Chapter 17 Datong World Dream

Brother Lu, hello! Today, I think I can finish the topic of race. Thirty years later, there are growing calls to adjust or repeal certain provisions of the Affirmative Action Act.This is not to say that the United States is regressing back to thirty years ago.On the contrary, after 30 years, today's black people can easily accept the existence of chance.It is believed that people have no privileged position in nature, the so-called soul, and other minorities, they are much stronger than thirty years ago.This kind of strength does not mean that a black person or a minority resident has become more stable after 30 years of struggle in society.Rather, the entire underprivileged group has become stronger in this society.Even if you are a new immigrant who just set foot on this land today, due to the advancement of the system in this country over the years, your rights are clear from the first day you enter this country.You are covered by civil rights laws.

It is this gradual strengthening of disadvantaged groups that has led to doubts about the continued existence of the "Affirmative Action Act".You already know that affirmative action is based on "inequality", "compensation" or "compensation".Therefore, no one, whether majority or minority, sees this "affirmative action" as a permanent measure.Because "compensation" is always limited, and "inequality" cannot be permanent. "Affirmative Action" is the mainstream spiritual tendency of American society.It has been widely accepted for thirty years.It's not easy.Because it involves every specific individual.When an individual is at odds with affirmative action, it is indeed difficult to be completely at peace.The reason is very simple. If your little Tiantian finally got into a good university, but was "legally" "rejected" by an African immigrant whose scores were lower than hers, how would you react?What's more, the concept of "compensation" is relative to the whole society.As an individual, as a kid applying to college, he owed nothing.Therefore, whenever I think of the countless "majority" individuals involved in these thirty years, I always find it hard to imagine.If it weren't for the existence of an overall conscience and rational spirit, if it wasn't for the customary respect for public contracts, wouldn't it have been overthrown a long time ago, and we still have to wait until today?Don't forget, they are the "majority".

It is a consensus that the "Affirmative Action" will eventually come to an end.No one questions that.People disagree on when to abolish and which clauses should be abolished first.The first to put forward the motion was the University of California.And in 1995, it officially stopped implementing preferential policies for minorities and women in admissions.The discussion process of this measure was extremely intense.Once brought up, the debate has continued to this day. The executive branch of the US federal government, headed by Clinton, firmly does not advocate that the abolition of the "Affirmative Action Act" should be considered now.President Clinton mentioned that after the implementation of the "Affirmative Action", in higher education, the most obvious effect is that law schools enroll a large number of black students.Moreover, according to statistics, at the time of admission, although the grades of these preferentially admitted black students were significantly lower than those of other students, when they graduated, their grades were not very different from other students.This measure has indeed effectively cultivated a large number of black judges and black lawyers. Their appearance has greatly enhanced the legal help available to the black community.

This, too, you must have felt in the Simpson case.Both the prosecutors and the defendant's lawyers were black, and they all performed extremely well.President Clinton warned at the time that if the "Affirmative Action Act" was revoked prematurely, it would greatly reduce the help black people can get in future legal affairs, and affect the social justice that this social group can get.Black law school enrollments did plummet after UC discontinued admissions preference for minorities.However, the dispute did not end there. We have noticed a very intriguing phenomenon, that is, there are often blacks or minorities on both sides of the debate.Among the blacks, of course, there are a large number of people who support the continuation of the "Affirmative Action Act".Among the notables is the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the de facto supreme commander of the U.S. military, General Powell.He said that without the "Affirmative Action", it would be impossible for a child of Jamaican immigrants like him to stand at the top of the US military.

However, there are also a large number of black experts and black groups who oppose the continuation of the "affirmative action".They argue that affirmative action has been in place for thirty years.Its role in this period was undoubtedly positive.However, thirty years have passed, almost a generation has passed.During this long period of time, its historical mission has been completed.If after such a long period of preferential treatment, black people are still relying on preferential treatment to get into college, it shows that there is something else wrong.They believe that long-term preferential treatment will also cause the youth of a nation to be too dependent on this state, which will erode their spirit of hard work.

The UC decision, in turn, sparked a series of judicial challenges that also headed to the Supreme Court.However, after the school stopped favoring minorities in admissions, the admissions results also reflected the complexity of the situation of minorities in the United States.Because of this, for the first time in this school, Asian students outnumbered white students. Across the country, there are also votes on the attitude of "affirmative action".As a result of the voting, some places continued to support it, while others agreed to suspend the implementation of some provisions.The debate is even more in the ascendant.The most resolute call on the people of the whole country to continue to support the "Affirmative Action" is probably President Clinton.

Regarding whether the implementation of the "Affirmative Action" has been stopped, some people have such a view: they believe that there is an ultra-conservative force at work here.For example, Huntington, a professor at Harvard University, has become famous in China because of his article "Clash of Civilizations".I have not studied his "conflict theory", but some domestic facts in the United States mentioned in his article are one of the keys to our understanding of the complexity of racial issues in the United States today. Huntington mentioned that according to the estimates of the US National Intelligence Agency, by 2050, that is, half a century later, the ethnic proportions of the US population will be: 23% Latino, 16% black, 100% tenth of Asians.Whites will be less than half and enter the ranks of minorities.Huntington is worried that in this case, if the new immigrants are not integrated into the mainstream American culture (this American culture refers to the main part derived from European traditions), if the emphasis is on diversity, it is all ethnic groups. own culture, then, it seems obvious that as the population becomes "de-Europeanized," its culture is also "de-Americanized."In other words, the United States is called the United States because the mainstream culture from Europe has formed its strong characteristics.If its mainstream culture is weakened bit by bit by the cultures of various ethnic minorities, all cultures are evenly matched, and the characteristics of the original mainstream culture are greatly weakened, and the mainstream does not matter, then the United States will not be what it is America is gone.

Such concerns are easily accused by minorities of being "anti-multicultural", "anti-immigrant" and so on.However, I think that the emergence of a new concept (such as multiculturalism), even if it is obviously progressive compared with the original popular view, it will change the world and bring many new problems at the same time. , in this case, it is always beneficial to explore and discuss these issues.Just like when the first steam engine started to roar, when the first light bulb was lit, if someone raised a series of warnings about the possible negative impacts of industrial civilization on mankind, such as environmental problems, etc., and these advices If people pay attention to it, then, from today's point of view, no matter how excessive the warning was, it is not an exaggeration.There is no need to encircle and suppress it as an anti-civilization "countercurrent".However, the actual situation is often that no one warns and the warning comes too late, or that an unfashionable warning is surrounded and suppressed by people who only care about fueling the flames.For example, people like Ma Yinchu who don't know current affairs.

In fact, the worries raised by Huntington are problems that a pluralistic society like the United States will inevitably encounter.Even among the people it is an extremely common and confusing question.Regarding the question of whether "racial separation" or "racial integration" should be considered, if one ignores such unequal elements as the sense of superiority of a certain race and the theory of racial inferiority towards other races, one can look at it from the perspective of the preservation and development of a specific culture. Look, this isn't a historical topic that has been completely settled either.

We know a black painter, Brant Jones.His painting style has the meaning of modern painting, and it is definitely not a traditional inheritance of a certain black lineage.However, his works have an obvious taste of black art, and the level is very high.We were sitting together that day in a small town at the foot of Stone Mountain in Georgia.Atlanta's Stone Mountain is a rare boulder, so it is also a famous scenic spot.You may remember that I once told you that the resurgence of the KKK in the United States at the beginning of this century was on this stone mountain.Therefore, until a few years ago, the new generation of KKK, which has become ineffective, held an annual rally on the top of the mountain. Although there were not many people participating, they came from all over the United States.Today, this small town called Shishan Village, located at the foot of Shitou Mountain, is a place where all ethnic groups get along quite harmoniously, although conservative.

The mayor of the town is a black man.Because of the stone mountain, the town is also making a big fuss about the development of tourism.On the clean small streets, there are rows of small and exquisite tourist shops, which are very prosperous.The stores were owned by blacks and whites, and all seemed to be doing well.Since this is a relatively conservative southern town, the blacks are all dressed neatly and there is no "hippie look" at all.We passed a public building in the town, a mid-sized traditional southern private house, beautifully built.There happened to be a newlyweds of Asian descent and Caucasian ethnicity who held their wedding ceremony inside that day.Of course, there were also many white and Asian relatives and friends present. What attracted our attention was that among the friends who came to congratulate, there were quite a few black people.In the joyous atmosphere, such a picture of the harmonious coexistence of different ethnic groups really moved us.Especially when we think of the relationship between Stone Mountain and KKK, we feel that such a southern picture is hard-won. So when we sat with Brant under a big tree overlooking Stone Mountain on a very hot afternoon, we thought that, as a black boy growing up in Alabama, he must also be right. The blacks of this small town seemed happy and content with their easy lives.However, to our great surprise, he attacked the state of black people here very strongly.why? He said, look at the blacks here, they are all moving closer to the culture of the whites.Their clothing, their mannerisms, their way of thinking, and so on.They are “turning white” inside.In the process, they themselves disappear.Their skin is still black, but they have lost their black souls. Then, this comes from the starting point of Martin Luther King Jr. leading the black civil rights movement. The black artist in Alabama told us that he respected Martin Luther King Jr. and his contribution to black people, but, as an individual , but didn't like him.He thinks he likes Macomb X better, even though he's had a lot of violent language.You are already quite familiar with Macomb X, the famous black leader who was assassinated by members of the same black organization "Islamic State" during the civil rights movement.This organization is still one of the largest black organizations in the United States.At the same time, Brandt also likes Farakon, who is the leader of the "Islamic State" today and has been there for decades.I told you about his "Million Negro March" a few years ago.Falcon's rhetoric is also often extreme. When he answered my question, "Why do you like ISIS," he used the word "militant."At first, I thought he might be a radical, even inclined to use violence to solve problems.However, when I went deeper into the conversation, I found that this was not the case.The "fighting nature" he refers to just means "having its own strong characteristics".And this characteristic mainly refers to the characteristics of ethnic culture. Islam is not inherent in black American culture.Although the black organization "Islamic State" in the United States claims that they believe in Islam, there is still a big difference between them and Islam in the true sense of religion outside. Even the general black people here don't think they are a religion. organizations, only if they are a black people's group.However, they undoubtedly have "characteristics".Even in feeling, they all have a significant distance from the white culture here.Just relying on "Afro-Americans plus Islam" is enough to be "distinctive". In any case, we were surprised that my black friends had such strong negative comments about a town where all ethnic groups live together in harmony.In other words, with the improvement of the status of black people, some of them no longer meet the equality in life, and they have quite high requirements in spiritual and cultural aspects.Our black friend came from the most extreme white racist bastion area during the black civil rights movement thirty years ago, and he came from a small town.From him, we have indeed seen the great changes in the American South in the past thirty years. The issue of maintaining ethnic and cultural characteristics that he mentioned should not be too new.The question is how to do this in a country as "abundant" as the United States.As a result, the word "separation" was brought up early as a solution.In fact, the "country" of the American black organization "Islamic State" is based on their appeal for "racial separation".So far, the most famous political appeal of the leader of the "Islamic State", Farakon, is to ask the US federal government to set aside a piece of land on behalf of the slave owners in North America for four hundred years (including the British colonies before the United States was established in the first three hundred years). Land, with land reparations to enable blacks to establish their own country separate from the whites, while paying reparations in installments over at least 25 years thereafter to feed this new black nation until they are economically self-sufficient. The black organization "Islamic State" originated in the North of the United States.Since the founding of the United States, the North has gradually abolished slavery on its own. Although blacks have the problem of poverty, they are free and have never experienced forced racial segregation.Therefore, some of them have long had their own "segregation" claims. The situation of the "Islamic State" also typically reflects the difference between the black community in the North and the South.They have long been able to accumulate their own economic strength.In 1975, the organization already owned a newspaper with $3 million in annual profits, a supermarket with $1.7 million in sales, more than forty rental properties in the Chicago area, and controlled a substantial portion of a bank. profit. Since I have been dissecting the special sparrow of racial segregation in the extreme south of the United States to you, I temporarily put aside the introduction of the idea of ​​"apartheid" in the north, so as not to stir up the muddy water.In fact, because of the long-term life experience of racial integration in the north, the problems caused by the mixed coexistence of multiple races occurred earlier, and it was earlier to face which culture was "hooked away by other cultures". ” or “dissolved” issues. "Isolation" has always been an important topic.In the North, there were white segregationists and black segregationists.Sometimes quite intense.It is extremely complicated. There are segregation claims of racial superiority, both black and white; there are also those who are only concerned about the preservation of their own national culture; Kernel's. I remember a few years ago, my good friend Laura and I often discussed various issues.When she moved away, because she knew that I was interested in Macomb X, a black leader, she gave me a commemorative picture album about him as a parting gift.This is a carefully edited collection of historical photographs.As I flipped through, a photo made me hardly believe my eyes.This is a group of white American Neo-Nazi members wearing eye-catching Nazi symbols, participating in the black "Islamic State" conference! It is not uncommon for the United States to have a Nazi Party.Since there is freedom of thought, speech and association here, any party can exist as long as it does not really violate the law and infringe others.But I thought, what the hell is it that brings together the most radical groups of the two most incompatible colors?It's actually "racial segregation".They all advocate living separately, not mixing, not merging.When they got together, they were actually "discussing how to achieve racial separation".When Martin Luther King Jr. in the South was leading a black civil rights movement against racial segregation in full swing, the North had already achieved racial integration more than a hundred years ago. Become one of the thoughts and discuss freely. This situation has actually continued to this day.On the opening day of the famous Holocaust Museum in Washington a few years ago, a grand opening ceremony was held outside the museum.You know, this museum was funded by Jews to commemorate the Jews who were massacred in the genocide of World War II, and at the same time to make the world alert to the brutality of human beings.There was actually a protest area next to the venue for the opening ceremony that day, because three popular groups applied for protest actions, and they arrived as scheduled.Who are these people?You must not have imagined that a group of propagandists of white racial separatism in the KKK, a group of propagandists of racial separatism in blacks, and finally a young Jewish organization, they appeared only to protest against the first two groups, to protest. The idea of ​​racial separation is very easily entwined with sentiments of racial superiority.Generally speaking, as long as white people propose separation, no matter how much they justify themselves as "cultural preservation", it is difficult to clear themselves up, because the history of slavery and southern apartheid has stimulated the entire United States too much.So, you might ask, do blacks also have the segregation demanded by the sentiment of racial supremacy?Indeed.I remember a TV station ran a program in which the public discussed the issue of black-and-white intermarriage.First, a pair of black and white couples will talk about the resistance they have received from their relatives, and then these relatives will come out and talk about the reasons for their opposition.That day, all those who came out against it were blacks.Their reasons all tinged with a sentiment of black racial superiority.For example, the black race is extraordinarily strong, black and white intermarriage will destroy the black race, and so on.Almost none of the reasons that sounded personal to the marriage were based on a racial reason.I thought at the time, if a white guy said that in front of me, I would definitely think he was the KKK. The United States still has the KKK, but it is different from the KKK in history.One is that the quantity is small and scattered.This kind of dispersion refers not only to the dispersion of personnel, but also to the dispersion of viewpoints.They are not a unified organization.Most of them are scattered small organizations with different names and purposes.Some of them clearly used their own racial superiority as a banner. For example, the most famous one, named Duck, was educated and dressed in suits and shoes, which changed people's impression of the KKK as a "Southern bumpkin".He solemnly declared that his discrimination against blacks had a scientific basis in race.However, most Americans still regard him as crazy.However, there are also a considerable number of KKKs who claim that they do not discriminate against blacks, but that they are "more proud" of their ethnicity, and therefore demand separation. The KKK's status in America today differs most markedly from its history in the general notoriety.So much so that their most famous leader today, Duck, finally changed the name of his organization to a name without the letter "K".Although everyone still classifies him as "KKK" based on his point of view. Today, radicals such as the KKK and neo-Nazis still exist in the United States. People generally think that they belong to the category of "lunatics". When they occasionally hold demonstrations, they rarely look at them directly.For example, when the KKK held a "white supremacy" sign to parade, two white people painted themselves green and held a "green supremacy" sign with a smile, making the KKK look boring and absurd. Recently I read a very interesting book.This book does have more tangible implications for our understanding of the new modern American KKK.Because the author of the book is a black man, and a successful black musician.His name is Dale Davis. Dale Davis had an unusual childhood.Because they lived in the north, his parents not only had a stable life, but also had their own business normally before the blacks in the south got rid of the racial segregation.His father became a diplomat sent by the US federal government to an African country when he was very young.He is an American, but he grew up in Africa and traveled around the world with his parents in many countries.Due to his father's working relationship, he has also met many high-level leaders of the country. It can be said that he has seen a lot since he was a child.During his teenage years, the family moved back to the United States.It was the 1960s when the black civil rights movement was surging.For the first time in his life, he came into contact with a country full of mixed races and contradictions. Just because he didn't grow up in such an environment since he was a child, and because he is a black man, he is particularly sensitive and puzzled by this sudden encounter.Therefore, while starting his own music career, he made up his mind to find out the reasons why KKK, which holds the most extreme attitude, discriminates against and even hates blacks in his spare time.Since then, he has done everything possible to interview a large number of KKK members and leaders, and has become good friends with a considerable number of them. In his published book, he records a large number of discussions between him and the leaders of the KKK on racial issues.For the first time, the outside world has a more in-depth understanding of the KKK, an organization that has always made outsiders feel mysterious and terrifying.Let the outside world understand that they are also made up of various people, and these people have various reasons for their racial prejudice.With his own experience, he made people feel for the first time that prejudices and contradictions sometimes require the efforts of both parties to eliminate them. Instead of poisoning the hearts of both parties in the vicious circle of hatred, it is better for everyone to do their part. Make an effort to dissolve this vicious circle of hatred.In his book, we see many things about the modern KKK that we didn't know before.Before this, I would never have believed that it was possible for a black man to become friends with the KKK, let alone that members of the KKK would accept such friendship.A leader of the KKK organization even asked him to be the godfather of his daughter. If the person concerned hadn't written it down in black and white, no one would dare to believe such a thing. From Dale Davis' book, we can see that today's KKK's views are not just a racial issue. It can be said that they are actually struggling to adapt to this rapidly changing modern American society.The beginning of this change is closely related to the black civil rights movement in the 1960s and the emergence of the concept of multiculturalism thereafter.This also deepened their sensitivity to racial issues, or in other words, their anger at the "invasion" of alien cultures. In their ideal of a "racially separated society," it was more of a "good old days" than a purely white world.There, there is no "Pandora's box" opened by the two keys of "multiculturalism" and "social tolerance".It was a quiet world without rock music, country music and classical music lingered in a stable, traditional family without so many marriages, with children and grandchildren around their knees.There are still life paintings or landscape paintings with exquisite brushwork and lifelike style hanging in the house, without those modernist, postmodernist, and postpostmodernist art that swaying with teeth and claws.Of course, there is no homosexuality, no strange "culture" and habits brought by ethnic groups in all corners of the world, there are not so many crimes committed by ethnic minorities, and life is not a new pattern every day.And now, all this eccentricity and aggressiveness pushes back the white culture that wants to live a normal life.Even mixed races are unbearably numerous.In the future, not only is the traditional white culture worrying, but even the pure Anglo-Saxon white nation itself will gradually disappear. In this regard, they are different from the German Nazis back then. Although they also believed that their own nation was superior, the German Aryan superiority was a very strong superiority. Without any crisis, all other "non-superior" ethnic groups should be wiped out.Today's modern KKK in the United States is indeed facing the crisis of their own ethnic culture, facing the culture that they have always been proud of, and may become weak.Even in this case, most of them ask only "separation". So, in Dale Davis's book, you can see that their anger about drug use, homosexuality and interracial marriage and so on is much more angry than their anger about black people.There are actually some Indians who joined the ranks of this outrage. Dale Davis said that if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he would never believe that today's American KKK also has members of Indians. It should be said that many people have the same dissatisfaction and worries, and the KKK is just an extremist among them.Or perhaps the dissatisfaction of others led to confusion, whereas the dissatisfaction of members of the modern American KKK leads to anger.Therefore, they adopted the name of the most extreme and vicious organization on racial issues in American history as their logo to prove to the society how far their anger has reached.This also makes some of their emotions, opinions, etc., which could have caused normal discussions in society, no one wants to listen to them.The greatest significance of Dale Davis is that as a black man, an object of hostility to the KKK, he does not easily allow himself to be controlled by hatred caused by anger, and does not easily enter such a seemingly hopeless vicious circle.He's not going to join the KKK in pushing this accelerating wheel of hate in the same direction.Instead, turn around first, reach out to them with dignity, seek mutual understanding, find the source of this hatred, and then, seek society's understanding of the modern KKK and the way to dissolve the hatred.His efforts were multiplied precisely because he was a black man. For example, while chatting with a KKK leader, Dale Davis found that they shared at least some issues, such as their desire to stop drugs.Therefore, he suggested that since the KKK and black people's groups have common views on this point, why not just cooperate on this issue of drug control?Unexpectedly, the KKK told him that they had indeed sent a proposal to a local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to hold an anti-drug parade together.However, the other party flatly refused.In view of the serious drug problem of local blacks, the local leader of the KKK also interviewed a local leader of the Association for the Advancement of Colored People, hoping to work together to solve the drug problem in low-income areas of the area.But the answer he got was that we don't want anything to do with the KKK. Dale Davis later learned that the NAACP had also disqualified a member of the KKK because one of its members, a lawyer by profession, had defended a member of the KKK.In this regard, Dale Davis believes that the American Civil Liberties Union will do a much better job. When they accept a citizen's application for legal aid, they only consider whether the applicant's civil rights have been violated, and do not consider his other background.So you must remember the story I told a few years ago, that a local organization in the KKK won its own case with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union. After he and the KKK spoke many times and became friends, Dale Davis felt that there were also many factors that could be eliminated through the efforts of both parties in the anger of the modern American KKK.He hopes that more people can start the same attempt as him, which is to eliminate hatred.He believes that mutual understanding is the first step and the most important beginning.So, when he learned that Howard University in Washington, D.C., would hold a televised discussion on racial issues, he hoped that some of his KKK friends' thoughts would also be known in this discussion.Although he knew that this was a discussion initiated by black people, he also knew that today's black leader Jesse Jackson would also be present.Dale Davis's idea is very natural. Since it is discussing the issue of race, then, of course, there should be two opinions.He first consulted his KKK friend, who said that he did not want to express his opinion on this occasion, but he was very interested in participating in the observation.They live in Maryland, and after booking an audition, they drove the long way there. As a result, just as the discussion was about to start, the discussion moderator, who was mainly black, very bluntly disqualified the KKK member from observing, and called the police to invite him out.Dale Davis himself once had the experience of being picked on by a white police officer, and it caused his white girlfriend to break up with him.This is also one of the reasons that prompted him to make up his mind to start research on KKK.Now, he was surprised to find that in a black environment, his white friends were also treated with the same kind of discrimination.He felt that almost no one would speak out except himself.Therefore, he argued for the equal right of hearing of this KKK friend.However, nothing worked. The experience of Dale Davis makes us see that the background of racial issues in the modern sense is that all ethnic groups in the United States have completely equal status and rights in law, and racial segregation has been abolished, but racial differences remain. exist.Therefore, in fact, racial discrimination is no longer the monopoly of a certain ethnic group.If there is not enough conscience, moral pursuit and rational thinking, discrimination can happen between any race.Perhaps, because white Americans are still a demographic majority, they still hold the social status advantages left over from history, so people pay more attention to them.However, with the rapid growth of ethnic minorities in the United States, if people give up rational persistence and moral pursuit, then, one day, there will be "racial discrimination" that "fights for nothing". For example, in the black civil rights movement, the city of Montgomery, where the most famous bus strike took place, recently a protest in a black community continued. Although the theme is still related to "race", the content is not what it used to be.Their target was a beauty shop of Vietnamese origin.Because this beauty shop is going to open in this black neighborhood, where black people are using racial issues as a demand to exclude it.The real background of this dispute is that the black owners of the community do not want to be robbed of their business. In the research of Dale Davis, we can see that although KKK members in the United States mainly belong to the low-educated blue-collar working class, their problems are still narrow.However, quite a few of them came from residential areas where black and white were mixed since they were young. They were used to playing with black children when they were young, and even today they still have black friends.Some of their prejudice against blacks is also caused by the problems of ethnic minorities themselves. In a conversation between Dale Davis and KKK local leader Watt, they talked about prejudice formation.They talked about the Los Angeles riots that we mentioned at the beginning of the year.I was reading materials about this incident at the time, so I was deeply impressed by the content of their conversation. The KKK leader said that he also watched the famous video, although he did not know the cause of the beating of Rodney King by the police and what happened before.But as far as this video is concerned, it is bad.What they were going to do was take him away in cuffs, not a beating.He was also very angry about this.He thought that no matter how big Rodney King's crimes were, the police shouldn't beat him like this. However, Watt believes that this does not make it an excuse for black riots.尤其是在暴乱中他们伤害了那么多无辜的生命。暴乱的黑人攻击一些无辜的白人，难道他们仅仅因为恰巧投胎在一个白人家里，就该遭受这些吗？戴尔·戴维斯试图让他理解，这是因为陪审团的判决使得黑人感到意外和愤怒，才导致这场混乱。 这名KKK领导人却说，戴尔，你的祖先是戴着奴隶的锁链的。可是他们是如何挣脱这个锁链的呢？并不是依靠暴力。而今天的人们应该远比过去更有智慧。一场暴乱只意味着分裂一个城市。暴乱的人们起劲地去偷一些自己需要的东西，例如彩电，十速自行车，百货，珠宝等等。正因为罗德尼.金是在落杉矶被打，所以就给这个城市的人有了一个偷窃抢劫的借口。问题在于这些偷窃抢劫的暴乱者中，至少有一半人是根本不在乎警察把罗德尼金怎么样的，因为他们自己每天在大街上自相残杀。瓦特是在指出美国的一个事实，就是高犯罪率的黑人，其受害者绝大多数都是黑人自己。他说，暴乱对于他们只是抢得一只新彩电的借口罢了。 黑人民权运动的时候，南方黑人一直是克制地坚持非暴力，但是，从未经历种族隔离的大多数美国大都市黑人却有过数次暴乱。这名KKK领导人经历过1968年的城市黑人暴乱，他告诉戴尔，他当时是一名警察。瓦特说，当他们抢劫的时候，总是说是因为饥饿所致。可是他说，我亲眼看到他们在街上把一辆十速自行车拖回家，谁也吃不下一辆十速自行车去。 戴尔·戴维斯毕竟是一个黑人，他也许还是第一次面对这样尖锐直接的对于黑人社区本身所存在的问题的批评。他只能问，那你说该怎么办？这名KKK领导人说，任何一个案子都有上诉的机会。这里不仅有上诉法庭，也有社区关系委员会。暴力肯定不是解决问题的答案。戴尔争辩说，他们在第一个法庭就这样碰了壁，对再去一个法庭上诉就没什么信心了。瓦特摇摇头说，他们根本不需要下一个法庭，那样的话他们就没有借口去抢彩电和十速自行车了。他说，历史证明，只要一件对黑人不公正的事情发生，大都市的黑人就会乘机放火和抢劫。他随之举了几次美国历史上著名的类似洛杉矶暴乱的事件。 戴尔再次试图争辩，指出KKK也有过多次暴力行为。可是在对方的追问下，他不得不承认，在他所指出的这些KKK暴力里，从来没有发生KKK对普通的民众进行抢劫。所以，那名KKK领导人说，他认为，KKK的这些暴力行为只要不是侵犯到公众的，就不是“暴乱”。那是一个特定群体对另一个特定群体发起暴力攻击，有点类似帮派战的意思。但是，在这一点上，这名KKK首领肯定是偷换了概念。因为在南方历史上黑人受到KKK暴力攻击的年代，几乎毫无抵抗能力，根本与帮派战的概念沾不上边。但是KKK暴乱不演变成对平民的抢劫，也是事实。 在谈到黑人民众团体的领导人时，这名KKK的领导人说，他认为有一半的黑人政治领袖和社区的领袖是善良的。但是，另一半则不仅不善而且是种族主义者。他当场向戴尔·戴维斯念了一段某黑人领袖的讲话，“要是你非得出去偷一个钱包，你就出去偷一个白人女士的钱包，而不要一个黑人女士的钱包。要是你非得出去抢劫和枪杀什么人，那你就去抢劫和枪杀一个白人，不要去抢劫和枪杀一个黑人。”他对戴尔说，这些黑人领袖在鼓励黑人出去袭击“白魔”，他们在把这些灌输到黑人的脑袋里去。 确实，任何在美国生活的人，都知道黑人的犯罪率远高于白人这个事实。就象瓦特说指出的，美国监狱百分之九十的在押犯是黑人。问题在于，黑人犯罪的受害者，多数也是黑人。 在这个问题上，最具象征意义的悲剧，就是今年发生的一个案件了。我数次向你提到过六十年代的著名黑人领袖马康姆.X。他被自己的黑人兄弟暗杀以后，他的夫人辛苦抚养孩子，自力并且自强，坚持读出了博士学位，在美国普遍受到人们的敬重。可是，她却在今年被自己的一个外孙放火烧死。她的这个外孙，就是大量的黑人“问题青少年”之一。 戴尔·戴维斯书中的纪录非常诚实。他并不怀着偏见去刻意丑化他的KKK谈话对象，也不掩饰他自己有时感到的“难以应对”的局面。 我们在滤去作为KKK领导人的瓦特，在谈话中很可能存在的种族偏见的成分之后，依然可以发现，他讲出了许多事实。你会因此看到，在评论和研究洛杉矶暴乱的大量文章中，都把注意力更多地集中到美国的种族矛盾上，但是，实际上，这场暴乱甚至可能更多地反映了美国少数族裔的犯罪问题以及存在的其它种种问题。而假如这个问题不解决，种族偏见，种族歧视甚至种族仇恨的结扣都很难打开。而且，就象我前面提起的，这不是一方的问题，偏见歧视和仇恨都会形成一种循环。 有时我想，美国可真是一个困难重重的社会。在六十年代以后，这里的人们在尽最大的努力鼓励多元文化，提倡宽容和对弱势团体的尊重。以致于我们这样的新移民，在和这个社会产生交流的时候，都逐步感受到一种语言压力，凡是在涉及一个少数族裔话题的时候，会更小心地选择遣词用句，以免冒犯和不尊重。在这样的整体气氛下，使得正常的对于少数族裔中存在问题的讨论，被基本中止了。 作为多数族裔的白人，大多数不愿意为了触及这个话题，而冒被指责为“种族主义”的风险。结果，不怕冒这个“风险”，反倒就只有KKK和一些“愤怒”的人们了。可是，他们的组成是如此复杂，在触及这个话题的时候，多数情况下非常情绪化，顾不上掌握什么分寸。这样，更使得一般的美国白人不愿意加入这个讨论的行列。而少数族裔本身，更是对“歧视”二字格外敏感。他们通常不愿意去触动自己的“疮疤”。例如在对待美国黑人在监狱在押犯中异乎寻常的高比例的问题上，黑人社团一般都希望把问题引向警察与司法对黑人的偏见，而很少愿意正面对待这个问题。 但是，这种状况在美国持续多年之后，终于开始有明显的改变的迹象。例如我曾经向你介绍过的百万黑人大游行的主题，开始第一次大规模地明确地不是把重点放在“反种族歧视”上，而是放在面对黑人自身的问题上。戴尔·戴维斯这本书的出版，更是在黑人和KKK这样的白人极端组织之间，建立起讨论种族问题的可能性。 在整个形势出现一些松动的情况下，克林顿总统曾经试图为这种讨论的气氛作出推动，因为问题的一味回避永远无助于问题的解决。于是，在今年，克林顿总统终于利用在一个高中出席讨论会的时候，公开呼吁对于种族问题的讨论，鼓励大家把自己的想法讲出来。但是，看来人们还是很有顾虑。总统的鼓励并没有引起当场人们对于少数族裔犯罪问题及其他问题的一发不可收拾的抱怨。我惊讶地发现人们非常谨慎地对待这样的尝试。在总统谈了他自己的看法的同时，最“大胆”谈出自己想法的一个白人男学生，只是谈到，其实，他若是在街上单独一个人遇上一帮子服装不整的黑人青年的话，他会感到紧张。克林顿总统就鼓励他说，你感到紧张，可以说出来，大家也可以讨论为什么会产生这种紧张。 总的来说，大家赞同这种尝试。可是，多数人还是持谨慎缓步的态度。在克林顿总统的这番鼓励社会讨论种族问题的讲话后不久，“时代”周刊就有一篇对于总统讲话的反应，表达了一种顾虑。那篇文章是一个有长久经验的心理医生写的。文章谈到，切不要以为鼓励大家讲出心理深处埋藏的念头，是一件简单的事情。根据他作为心理医生的经验，他认为轻率地讲出来，有时候是非常危险的。他不反对讨论，但是他认为必须强调谨慎地和善意地进行讨论，尤其在不同的族裔试图作这样主题的探讨的时候，更是如此。这篇文章所强调的谨慎和善意，的确是非常重要的。 但是，不管怎么说，美国社会在短短的两百年，从奴隶制所代表的种族压迫，走向解放奴隶，再走向黑人民权运动，走向整个社会相当自觉的对于弱势团体地位的逐步重视，直至今天，社会能以谨慎的态度对待新时代的种族问题，我觉得，在这个过程中，最令我印象深刻的，就是这个社会自身的反省功能，以及和平的不具有社会破坏性的渐进改良和完善的功能。他们也走过弯路，他们也打过内战，可是，他们有能力吸取教训，化解他们内部的仇恨，再也没有人打算重蹈覆辙。历史上犯过的每一个错误，他们念念不忘，三天两头在电视和出版物等大众传媒中检讨剖析，至今方兴未艾。 我们谈论美国现代意义上的种族问题，不知你是否注意到，其中蕴含着的一个悖论。多元文化的概念在美国是与各族裔融合的社会形式一起共存的。“融合”而不是“分离”还成为法律被确定下来。事实上，美国的族裔复杂性，也已经到了根本分不清楚的地步。但是，实际上“融合”与“多元文化”是有冲突的。当然，在融合中，各族裔有相互取长补短，滋生刺激出新的文化的正面作用，但是，也几乎所有的的文化，都面临在融合中逐渐消失自己部分甚至全部特色的危机。因此，处于如此强大的融合力量之中的任何一个族裔，不论它现在是多数还是少数，对此都有充分的忧虑的理由。如何又要“融合”，又要“多元”，是美国所有的族裔文化的难题。 因此，提出“分离”的，也不必立即就给他们戴上“种族主义”的帽子，因为问题是复杂的。历史上以“分离”方式去达到保存一种独特文化的做法，也并不是都是负面的，例如，以色列。我们不对以色列的其它问题进行评论，单就他们所做的：将来自全世界的犹太人都聚集在一起，保存甚至发掘（例如恢复希伯来语）一种他们共同的独特文化，在这一点上，他们无疑是创造了一个奇迹。 这并不是说，我主张族裔的“分离”，何况美国的情况事实上是想分也已经分不开了。我只是想让你知道，现代意义上的种族问题没有一个简单唯一的理论可以套用。表现得矛盾重重的美国，只是在现代世界各族裔不可避免的交流交往中，先行了一步而已。 同时，“多元”与“融合”又在另一个意义上形成悖论式的冲突。那就是“多元”的意义在于保持各族裔之间的差异，而文化差异正是形成“融合”的最大障碍。现代意义上的种族矛盾在很大意义上，就是由差异本身引起的。因此，人们在提倡多元文化的时候，必须再三强调宽容的概念，这里包括宗教宽容，文化宽容，社会宽容等等。至今为止，我们仍然不知道，不同的族裔，如此紧密地生活在一起，他们的宽容度是否足以消除巨大的文化差异所带来的冲突。 我又想起了马丁·路德·金最著名的演讲“我有一个梦”。在这个“梦”里，他描绘了种族融合生活的美好图景。应该说，这个梦想的大部分都已经在今天的美国实现。只是，这个梦实现的还远非完美。因为，在种族融合的生活中，当年马丁·路德·金遇到的问题解决了，又产生了今天我们可以看到的矛盾和危机，将来还可能产生新的矛盾和危机。甚至随着少数族裔的强大，各族裔均势力敌状态的出现，如果人们没有足够的智慧去妥善处理，这种危机也完全有可能加深加剧。 迄今为止，我们能够感到欣慰的是，在美国有关“白人将在半个世纪之后变为少数族裔”的人口统计资料和一系列讨论及前景预测，并没有引起非常强烈的反弹。其实，同时公布的研究资料还有一些照理说是相当刺激的消息。例如，到2050年，美国将有百分之二十一的人口是混血儿。 在民意测验中，显示了白人对于美国人口结构的改变，有着“无可奈何的容忍”，大多数人只希望移民趋势能够缓和一些，以使得“改变的速度放慢”。这已经是非常大的社会宽容度了。它的存在正是两百年来美国人道德追求和人性思考的结果，也是这个社会自我反省功能不断加强的结果。 在美国的种族融合的努力中，克林顿总统当任的美国行政分支还是相当注意协调矛盾的，并且在这方面作了许多努力。在这份对于美国人有着重大意义的人口结构研究报告在20世纪末公布的时候，克林顿总统向美国人发表了他的看法。他说，对于美国在人口结构上的这样一个趋势，他乐观其成。他不仅认为这是美国的大势所趋，而且是一件好事情。因为多元文化是好的。它表现出美国的理念和机会不受血脉和肤色的限制。他甚至说，“如果我们能够证明，在欧洲文化不再成为美国的主流之后，我们仍然能够和睦相处，那么，我们就完成了自开国和解放奴隶之后的第三次革命。” 我们可以说，这是在人类进入21世纪之前，今天的美国总统的一个梦。 但是梦想只是信念，假如人们不是仅仅沉溺于自己的梦想，而是对于类似亨廷顿所警告的文化冲突，能够时时有所警觉，主动进行化解的话，也许将更有利于梦想的实现。 在人类漫长的历史上，各个种族是靠高山大川和沙漠海洋把他们阻隔分离开来的。当他们开始有能力越过这些自然屏障之后，人类的历史就充斥了无穷无尽的种族奴役和种族战争的故事，至今未能绝迹。有了远洋货轮，喷气飞机，洲际导弹，全球互联网以后，高山大川和沙漠海洋已经不再成为障碍。各个族裔和文化之间将会走得很近。人类已经无可回避。他们将会以前所未有的规模展开交往，交流，接触和碰撞。这个未来的世界能否经历这样一个考验，而走向一个融洽并且多元，宽容并且相互了解的世界呢？ 面对矛盾重重的今天，我们只能说，这还只是变得越来越小的这个地球上的一部分人的信念。在这个信念里，包含了他们对人类最终都会完成“从猿到人”这个过程的信念，包含了他们对人类的良知，道德，和智慧的信念，也包含了他们对于人道主义和人性必胜的信念。信念就是梦想，不管怎么说，这是一个美好的梦想。持有这个信念的人，今天都可以说，我也有一个梦。 尽管在美国国内确有一部分人对未来美国可能不成其为美国而忧心忡忡，主张更严格地限制移民，主张更多地恢复传统价值，虽然在美国今天还有KKK这样的种族激进分子，甚至个别因种族仇恨而导致谋杀的极端分子。但是我们从美国两百年的进步史可以看到，美国人民“人人生而平等”的理念并没有动摇，对人类向善的信心并没有降低，对自然法的敬畏，对有一个高于人类的欲念的上帝的敬畏，从来没有消失。 其根本原因就是，对于他们来说，追求人人生而平等的理想，追求一个人人都能享有的自由生活，是比维持一个强大的国家，比维护这个国家在国际上的地位，比其它任何比输比嬴的政治游戏更重要得多的永远的梦。为此，他们不惜付出任何代价。 在人类步入二十一世纪的时候，我们看到的是，民族矛盾，种族差异，地区分离，文化对抗在全世界各个角落里顽固地存在着。大大小小的国家，几乎没有人能够摆脱这个问题的困扰。怎样对待人类本身与生俱来的差别，怎样面对人与人之间，地区与地区之间，民族与民族之间的肤色，宗教信仰，文化遗产，政治理念乃至风俗习惯的差别和矛盾，怎样协调他们之间的利益冲突，将成为二十一世纪每个个人，团体，地区，国家乃至全人类所不得不面对的最大挑战。没有人能够回避。 美国人民被迫先走了一步，最先正面面对了这个挑战，先于这个世界开始了实现这个梦想的试验，他们要让五色人种生活在一起，并且和睦相处。 让我们为这个人类和睦相处的试验祈祷吧，因为，假如这个试验成功了，如今生活在世界各地的各色人们，他们在这个地球上和睦相处的“大同世界之梦”，就更有可能美梦成真了。 wish it is good! Linda