Stephan Richter：有了奥巴马，黑人为何比60年代更绝望-斯蒂芬·里克特

【弗格森骚乱震惊全球，美国政府的反应与人权现状遭受多方质疑，美国国务院发言人玛丽·哈夫辩称“这纯属内政问题”。The Globalist总编Stephan Richter赐稿观察者网，论述非裔美国人的真实处境，以及奥巴马象征意义的崩解。观察者网杨晗轶译。】

本月早些时候，手无寸铁的美国黑人青年迈克尔·布朗遭警官枪杀，案发地美国密苏里州弗格森市的紧张气氛至今仍在持续发酵。关于造成该枪击案的原因是否是种族歧视，美国社会各界争辩不休。非裔在当今美国社会中处境究竟如何？这起案件应当唤起我们的关注。

密苏里州长下令调用国民警卫队镇压骚乱弗格森骚乱

作为一名黑人，奥巴马总统或许具有重要的象征意义，但在现实中，非裔美国人的处境仍不容乐观。2008年奥巴马的当选，充其量可算作一项阶段性成就，要抚平非裔族群的历史创伤，还有很长的路要走。

非裔美国人的真实处境，应是衡量这个历史进程的核心指标。实际上，黑人目前的社会经济地位，可谓“灾难性”的低。

譬如，在失业率和青少年（中学阶段）辍学率等方面，黑人均高出白人一倍有余。

在美国，黑人遭到监禁的比例几乎是白人的六倍。美国有色人种协进会的资料显示，全美监狱关押的230万名囚犯中，有大约100万是黑人。

是的，单纯从法律的角度讲，非裔美国人现已正式享有与白人同样的权利。毫无疑问，上世纪60年代留给美国的历史污点已经淡去，非裔族群曾遭遇的赤裸裸的种族仇恨与骇人听闻的暴力已不复存在。

但是，针对黑人的歧视以更隐蔽的形式继续存在着，它与我们生活的21世纪显得那么不协调。一直以来，美国许多州长、立法委员、法官不时抛出限制黑人投票权的挑衅言论——它提醒我们应正视美国社会的现实。今天，白人势力曾犯下的暴力和罪行或许不会重现，但其他形式的歧视仍在大行其道。

上世纪60年代的纪录片到今天仍有启发意义。那是美国黑人民权运动风起云涌的时代：虽然那时黑人遭受着大山一般沉重的压迫，但那毕竟是个充满希望的时代。你能在黑人青年的眼睛里看到希望——对扎实教育、无忧生活、美好未来的希望。

今天，许多黑人已不再怀有这份希望。未经父母计划便出生于破碎家庭的黑人儿童占非裔人口总数的72.1%，白人儿童相应的比率仅为29.3%。对这些不幸的孩子来说，唯一的宽慰是自己的遭遇并不特殊。

任何有助于改善这些孩子处境的实质性社会改革，都遭到了共和党的激烈反对。对此，我们已见怪不怪。

真正令人吃惊的是，当具有历史意义的纪念日到来时，奥巴马先生不温不火地致辞，竟白白浪费对全美国人民讲两句真话、实在话的大好机会。

去年8月，为纪念“向华盛顿进军”50周年，奥巴马在林肯纪念堂前的台阶上发表了演说。那本是一个多么难得的时机，他本可以呼吁全美国关注非裔美国人的处境，让大家知道现状并不令人满意。

作为一名黑人，奥巴马既当过宪法讲师，又担任着美国总统，还有谁能比他更适合为黑人权利大声疾呼，为社会指出亟需克服的弊病？

然而奥巴马先生完全没有这样做。他只是一味堆砌甜蜜的辞藻，以一句“那些认为改变还不彻底的人们”，便轻松地把帽子扣在了批评者的头上。

他用优美的修辞粉饰太平：“美国黑人中不乏成功的例子，这在半个世纪前是不可想象的。”

美国人有个坏毛病，万里长征刚走了一公里便开始庆祝，忘了原来的目标在哪里。美国南北战争结束后，虽有了《解放奴隶宣言》和多条宪法修正案，但对黑人权利的保障往往流于空泛，直到1960年代美国才采取必要行动，落实黑人权利。

与黑人民权运动一样，奥巴马总统的当选也仅仅是个里程碑，远不是非裔美国人争取平等权利的最终胜利。

美国必须信守当初的承诺，在全国范围内纠正各种违背民权的隐蔽错误；改善黑人族群经济地位失衡的现状；医治因白人历史罪行造成的沉疴痼疾。

Stephan Richter是The Globalist总编和出版者，正在编写文集《重思美国及世界》，版权归The Globalist所有。

（点击下一页，查看英语原文）

After Ferguson: African Americans’ Plight Still Enormous, Despite Obama as President

Tension has been escalating in Ferguson since the fatal shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown by a police officer early this month. The shooting sparks controversy about whether it was because of racial discrimination. This warrants a broader look at the issue of how African-Americans are faring in U.S. society today.

On a symbolic level, having a black man as president may be important, but on a practical level, African Americans’ very real problems remain. At best, Barack Obama’s election in 2008 can only be considered an interim point in a healing process that must continue.

The core issue by which to measure progress is the actual situation of African Americans in the United States. The social and economic status of African Americans today actually is rather catastrophic.

For example, the unemployment rate for black Americans is more than twice the rate for whites. Black teenagers are more than twice as likely not to finish high school with their peers as white teens.

Black Americans are also incarcerated in jails and prisons at nearly six times the rate of white Americans. According to the NAACP, blacks account for about one million of the 2.3 million Americans currently imprisoned in the United States.

True, in a purely legal context, African Americans are now formally equipped with the same rights as whites. And without any doubt, the unvarnished racist hatred and unbelievable violence against them that marred America in the 1960s have been pushed out of view.

But there are many subtler forms of discrimination that can hardly be squared with living in the 21st century. The constant needling by the governors, legislatures and courts of many U.S. states to suppress the black vote is a reminder of one fact of American life. The level of violence and outright criminality in the white establishment may be gone, but the eagerness to discriminate in any other available form is not.

It is especially instructive to look at documentaries from the 1960s, the heyday of the struggle for civil rights. Despite all the unfathomable oppression that blacks experienced when they stood up for their rights, there was also a lot of hope, especially in young black people’s eyes. They were hoping for a better future, solid education and a solid lifestyle.

That hope has now vanished for many African Americans. The only thing that provides comfort about the 72.1% of young African American children born out of wedlock is that they are less alone in dealing with that challenge. The corresponding rate for white children now is 29.3%.

The Republican Party’s opposition to any real social reforms that would improve these children’s lot is fierce. That is no surprise.

What is a surprise are Mr. Obama’s tepid words, even when a historic date provides the opportunity to do some truth telling to the nation.

Consider the speech he gave on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in August 2013, at the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. Here was finally an opportunity to tell the nation that all is not well with African Americans.

Who other than a black man who had taught constitutional law and serves as President of the United States could have spelled out what urgently needs doing?

And yet, Mr. Obama did not do so at all. He limited himself to mellifluous words. And he dismissed any critics “who suggest … that little has changed.”

Instead, he offered such niceties, as “There have been examples of success within black America that would have been unimaginable a half century ago.”

Americans have a bad habit of celebrating at the mile marker, instead of finishing the marathon. It was necessary to take action in the 1960s to make full the hollow words of the Declaration and the Constitutional amendments adopted after the U.S. Civil War.

Likewise, the election of President Obama was a milestone, but not a crowning achievement in itself.

The United States must still meet the promise of that event and work to correct the insidious and less visible violations of civil rights — and the economic imbalances that are the legacy of past misdeeds — and that still persist across the country.

[Stephan Richter, the publisher and editor-in-chief of The Globalist, is working on a book “Rethinking America — and Thereby the World: 95 Theses.” Copyright The Globalist.]