American inclusion in the body politic

來管理和控制人民的主要方式。

is a primary way that we attempt to manage and control people

還有一個地方，也會 看見時間和空間的衝突。

by managing and controlling time.

是在中產階層化的城市，

But another place that we see these time-space clashes

如亞特蘭大、布魯克林、費城、

is in gentrifying cities like Atlanta, Brooklyn,

紐奧良，和華盛頓特區——

Philadelphia, New Orleans and Washington, DC --

在這些地區，黑人 已經存在數個世代。

places that have had black populations for generations.

但現在，假借 都市更新和進步的名義，

But now, in the name of urban renewal and progress,

這些社區被趕出去，

these communities are pushed out,

為的竟是要帶他們 進入二十一世紀。

in service of bringing them into the 21st century.

雪倫荷蘭教授問道：

Professor Sharon Holland asked:

「當一個存在於時間內的人，

What happens when a person who exists in time

遇到一位只佔有空間的人， 會發生什麼事？」

meets someone who only occupies space?

這些種族的鬥爭

These racial struggles

是為了被認為是「佔據空間者」的人

are battles over those who are perceived to be space-takers

及被認為是「世界製造者」的人

and those who are perceived to be world-makers.

所打的仗。

Those who control the flow and thrust of history

那些控制歷史洪流和推進的人，

are considered world-makers who own and master time.

被認為是世界製造者， 他們擁有並掌管時間。

In other words: white people.

換言之：他們就是白人。

But when Hegel famously said that Africa was no historical part of the world,

但當黑格爾說出

he implied that it was merely a voluminous land mass

「黑人不是歷史的一部份」 那句名言時，

taking up space at the bottom of the globe.

他的本意是，非洲只是一大塊地，

Africans were space-takers.

佔據了全球最底層的空間。

So today, white people continue to control the flow and thrust of history,

非洲人是佔據空間者。

while too often treating black people as though we are merely taking up space

今天，白人繼續掌控 歷史的洪流與推進，

to which we are not entitled.

同時，他們太常認為 黑人只是在佔據空間，

Time and the march of progress is used to justify

而我們無權這麼做。

a stunning degree of violence towards our most vulnerable populations,

時間和進步發展被用來當作工具，

who, being perceived as space-takers rather than world-makers,

為要找到正當理由 來殘酷暴力對待最弱勢的族群，

are moved out of the places where they live,

這些人被視為佔據空間者，

in service of bringing them into the 21st century.

而非世界製造者，

Shortened life span according to zip code is just one example of the ways

他們被趕出自己的家園，

that time and space cohere in an unjust manner

為了帶他們進入二十一世紀。

in the lives of black people.

因居住地的郵遞區號不同， 生命就比較短，

Children who are born in New Orleans zip code 70124,

這只是許多例子中的一個， 說明在黑人的生命中，

which is 93 percent white,

時間和空間如何 以不公平的方式結合。

can expect to live a full 25 years longer

在紐奧良郵遞區號 70124 地區，

than children born in New Orleans zip code 70112,

有 93% 人口是白人， 在這裡出生的兒童

which is 60 percent black.

壽命預期會比生在紐奧良

Children born in Washington, DC's wealthy Maryland suburbs

郵遞區號 70112 地區的兒童 多出整整二十五歲，

can expect to live a full 20 years longer

在這個地區有 60% 人口是黑人。

than children born in its downtown neighborhoods.

在華盛頓特區有錢的 馬里蘭郊區出生的兒童，

Ta-Nehisi Coates argues

壽命預期會比出生在

that, "The defining feature of being drafted into the Black race

鄰近市中心的兒童 多出整整二十歲，

is the inescapable robbery of time."

塔內西科特斯主張

We experience time discrimination,

「被納入黑人種族的關鍵特徵，

he tells us,

就是無法避免時間被奪取。」

not just as structural,

他告訴我們， 我們對時間歧視的感受

but as personal:

不只是結構性的，

in lost moments of joy,

也是個人化的：

lost moments of connection,

喜樂的時刻不再，

lost quality of time with loved ones

連結的時刻不再，

and lost years of healthy quality of life.

與所愛的人相處時的品質不再，

In the future, do you see black people?

還會失去多年健康的生活品質。

Do black people have a future?

在未來，

What if you belong to the very race of people

你有看見黑人嗎？

who have always been pitted against time?

黑人有未來嗎？

What if your group is the group for whom a future was never imagined?

如果你剛好屬於那個總是

These time-space clashes --

在和時間競爭的種族，會如何？

between protesters and police,

如果你所屬的種族 沒有任何能夠想像的未來呢？

between gentrifiers and residents --

這些時間空間的衝突——

don't paint a very pretty picture

抗議者與警方間，

of what America hopes for black people's future.

中產階層化者與居民間的衝突——

If the present is any indicator,

並沒有為美國所希望的黑人未來

our children will be under-educated,

繪出一幅非常美麗的圖畫。

health maladies will take their toll

若「現在」是一種指標，

and housing will continue to be unaffordable.

我們孩子的將無法受到良好教育，

So if we're really ready to talk about the future,

健康問題會讓我們付出代價，

perhaps we should begin by admitting that we're out of time.

我們也仍然無法付擔住房。

We black people have always been out of time.

所以，若我們真的準備好 要來談論未來，

Time does not belong to us.

首先我們應該承認 我們已經沒時間了。

Our lives are lives of perpetual urgency.

我們黑人的時間向來不夠。

Time is used to displace us,

時間不屬於我們。

or conversely, we are urged into complacency

我們的生命是永遠緊急的生命。

through endless calls to just be patient.

時間被用來取代我們，

But if past is prologue,

或者，反過來說， 無止盡地呼籲「要有耐心」

let us seize upon the ways in which we're always out of time anyway

敦促我們變得自滿。

to demand with urgency

但，如果過去是序幕，

freedom now.

讓我們利用反正我們的時間 總是不夠的方式，

I believe the future is what we make it.

來急迫地要求：

But first, we have to decide that time belongs to all of us.

現在就要自由。

No, we don't all get equal time,

我相信未來是我們自己創造的。

but we can decide that the time we do get is just and free.

但我們必須先要斷定 時間屬於我們所有人。

We can stop making your zip code the primary determinant

不，不是每個人都有同等的時間，

of your lifespan.

但我們可以決定 我們得到的時間公正且自由，

We can stop stealing learning time from black children

我們可以不要讓郵遞區號成為

through excessive use of suspensions and expulsions.

決定你壽命長短的主要因素。

We can stop stealing time from black people

我們可以不要再透過 過度使用退學和停學

through long periods of incarceration for nonviolent crimes.

來偷走黑人孩子的學習時間。

The police can stop stealing time and black lives

我們可以不要再透過 非暴力犯罪的長期監禁

through use of excessive force.

來偷走黑人的時間。

I believe the future is what we make it.

警可以不要再透過過度武力

But we can't get there on colored people's time

來偷走黑人的時間和性命。

or white time

我相信未來是我們自己創造的。

or your time

但如果我們想要辦到， 不能用有色人種的時間，

or even my time.

或白人的時間，

It's our time.