巴拉克·奥巴马:更加完善的联邦

sgxiaohe

“更加完善的联邦”



巴拉克·奥巴马

费城国家宪法中心

2008年3月18日

王道余译







“我们（合众国的）人民，为了建立更加完善的联邦......”



二百二十一年前[ii]，在仍旧屹立于对面街上[iii]的一座大厅里，一群人在这里集会，并用这些简单的语词，启动了美利坚令人难以置信的民主试验。这些为了逃避暴政和迫害的农场主、学者、政治家和爱国者终于在这次历时整个1787年春天的费城会议上将他们的独立宣言变为现实。



他们制订的这份文件最终得到了签署却并没有彻底完成。它沾上了这个国家奴隶制原罪的污点。在（是否保留奴隶制）这个问题上各殖民地意见分歧，几乎使整个会议陷入停滞。联邦的创建者们最后选择了允许奴隶制继续存在至少二十年，把这个问题的最终解决留给了后人。



当然，对奴隶制问题的答案已经深藏在我们的宪法中了――因为我们的宪法的核心就是法律之下的平等公民权的理想，我们的宪法保证给予其人民自由、公正，以及能够并且应该随着时间而不断完善的联邦。



然而羊皮纸上的词句[iv]还不足以让奴隶们挣脱束缚，或者完整赋予各个肤色、各种信仰的男女作为合众国公民的权利和义务。还需要一代接一代愿意尽到自己责任的美国人――无论是通过在大街或在法庭的抗议和斗争，还是通过内战与和平抵抗，总之都需要冒着巨大的风险――来缩小我们理想中的承诺的与他们那个时代的现实之间的差距。



这就是我们在这次竞选一开始就提出的任务之一――继续我们这些前人的长征，继续这个为了更加公正、更加平等、更加自由、更加关怀、更加繁荣的美利坚的长征。我选择在历史的这一时刻竞选总统，因为我深信我们不可能解决我们这个时代的问题，除非我们将它们一起解决――除非我们完善我们的联邦。而要如此，我们就必须认识到：我们的生活故事可能不尽相同，但是我们都有着共同的希望；我们可能来自世界各地、长相也各不相同，但是我们都想沿着同一方向前进――那就是我们子孙更好的未来。



这一信念来自我对美国人民正派和慷慨的不可动摇的信念，也来自于我自己的美国故事。



我的父母一个是肯尼亚的黑人，一个是堪萨斯的白人妇女。帮着抚养我长大的是白人外祖父和外祖母。我的外祖父挺过了大萧条[v]，二战期间曾在巴顿将军的队伍里服役。在我外祖父海外征战期间，我的外祖母曾在Fort Leavenworth[vi]的炮弹组装生产线上工作。我读过美国最好的学校[vii]，我也在世界上最贫困的国家生活过[viii]。我与一个身上同时流着奴隶和奴隶主血液的美国黑人结婚，并把它传给了我们的两个宝贝女儿。我的姻亲兄弟姐妹、叔伯甥侄则肤色各异、遍及各种族，分布于世界三大洲。我有生之年都不会忘记，在地球上其它任何国家都不可能有我这样的故事。



这样的故事使我不能算是最常规的候选人。这个故事也使我在基因组成上就烙下了这样的观念，这就是，这个国家大于各部分之和――我们虽各各不同，实则一心。



在这次竞选的整个第一年里，与所有预测相反，我们看见了美国人民对于这种团结的话语是多么饥渴。尽管有着完全通过种族透镜来审视我参选一事的诱惑，我们在这个国家一些白人人口比例最高的州里取得了大幅的胜利。在还飘扬着邦联旗帜的南卡罗来纳州，我们成功地建立了非洲裔美国人和美国白人的强大联盟。



这并不是说种族在这次竞选中不再是一个议题。在这次竞选的不同阶段，都有评论者将我视为“太黑”或“不够黑”。我们也看到种族紧张的泡泡在南卡罗来纳州初选的前一周浮到了表面。新闻界不放过任何一个选后民调，想发现种族极化的最新证据，而且不仅是在黑人和白人之间，还包括黑人和其它肤色的人群之间。



但是，只是在最近几个星期里，这次竞选中有关种族的讨论才变得特别具有分裂性。



在各种意见的一个极端，我们听到了这样的暗示，即我的参选多少可算“提携措施”[ix]的一次应用，完全是出于天真轻信的自由派想廉价地购得种族和解的愿望。在另一极端，我们听到我原来的牧师杰里米亚·赖特（Jeremiah Wright）使用煽动性的语言来表达他的意见；这些意见不仅可能加大种族裂痕，还玷污了我们国家的伟大和善良，并确实同时把白人和黑人都冒犯了。



我已经发表声明，毫不含糊地谴责了赖特牧师这些引发了巨大争议的言论。然而，有些人仍然疑虑重重。我以前是否知道他这个人有时会猛烈抨击美国内政和外交政策？当然知道。我以前坐在教堂里时有没有听到过他发表有可能被认为具有争议的意见？有啊。我以前是不是就强烈反对他的政治观点？绝对如此——就如同我也相信你们中许多人也必定听过你们的牧师、神父或拉比发表过你们强烈不同意的见解一样。



但这些引起最近这场铺天盖地大火的言论不单引起争议，也不单纯是一个宗教领袖在试图说出他所感受的不公正，而是表达了对这个国家一种极度扭曲的看法——这种看法认为白人种族主义是固有的，它把美国的毛病置于我们熟知的其它种种优点之上，它还认为中东冲突的症结在于像以色列这样我们坚定盟友的所作所为，而不是源自极端伊斯兰教派那些执迷不悟的仇恨意识形态。



这样看来，赖特牧师的评论不仅是错误的，而且具有极大的分裂性，而这个时候我们需要的是团结；他的评论充满了种族的怨气，而这个时候我们需要的是走到一起来解决一系列重大如山的问题――两场战争、恐怖主义的威胁、摇摇欲坠的经济、旷日持久的医保危机[x]、还有可能是灾难性的气候变化；这些问题不是黑人、白人、拉美裔人或者亚裔人哪一群人的，而是我们大家共同面临的问题。



考虑到我的背景、我的政治主张、我宣扬的价值观和理想，毫无疑问会有这样一些人，对他们来说我发表声明予以谴责是远远不够的。他们可能会问，为什么你会在一开始同赖特牧师交往？为什么你不加入另一个教会？我可以坦言，如果我对赖特牧师的全部了解就是那些在电视和YouTube上循环播放的布道片断，如果三位一体联合基督教堂与某些评论者所兜售的漫画形象完全符合的话，毫无疑问我也会作出大致相同的反应。



但真实的情况是，我所了解的这个人不完全是这个样子。我二十多年前认识的是这样一个人，他使我皈依了基督信仰，教导我大家有义务相亲相爱，有义务照顾病人并帮助穷人。他曾在美国海军陆战队为国家服役。他曾在我国最优秀的大学和神学院学习并讲学。他主持教堂工作三十多年，服务于当地社区，按上帝的旨意在人世尽力而为——给无家可归的人们提供住宿，照顾穷苦急难的人们，提供婴幼儿日托服务，为学生提供奖学金，到监狱探视犯人并为他们祷告，还向艾滋病患者和艾滋病毒感染者伸出援助之手。



在我的第一本书《从父亲开始的梦想》里，我描述了我在三位一体教堂第一次参加礼拜的情形：



“人们开始呼喊，从座位上站起来、拍巴掌、大叫，像一阵疾风将牧师的声音带上房梁......随着他一声‘希望’出口，我听见了什么别的东西；在那个十字架的下方，在全城千百个教堂里，我想象普通黑人的故事与大卫和歌利亚的故事[xi]，与摩西和法老[xii]的故事，与基督徒在狮子坑的故事[xiii]，与以西结看到的满是人骨的大地的故事[xiv]融合在了一起。这些关于死里逃生、关于自由、关于希望的故事，也曾是我们的故事，我的故事，故事里抛洒的热血曾是我们的热血，滴落的眼泪曾是我们的眼泪，以至于这个黑人教堂在这一天似乎再一次成为承载了一个民族故事的航船，要驶入未来子孙的世代，驶入更加广大的世界。我们的考验和胜利是独特的同时又是普遍的，是黑人的但又不仅是黑人的；这些故事和歌曲在记录我们的旅程的同时，给了我们一个找回记忆的方式，那些我们不必为之感到羞耻的记忆......那些所有的人们都会去研究和珍惜的记忆――有了这些记忆，我们就可以开始重建。”



这就是我在三位一体教堂体验到的情形。像遍布于全国各地以黑人信徒为主的教堂一样，三位一体教堂对黑人社会兼容并包——有医生也有享受社会福利的母亲，有模范学生也有前帮派团伙成员。像其他黑人教堂一样，三位一体教堂的礼拜充满喧闹的笑声，间或还有粗俗的幽默。这种充满着舞蹈、掌声和喊叫的礼拜或许会令不习惯于此的人感到刺耳。这个教堂将慈善与残忍、极度的智慧与惊人的无知、奋争与成功、爱以至于辛酸和偏见，这些黑人在美国的全部体验统统包容其中。



也许这些可以更好地说明我与赖特牧师的关系。不管他是多么不完美，他对我来说已经像是家里的一员。他坚定了我的信仰，主持了我的婚礼，为我的孩子作了洗礼。在我与他的谈话中，从来没听到过他用贬损的语言谈及其他族裔，也没看到哪一次他不是用礼貌和尊重来对待与他交往的白人。他的身上包含着矛盾――好与坏交融――就像他多年服务的社区一样。



我无法不认黑人社区，我也就无法不认他。我无法不认他，就像我无法不认我的白人外祖母一样——一位抚养我长大成人的妇女，一位为我一再作出牺牲的妇女，一位爱我胜过世界上任何东西的妇女。但是也是这位妇女，曾向我坦言她在街上会对从她身边走过的黑人男子感到害怕，并曾经多次说出那些让我感到心寒的、脸谱化的种族偏见。



这些人都是我的一部分。他们也是美国的一部分，这个我热爱的国家的一部分。



有些人可能觉得我这是在试图原谅或者为这些根本不能原谅的言论辩解。我请你们相信，不是这样的。我估计政治上比较安全的做法可能是将这个事件抛在脑后而继续前进，希望这个事件会从此凭空消失。我们可以将赖特牧师当作妄想狂和煽动者嗤之以鼻，就像有些人对杰拉尔丁·费拉罗（Geraldine Ferraro）[xv]一样，在她最近发表了一些言论之后，就认为她内心深藏着种族偏见。



但是，我认为种族问题是我们国家再也不能忽视的一个问题了。如果那样，我们就犯了跟赖特牧师关于美国的那些激起众怒的布道词一样的错误――简单片面、脸谱化，将消极面放大到歪曲真实的程度。



实际情况是，过去几周里发表的这些言论和浮出到表面的议题，反映了这个国家种族问题的复杂性。这是一个有待解决的问题，也是我们联邦需要完善的地方之一。如果我们现在将它放在一边，如果我们仅仅各自回到自己的角落，我们将永远不能走到一起来，解决诸如医保、教育以及为每个美国人找到称心如意的工作等问题。



上篇 中篇 下篇



此为美国宪法开篇第一句。

[ii]即下文1787年。显然奥巴马在模仿林肯的葛提斯堡演讲“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal?”

[iii]演讲所在的宪法中心在当年召开制宪会议大厅的街对面。

[iv] 1787年签署的美国宪法是写在羊皮纸上的。

[v]大萧条开始于1929年底。

[vi]堪萨斯的一个地方。

[vii]奥巴马曾在哥伦比亚大学和哈佛大学就读。

[viii]指印度尼西亚。

[ix]提携措施，另有译为“肯定性行动”、“赞助行动”，指美国在就业、就学等方面对黑人等少数群体的照顾性措施。

[x]有关美国医保问题，可参见http://big5.ce.cn/gate/big5/fina ... 0529_11524515.shtml。

[xi]大卫和歌利亚的故事：《圣经》记载，巨人歌利亚是腓尼基人的将军，拥有无穷的力量。在以色列人与腓尼基的战斗中，还是小孩子的大卫用投石机打中了歌利亚，并割下他的首级。最终，大卫统一了以色列，成为著名的大卫王。大卫战胜歌利亚，隐喻着正义对邪恶的胜利。

[xii]摩西和法老的故事：《圣经》记载，摩西是希伯来人的后代，在埃及王宫中长大，后来与法老斗争，按照上帝的旨意，给埃及连降十灾，并带领希伯来人逃出埃及，来到上帝的应许之地迦南。摩西战胜法老，隐喻着反抗压迫、争取独立的胜利。

[xiii]基督徒和狮子坑的故事：《圣经》记载，大利乌王被奸臣蒙蔽，立下禁令，强迫基督徒放弃一日三次的定时祷告，还曾以投入狮子坑中相威胁。基督徒面对狮子坑英勇无畏，显示了对真理和信仰的坚持。

[xiv]《圣经》记载，以西结曾是耶路撤冷的祭司，他在迦勒底人第三次进攻犹大地时被掳往迦巴鲁河谷。在那里，耶和华的手降在他身上，他感了灵，便开始为被俘的犹太人作预言。犹大亡国后，以西结感灵看见平原上的枯骨复生，以色列民族绝望之余仍得复兴。这个故事隐喻着重重困难和磨难下的希望。

[xv]即费拉罗，希拉里竞选筹款负责人，因发表不当言论于3月12日辞职。

“A More Perfect Union”
Barak Obama
National Constitution Center in Philadelphia
March 18, 2008

“We the people ……in order to form a more perfect union……”





Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America's improbable experiment in democracy. Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny and persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787.



The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. It was stained by this nation's original sin of slavery, a question that divided the colonies and brought the convention to a stalemate until the founders chose to allow the slave trade to continue for at least twenty more years, and to leave any final resolution to future generations.



Of course, the answer to the slavery question was already embedded within our Constitution - a Constitution that had at is very core the ideal of equal citizenship under the law; a Constitution that promised its people liberty, and justice, and a union that could be and should be perfected over time.



And yet words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage, or provide men and women of every color and creed their full rights and obligations as citizens of the United States. What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part - through protests and struggle, on the streets and in the courts, through a civil war and civil disobedience and always at great risk - to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time.



This was one of the tasks we set forth at the beginning of this campaign - to continue the long march of those who came before us, a march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America. I chose to run for the presidency at this moment in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together - unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction - towards a better future for our children and our grandchildren.



This belief comes from my unyielding faith in the decency and generosity of the American people. But it also comes from my own American story.



I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Patton's Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas. I've gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the world's poorest nations. I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slaveowners - an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters. I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible.



It's a story that hasn't made me the most conventional candidate. But it is a story that has seared into my genetic makeup the idea that this nation is more than the sum of its parts - that out of many, we are truly one.



Throughout the first year of this campaign, against all predictions to the contrary, we saw how hungry the American people were for this message of unity. Despite the temptation to view my candidacy through a purely racial lens, we won commanding victories in states with some of the whitest populations in the country. In South Carolina, where the Confederate Flag still flies, we built a powerful coalition of African Americans and white Americans.



This is not to say that race has not been an issue in the campaign. At various stages in the campaign, some commentators have deemed me either \"too black\" or \"not black enough.\" We saw racial tensions bubble to the surface during the week before the South Carolina primary. The press has scoured every exit poll for the latest evidence of racial polarization, not just in terms of white and black, but black and brown as well.



And yet, it has only been in the last couple of weeks that the discussion of race in this campaign has taken a particularly divisive turn.



On one end of the spectrum, we've heard the implication that my candidacy is somehow an exercise in affirmative action; that it's based solely on the desire of wide-eyed liberals to purchase racial reconciliation on the cheap. On the other end, we've heard my former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation; that rightly offend white and black alike.



I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely - just as I'm sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.



But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren't simply controversial. They weren't simply a religious leader's effort to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country - a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam.



As such, Reverend Wright's comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems - two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all.



Given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. Why associate myself with Reverend Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church? And I confess that if all that I knew of Reverend Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television and You Tube, or if Trinity United Church of Christ conformed to the caricatures being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way



But the truth is, that isn't all that I know of the man. The man I met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor. He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine; who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing God's work here on Earth - by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS.



In my first book, Dreams From My Father, I described the experience of my first service at Trinity:



\"eople began to shout, to rise from their seats and clap and cry out, a forceful wind carrying the reverend's voice up into the rafters....And in that single note - hope! - I heard something else; at the foot of that cross, inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lion's den, Ezekiel's field of dry bones. Those stories - of survival, and freedom, and hope - became our story, my story; the blood that had spilled was our blood, the tears our tears; until this black church, on this bright day, seemed once more a vessel carrying the story of a people into future generations and into a larger world. Our trials and triumphs became at once unique and universal, black and more than black; in chronicling our journey, the stories and songs gave us a means to reclaim memories that we didn't need to feel shame about...memories that all people might study and cherish - and with which we could start to rebuild.\"



That has been my experience at Trinity. Like other predominantly black churches across the country, Trinity embodies the black community in its entirety - the doctor and the welfare mom, the model student and the former gang-banger. Like other black churches, Trinity's services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. They are full of dancing, clapping, screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear. The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in America.



And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Reverend Wright. As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children. Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect. He contains within him the contradictions - the good and the bad - of the community that he has served diligently for so many years.



I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother - a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.



These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love.



Some will see this as an attempt to justify or excuse comments that are simply inexcusable. I can assure you it is not. I suppose the politically safe thing would be to move on from this episode and just hope that it fades into the woodwork. We can dismiss Reverend Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias.



But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. We would be making the same mistake that Reverend Wright made in his offending sermons about America - to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality.



The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we've never really worked through - a part of our union that we have yet to perfect. And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American.

sgxiaohe

认识这个现实需要回顾一下我们是如何走到现在这个状态的。威廉·福克纳曾写到：“过去没有死去也没有被埋葬。实际上，它根本就还没有过去。”在这里，我们没有必要复述这个国家在种族不公正上的历史。但是我们需要提醒自己，今天美国非洲裔社区里存在的众多落差可以直接追溯到我们那些在残酷的奴隶制和杰姆·克劳法[ii]之下受苦受难的祖辈传下来的不平等上。



种族隔离的学校过去是，现在仍然是次等学校。在布朗诉教育理事会案[iii]五十年后，我们仍然没有把这些学校弄好，这些学校提供的次等教育，不管是在过去还是现在，都有助于解释今天黑人和白人学生学习成绩之间的普遍差距。



一些合法的歧视――比如黑人被禁止，而且经常是通过暴力被禁止拥有房产，非洲裔美国人中的工商业主不能得到贷款，黑人购房者得不到联邦住房管理局的按揭，黑人被排斥在工会、警察局和消防队以外，等等――都意味着黑人家庭无法聚集像样的财产留给后代。这样的历史有助于解释黑人和白人之间在财富和收入上的差距，以及今天持续存在、遍布众多城乡社区的贫困区。



由于黑人男子得不到经济机会，以及由于不能支撑起家庭而带来的耻辱和挫折感，造成了黑人家庭的涣散――而多年来的社会福利政策可能反而使这个问题更加恶化。众多城市黑人社区基本服务的缺乏――比如供儿童游戏的公园、在街上定点巡逻的警察、按时收取垃圾以及建筑规范的执行――都造成了一个暴力、败落和视而不见的恶性循环，至今仍使我们无法摆脱。



赖特牧师和他那一代人就是在这样的现实里成长起来的。他们在五十年代末六十年代初成人，当时这片土地上执行的仍然是种族隔离的法律，黑人的机会受到制度性的限制。但是，值得注意的不是有多少人面对歧视黯然失败，而是多少黑人男女克服了这些困难，多少人仍然能够从无路之境为我这样紧随其后的人闯出一条路来，。



尽管有这么些人通过摔爬滚打找到一条道路，圆了他们的一份美国梦，但他们身后还有很多没有做到的――他们最终以这样或那样的方式在歧视面前一败涂地。这种失败在其后代中继续传递着――青年男子还有越来越多的青年女子或站在街角，或在我们的监狱里虚度时光，对未来没有任何希望和憧憬。即使是那些已实现了“美国梦”的黑人，种族和种族主义的问题依旧全面深入地主导着他们的世界观。对与赖特牧师同一代的黑人男女来说，屈辱、怀疑和恐惧的记忆尚未远离，过去岁月的愤怒和苦涩也尚未远离。这种愤怒可能无法在公众场合或在白人同事或朋友面前一吐为快，但在理发店、在茶余饭后都可以听到这样的声音。曾几何时，这种愤怒被政客们加以利用，以便以种族划线捞取选票，或者为政客自己的失利提供借口。



偶尔我们也可以在礼拜日上午教堂的布道坛和教众席上听到这类声音。有那么多人听了赖特牧师某些布道中饱含的愤怒而大感惊讶，这个事实提醒我们这个老生常谈：在美国人的生活中，种族隔离最甚的时刻便是礼拜日上午[iv]。这种愤怒确实常常无济于事；实际上，更多的情况是它使得人们无法专注于解决实际的问题；它也妨碍了我们正视到我们自己也是这个处境里的共犯，同时也阻挠了非洲裔美国人去寻求建立一个他们可以用来促成真正变革的联盟。但那愤怒是真实的，是强有力的；仅仅寄希望于它会自行消失，或者止于谴责而不去了解它产生的根源，只会促使种族间存在的误解鸿沟不断扩大。



实际上，在部分白人集团中也存在着相似的愤怒。大部分劳动阶层和中产阶级的美国白人并不觉得由于他们是白人而享有什么特权。他们的人生经历就是移民的人生经历——就他们而言，没人传给他们任何东西，他们也是白手起家。他们一生辛勤劳动，却常常看到他们的工作被输出到海外，看到他们以一生劳动换来的养老金不断缩水。他们焦虑于自己的未来，感觉到他们的梦想在悄然远离；在一个工资不能增加和全球竞争的时代，机遇已逐渐被视为是一个零和游戏，在这个游戏里面，你的梦想是以我为代价的。因此，当他们被要求让自己的孩子坐大巴穿过城镇去上学[v]，当他们听到一个非洲裔美国人由于那些并非他们犯下的历史罪行而在找工作和大学录取时占有优势时，当他们因为对市区街坊犯罪活动的恐惧而被责为带有偏见时，忿懑也就与时俱增了。



就如黑人社区里的愤怒一样，白人的忿懑通常也不会在客客气气的交往中表达出来，但是却在至少一代人的时间段里影响了美国政治景观的形成。对福利措施和“提携措施”的愤怒促成了“里根联盟”的形成[vi]。政客们经常利用人们对犯罪活动的恐惧感来捞取选票。谈话节目的主持人和保守的评论者大肆揭露所谓虚妄的种族主义，同时将正当的关于种族不公正和不平等的讨论抛掷一旁，认为那不过是政治正确或者反过来的种族主义，并以此作为自己的终身职业。



就像黑人的愤怒已被证明常常起到反作用一样，白人的忿懑也使人们无法专注于造成中产阶级窘迫的真正罪魁祸首――这就是充斥着内幕交易、问题重重的会计方法、追求短期获利的贪婪的公司文化；被说客和特殊利益集团操控的华盛顿；以及施惠于少数人而不是多数人的经济政策。然而，不承认美国白人的忿懑也植根于合情合理的关注，而一厢情愿地希望它自行消失，或者给它贴上受人误导或种族主义的标签，则只会扩大种族裂痕，堵塞谅解之路。



这就是我们所处的现状。这是一个我们已经深陷多年的种族僵局。与我的批评者，不论他们是黑人还是白人，所声称的恰恰相反，我从来没有天真到以为我们通过这一个选举周期里就可以超越种族分裂，或者认为通过一次参选就可以解决问题，尤其是通过我自己这次不那么完美的参选。






上篇 中篇 下篇



摘自福克纳的小说《修女安魂曲》（Requiem for a Nun）。原文为“过去永远不会死去。它甚至根本还没有过去。”（The past is never dead. It’s not even past. ）

[ii]即杰姆·克劳法（Jim Crow laws ），泛指美国南部各州自19世纪70年代开始制定的对黑人实行种族隔离或种族歧视的法律。

[iii]布朗诉教育理事会案：1954年5月17日，最高法院全体一致作出裁决：公立学校的种族隔离违反宪法。最高法院以前已宣布高等院校中的种族隔离为非法。最高法院的裁决不仅推翻了堪萨斯州托皮卡市（该市的琳达·布朗一直被拒于街区白人学校之外）的种族隔离法，而且推翻了南卡罗来纳、特拉华、弗吉尼亚等州和首都华盛顿的同类法令。

[iv]意为黑人白人各上各的教堂，都不知道对方牧师在说些什么。

[v]美国一些地方所采取的消除种族隔离的措施之一，要求黑人和白人即使不住在一个社区，也要安排一起上学。

[vi]里根是80年代的共和党总统。里根联盟指主要包含宗教右派、鹰派人物等拥护共和党的选民。


Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this point. As William Faulkner once wrote, "The past isn't dead and buried. In fact, it isn't even past." We do not need to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country. But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.
Segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven't fixed them, fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, and the inferior education they provided, then and now, helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between today's black and white students.

Legalized discrimination - where blacks were prevented, often through violence, from owning property, or loans were not granted to African-American business owners, or black homeowners could not access FHA mortgages, or blacks were excluded from unions, or the police force, or fire departments - meant that black families could not amass any meaningful wealth to bequeath to future generations. That history helps explain the wealth and income gap between black and white, and the concentrated pockets of poverty that persists in so many of today's urban and rural communities.

A lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide for one's family, contributed to the erosion of black families - a problem that welfare policies for many years may have worsened. And the lack of basic services in so many urban black neighborhoods - parks for kids to play in, police walking the beat, regular garbage pick-up and building code enforcement - all helped create a cycle of violence, blight and neglect that continue to haunt us.

This is the reality in which Reverend Wright and other African-Americans of his generation grew up. They came of age in the late fifties and early sixties, a time when segregation was still the law of the land and opportunity was systematically constricted. What's remarkable is not how many failed in the face of discrimination, but rather how many men and women overcame the odds; how many were able to make a way out of no way for those like me who would come after them.

But for all those who scratched and clawed their way to get a piece of the American Dream, there were many who didn't make it - those who were ultimately defeated, in one way or another, by discrimination. That legacy of defeat was passed on to future generations - those young men and increasingly young women who we see standing on street corners or languishing in our prisons, without hope or prospects for the future. Even for those blacks who did make it, questions of race, and racism, continue to define their worldview in fundamental ways. For the men and women of Reverend Wright's generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years. That anger may not get expressed in public, in front of white co-workers or white friends. But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table. At times, that anger is exploited by politicians, to gin up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politician's own failings.

And occasionally it finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the pews. The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Reverend Wright's sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour in American life occurs on Sunday morning. That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change. But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.

In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don't feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is the immigrant experience - as far as they're concerned, no one's handed them anything, they've built it from scratch. They've worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor. They are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense. So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed; when they're told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time.

Like the anger within the black community, these resentments aren't always expressed in polite company. But they have helped shape the political landscape for at least a generation. Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition. Politicians routinely exploited fears of crime for their own electoral ends. Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.

Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze - a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many. And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns - this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding.

This is where we are right now. It's a racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years. Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been so na飗e as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy - particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own.

But I have asserted a firm conviction - a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people - that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice if we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union.

sgxiaohe

但是我已经坚定地表达了我的一个牢固信念――这个信念植根于我对上帝的信仰和我对美国人民的信心－－那就是，通过一起努力我们就能够超越那些种族间的陈年老伤，而且实际上如果要继续走在通向更加完善的联邦道路上，在这一点上我们无可选择。



对非洲裔美国社区来说，这条道路意味着坦然接受过去的包袱，但却不成为过去的受害者。意味着继续坚持要求在美国生活的各方面完全的公正。也意味着把我们特定的不满――要求更好的医保、更好的学校、更好的工作――与所有美国人更大的追求结合在一起：白人妇女打破玻璃天花板的斗争、遭到辞退的白人男子以及拼命为自己家人挣钱吃饭的移民。也意味着对自己的生活负全部责任――更高地要求我们的父亲，跟我们的孩子更多共度时光，读书给他们听，教导他们尽管他们在自己的生活中会遇到挑战，会遇到歧视，他们绝对不能屈从于绝望或愤世嫉俗；他们必须始终相信他们可以书写自己的命运。



颇具讽刺意味的是，这种骨子里美国式的――是啊，也是保守的――自助论调却经常出现在赖特牧师的布道词里。但是，我这位从前的牧师常常未能认识到，着手自助也要求对社会有所信心，相信它是能够改变的。



赖特牧师布道中最深刻的错误不在于他谈论了我们社会中的种族主义，而在于在他说来，似乎我们的社会是停滞不前的，似乎没有取得任何进步，似乎这个国家，这个已经使得他的教众之一（的我）能够参与竞选这块土地上的最高公职，并且已经建立了一个包括白人和黑人、拉美裔和亚裔、富人和穷人、青年和老人的（支持者）联盟的国家，还是无可挽救地困于悲剧的过去。但是我们知道，我们也看见了，美国是可以改变的。这才是这个国家的真正天才之处。我们已经取得的成绩给了我们希望，也给了我们去希望的胆量，使我们去希望我们能够做到怎样，去希望明天我们必定会取得怎样的成绩。



在白人社区里，通往更加完善联邦的道路意味着承认困扰着非洲裔美国人社区的东西不只是存在于黑人的头脑中，承认代代传承的歧视――以及当前的歧视事件，虽然不如过去那么公开化――仍然是真实的，是必须面对的。不仅要用言语，还要有行动――通过对我们学校和社区的投资，通过执行各项民权法律并保障我们的刑事司法系统的公正，通过为这一代人提供前几代人所没有的进取阶梯等等。这就要求所有的美国人认识到，你的梦想不一定是以我的梦想为代价的，认识到投资于惠及黑人、棕色人和白人孩子的医疗、福利和教育，最终将帮助所有的美国人更加兴旺。



归根到底，我们呼吁与全世界所有伟大的宗教所要求的相比，既不多也不少，即：施之于人者，必为欲人施之于己者也。圣经教导我们：让我们成为我们兄弟的守护者。让我们也成为我们姐妹的守护者。让我们找到我们在对方身上都有的那个共同的利益，也让我们的政治反映出这样一种精神。



因为在这个国家我们面临选择。我们可以接受一种助长分裂、冲突和愤世嫉俗的政治。我们可以将种族问题当成表演，像我们在OJ一案时做的那样；或者在悲剧发生后才去处理，像卡特琳娜飓风[ii]造成后果时我们做的那样；或者将种族问题作为每日晚间新闻[iii]的谈资。我们可以每天、在每个频道都播放赖特牧师的布道片断，不断地谈论他的每一句话，从现在直到选举结束，将美国人民是否认为我多少有点儿相信或者认同于他那些极具冒犯性的话语变成这次竞选中的唯一问题。我们可以抨击希拉里支持者的某些失态并作为她在打种族牌的证据，我们也可以推测是不是白人男子不管约翰·麦凯恩的政策如何都会在大选中投向他。



我们可以那么做。



但是，如果我们那么做了，我可以告诉你，在下次选举中，我们会谈论别的干扰话题。然后还会有另外的这类话题，无休无止。而这样什么也得不到改变。



那是我们的一个选项。另外呢，在这个时刻，在这次选举中，我们可以来到一起，说，“这次我们不能再那样了。”这次我们想要谈谈那些颓败的学校，他们正在蚕食着孩子们的未来，无论是黑人孩子、白人孩子、亚裔孩子、西裔孩子还是美洲原住民的孩子。这一次我们想要抛弃那种认为这些孩子不可教、那些长得跟我们不一样的孩子是别人的问题等愤世嫉俗的观点。美国的孩子们不应该是那样的孩子，他们是我们的孩子啊，我们不能让他们在二十一世纪的经济中被落在后面。这一次不能这样了。



这一次我们想谈谈急诊室的队列里是如何挤满了没有医保的白人、黑人和西裔人；他们自身没有力量来抗衡华盛顿的特殊利益集团，但是如果有了我们的加入，他们也能够跟那些人较量一场。



这一次我们想谈谈那些关闭的工厂，它们曾经为各个种族的男女提供了体面的生活；我们想谈谈那些（因为付不起按揭而）待售的房屋，它们曾经属于各种宗教、各个地区、各行各业的美国人。这一次我们想谈谈这个事实，那就是真正的问题不是某个跟你长相不同的人可能夺去你的工作，而是你所工作的公司想把它转移到海外，为的只是更多的收益。



这一次我们想谈谈那些各种肤色、各种信仰的男男女女，他们正在同一面骄傲的旗帜下一起服役、一起战斗、一起流血。我们想谈谈如何将他们从一场本不该得到批准、本不该发动的战争中召回家中；我们想谈谈我们如何可以通过关心他们、关心他们的家人并给予他们那些他们（靠奔赴战场）赢得的待遇来体现我们的爱国主义。



如果我不全心全意地相信这些才是大多数美国人想为这个国家争取的，我是不会参加竞选总统的。我们的联邦可能永远不会完善，但是一代又一代已经表明它总可以得到改善。今天，无论什么时候当我对于这种可能性感到怀疑或者愤世嫉俗的时候，给予我最大希望的就是下一代――那些年轻人，他们的态度、信仰和对于变革的开放性已经在这次选举中创造了历史。



今天我有一个特别的故事要留给你们。我曾有幸在金博士的生日那天在他的本堂埃比尼泽浸礼会教堂讲过这个故事[iv]。



有一个二十三岁的年轻白人妇女，名叫阿什利·拜尔（Ashley Baia），她负责组织我们在南卡罗来纳州佛罗伦萨市的竞选活动。她从这次竞选一开始就一直在组织这个大多数是黑人的社区（的竞选活动）。这一天她参加一个圆桌讨论，每个人都轮流说说自己的故事以及为什么要来这儿（助选）。



阿什利说，当她九岁的时候，她的母亲得了癌症。由于她多日旷工，她被解雇了，也丢掉了医保。他们一家只能申请破产，也就是在这个时候阿什利决定她必须做点什么来帮助她的妈妈。



她知道食品是他们最大的一项开销之一，于是阿什利就让她母亲相信了她真正喜欢、真正想吃的不是别的，就是芥末酸黄瓜三明治。因为那样吃最便宜。



她就这样吃了一年，直到她妈妈病情有所好转。她告诉参加圆桌会议的每一个人，她加入我们的竞选团队的原因就是这样她可以帮助这个国家千千万万想要也需要帮助父母的其他孩子。



阿什利本有可能作出另外的选择。也许有人在这期间告诉她说她母亲的问题的根源在于那些吃福利、懒惰而不愿工作的黑人，或者在于非法进入这个国家的西裔人。但是她没有（选择别的），而是寻求盟友，共同与不公正开战。



话说回来，阿什利讲完了自己的故事，又挨个问每一个人为什么他们支持（奥巴马的）这次竞选。每个人都有不同的故事和原因。许多人提出了具体的问题。最后该一位岁数较大的黑人男子了，他一直是在那里安静地坐着。阿什利就问他为什么来这儿。他没有说医保和经济。他也没有说战争和教育。他没有说他来这儿是因为巴拉克·奥巴马。他只是对在座的每一个人说，“我来这儿是因为阿什利。”



“我来这儿是因为阿什利。”单就其本身来说，那位白人年轻女子和黑人老年男子之间认可的那一个时刻是不足够的。它不足以为病人带来医保，为没有工作的人带来工作，或者为我们的孩子带来教育。



但这是我们新的起点，从这一点起我们的联邦会茁壮成长。如同众多世代的人自从一群爱国者在费城签署了那份文件以来，在二百二十一年的历程中已经意识到的那样，这，就是走向完善的起点。





上篇  中篇 下篇



即1994年轰动一时的美国黑人橄榄球运动员O. J. Simpson杀妻案。

[ii]即2005年发生在美国南部新奥尔良等地的飓风灾难。

[iii]每日晚间新闻是美国电视中备受关注的节目，擅长连续、跟踪、深度报道有关新闻，其主持人一般有独特的个性和报道风格。

[iv]指1月20日奥巴马在亚特兰大美国黑人民权领袖小马丁·路德·金牧师的本堂埃比尼泽浸礼会教堂讲过同样的故事。此次演讲原文及视频参见：http://www.barackobama.com/2008/ ... _barack_obam_40.php





演讲原文及视频见奥巴马竞选网站：http://www.barackobama.com/2008/ ... _barack_obam_53.php
在本文翻译过程中，译者曾阅读到以下材料：

美国宪法部分句子译文：http://www.epicbook.com/
Knifelife的注解：http://knifelife.blogbus.com/logs/17560410.html
DW新闻网刊载的胡祖庶文章部分段落：http://www.dwnews.com/gb/MainNew ... 3_21_11_59_283.html
Earlybirdflying译文：http://earlybirdflying.blog.sohu.com/82658313.html及http://earlybirdflying.blog.sohu.com/83630454.html


But I have asserted a firm conviction - a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people - that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice if we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union.



For the African-American community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past. It means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of American life. But it also means binding our particular grievances - for better health care, and better schools, and better jobs - to the larger aspirations of all Americans -- the white woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, the white man whose been laid off, the immigrant trying to feed his family. And it means taking full responsibility for own lives - by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny.



Ironically, this quintessentially American - and yes, conservative - notion of self-help found frequent expression in Reverend Wright\'s sermons. But what my former pastor too often failed to understand is that embarking on a program of self-help also requires a belief that society can change.



The profound mistake of Reverend Wright\'s sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society. It\'s that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if this country - a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition of white and black; Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old -- is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past. But what we know -- what we have seen - is that America can change. That is true genius of this nation. What we have already achieved gives us hope - the audacity to hope - for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.



In the white community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination - and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past - are real and must be addressed. Not just with words, but with deeds - by investing in our schools and our communities; by enforcing our civil rights laws and ensuring fairness in our criminal justice system; by providing this generation with ladders of opportunity that were unavailable for previous generations. It requires all Americans to realize that your dreams do not have to come at the expense of my dreams; that investing in the health, welfare, and education of black and brown and white children will ultimately help all of America prosper.



In the end, then, what is called for is nothing more, and nothing less, than what all the world\'s great religions demand - that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Let us be our brother\'s keeper, Scripture tells us. Let us be our sister\'s keeper. Let us find that common stake we all have in one another, and let our politics reflect that spirit as well.



For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle - as we did in the OJ trial - or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news. We can play Reverend Wright\'s sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she\'s playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.



We can do that.



But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we\'ll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change.



That is one option. Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, "Not this time." This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children. This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can\'t learn; that those kids who don\'t look like us are somebody else\'s problem. The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy. Not this time.



This time we want to talk about how the lines in the Emergency Room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care; who don\'t have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together.



This time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women of every race, and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from every religion, every region, every walk of life. This time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn\'t look like you might take your job; it\'s that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit.



This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag. We want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that never should\'ve been authorized and never should\'ve been waged, and we want to talk about how we\'ll show our patriotism by caring for them, and their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned.



I would not be running for President if I didn\'t believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country. This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected. And today, whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next generation - the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made history in this election.



There is one story in particularly that I\'d like to leave you with today - a story I told when I had the great honor of speaking on Dr. King\'s birthday at his home church, Ebenezer Baptist, in Atlanta.



There is a young, twenty-three year old white woman named Ashley Baia who organized for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina. She had been working to organize a mostly African-American community since the beginning of this campaign, and one day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there.



And Ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer. And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care. They had to file for bankruptcy, and that\'s when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom.



She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches. Because that was the cheapest way to eat.



She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents too.



Now Ashley might have made a different choice. Perhaps somebody told her along the way that the source of her mother\'s problems were blacks who were on welfare and too lazy to work, or Hispanics who were coming into the country illegally. But she didn\'t. She sought out allies in her fight against injustice.



Anyway, Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they\'re supporting the campaign. They all have different stories and reasons. Many bring up a specific issue. And finally they come to this elderly black man who\'s been sitting there quietly the entire time. And Ashley asks him why he\'s there. And he does not bring up a specific issue. He does not say health care or the economy. He does not say education or the war. He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama. He simply says to everyone in the room, "I am here because of Ashley."



"I\'m here because of Ashley." By itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black man is not enough. It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children.



But it is where we start. It is where our union grows stronger. And as so many generations have come to realize over the course of the two-hundred and twenty one years since a band of patriots signed that document in Philadelphia, that is where the perfection begins.