這是奧巴馬在賓夕法尼亞州費城發表的演講，也是他在參選以后第一次就種族問題發表公開演講。2008年初的初選過程中，奧巴馬皈依的芝加哥圣三位一體聯合基督教教會牧師賴特以前在布道時發表的一些仇恨白人和反美的激情演講片段被媒體公布，全國頓時一片嘩然，奧巴馬頓時陷入嚴重的信任危機。3月18日，奧巴馬在費城美國憲法中心發表了此篇深入探討美國種族問題的演講，獲得好評如潮，成功地走出了信任危機

A More Perfect Union 為了更完美的聯邦
Remarks of Senator Barack Obama
Philadelphia, PA | March 18, 2008
巴拉克•奧巴馬2008年3月18日在美國賓夕法尼亞州費城的演講
海星 譯

"We the people, in order to form a more perfect union."
“我們[美利堅合眾國的]人民，為締造一個更完美的聯邦。”

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.
221年前，一群人聚集在至今仍屹立在這條街上的市政廳里，用上述這樣簡潔的言語，發起了美利堅不可思議的民主實驗。農場主和學者，政治家與愛國者們為逃脫政治專制和宗教迫害，橫渡大洋，最終在費城會議上發表了他們的獨立宣言。——這一會議一直延續了1787年的春天。

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.
他們討論出的文件得以簽署通過但尚未最終完成。它因這個國家的奴隸制原罪而劣跡斑斑，這一問題分裂著殖民地的定居者們，使得費城會議陷入僵局，最后建國者們決定同意奴隸貿易再繼續開展至少二十年，而將這一問題留待子孫后代去解決。

Of course, the answer to the slavery question was already embedded within our Constitution - a Constitution that had at its 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.
當然，對奴隸制問題的解決在我們的憲法中已經生根發芽，法律之下平等的公民權理念是這部憲法的核心；它向人民許諾自由、公平和一個隨著時間推移能夠且應當被不斷完善的聯邦。

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.
但寫就在羊皮紙上的宣言尚不足以使奴隸擺脫奴役，或向不同膚色和信仰不同宗教的人們提供他們作為美國公民理應享有的充分的權利和義務。這就需要那些愿意履行其職責的后來者去縮小我們的理想承諾與人們所處時代的社會現實間的差距，——他們得經過街頭抗議和法庭抗爭，經過內戰和和平違法，這其間總是險象環生。

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.
繼續前人長久以來的、為建立一個更公正、公平、自由、更負責任且更繁榮的美國的努力，這是我們在這場總統競選一開始就定下的任務之一。我之所以決定在這一歷史關頭競選總統，是因為我堅信我們只有聯合起來，才能應對我們這個時代的挑戰，才能為我們的子孫后代創設一個更好的明天——只有相互理解，懂得我們也許有不同的故事，但擁有共同的愿望；懂得也許我們膚色不同，來自不同地方，但我們想要同一個夢想，才能使我們的國家更完善。

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.
這一信念來自于我對正派而慷慨的美國人民堅定不移的信心。同時它也源自我自己的美國故事。

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.
我是一個肯尼亞黑人和堪薩斯白種女人的兒子，在我的白人祖父母的照料下長大成人。祖父歷經大蕭條，二戰期間服役于巴頓的部隊；當祖父開赴海外戰場時，祖母在萊文沃斯堡的轟炸機流水線上作業養家糊口。我在美國那些最好的學校里讀過書，也在世界上最貧窮的國家里生活過。我娶的是一位黑人婦女，她的血管里流淌著奴隸和奴隸主的血液，——而這一血統又遺傳給了我們的兩個寶貝女兒。我的不同種族和膚色的兄弟姐妹、叔伯侄甥們生活在三個大洲，而且只要我還活著，便會永遠銘記在這世上其他任何一個國家里我這樣的經歷都不會發生。

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.

這樣的經歷不會將我塑造成最保守的候選人，但它使我骨子里因一種信念而警醒：這個國家高于它的各部分的加總，高于多數群體，我們本身就是一個整體。

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.
在這場競選的第一年里，我們意識到美國人民有多渴望團結一致的訊息，而不是相反。盡管存在透過純粹種族主義的有色眼鏡來看待我的競選的陷阱，我們在國家那些白種人占主導的一些州卻贏得了顯著的勝利。在聯邦星條旗（confederate flags）仍高高飄揚的南卡，我們筑就了非裔美國人和美國白人間的強有力的聯盟。

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.
這并不意味著種族在競選中不是一個問題。在競選的許多層面上，一些評論家不是認為我“太黑”就是認為我“不夠黑”。在南卡，初選前的幾周里我們看到種族內在的張力問題漸漸浮現。媒體四處搜尋每一場投票結果以作為種族對立的最新證據，這一對立不僅是在白人與黑人之間，也在黑人與拉丁族裔之間。

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.
然而，也就是在最近兩周里，大選中關于種族的討論發生了明顯的分裂性的轉變。

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.
在這光譜的一端，我們聽到這樣的暗示，即我的參選在某種程度上是平權計劃的一種實踐，是那些眼界開闊的自由主義者尋求廉價的種族和解的意愿的結果。在光譜的另一端，我們聽到了我以前的牧師，可敬的杰里梅爾•懷特的煽風點火的言論。他的言論不僅會加深種族分裂，也有損我們國家的偉大與善良；他的言論不僅冒犯了白人，也得罪了黑人。對于黑人和白人同樣是冒犯。

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.
我旗幟鮮明地譴責賴特神父的極具爭議性的言論。對一些人而言，糾纏不清的問題仍然存在。我是否知道他對美國的內政外交政策的猛烈抨擊？當然知道。當我坐在教堂里，我是否聽到他的足以引發爭議的言論？當然聽過。我是否堅決反對他的許多政治觀點？肯定反對。——就像你們中的許多人曾經從你們的牧師、神父或拉比那里聽到你強烈反對的觀點一樣。

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.
但那些最近引起軒然大波的言論不止于讓人匪夷所思，它們不只是一位宗教領袖試圖挺身而出反對他覺察到的不公正。相反，它們反映了一種對這個國家的極度扭曲的看法——它將白人的種族歧視主義視為天經地義，將美國的弊病夸張到掩蓋我們所知道的一切關于美國的美好，它將中東的沖突完全解釋為我們堅定的盟國以色列的行為所致，而非源自激進的伊斯蘭原教旨主義固執而充斥著仇恨的意識形態。

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.
這樣看來，賴特神父的言論不僅錯誤而且極具分裂性，它在我們需要團結時分裂我們，在我們急需攜手共進解決諸如兩場戰爭、恐怖主義威脅、經濟衰退、日漸惡化的醫療危機和潛在的災難性的環境變化這一系列重大問題時制造種族糾葛；而這些問題不是黑人的、或白人的、或拉丁族裔或亞裔某個族群的問題，而是我們所有人都正面臨的難題。

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
若從我的出身、我的政治立場、我信奉的價值和理想來考慮，毫無疑問，對那些我的支持者來說，我的譴責還遠遠不夠。他們或許會問，為什么一開始我就和懷特神父走到了一起？我為什么不加入另一個教堂？如果我承認我所知道的懷特神父不過是電視節目或You Tube上不斷播放的冗長說教中的一則新聞，或者，假如基督教三一聯合教堂與一些評論家四處散播的拙劣諷刺一樣，毫無疑問我也會有這樣的反應。

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.

但事實恰恰是，那不是我所認識的那個人。二十多年前我遇到懷特神父時他引薦我加入基督教，他對我說人們有相互友愛和照顧病弱、扶助貧賤的責任。他作為一名美國海軍陸戰隊成員為國家服役，他在國家最好的大學和神學院里作研究和上課，他三十多年如一日主持一個教堂，為社會做著高尚的工作——收留無家可歸者，照顧窮困潦倒者，提供日托服務、獎學金和監獄服務，并向艾滋病患者伸出援手。

In my first book, Dreams From My Father, I described the experience of my first service at Trinity:
在我的第一本書《父親的夢想》中，我描述了我在三一教堂第一年做義工的經歷：

"People 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."

“一陣大風將神父的聲音傳遞到教堂的每個角落，人們開始呼喊，從他們的座位上站起來、鼓著掌、喊叫著，…并且只有一個簡單的訊息——希望！——我還聽到了其他東西；在那個角落里，在這個城市成千上萬的教堂里，我想象普通黑人融入大衛和巨人歌利亞（圣經中被牧羊人大衛殺死的Philistine腓力斯巨人）、摩西和法老、獅子洞穴里的基督徒、伊齊基爾原野的枯骨的故事。那些有關生存、自由和希望的故事，變成了我們自己的故事，我的故事；流淌的血液是我們的血液，眼淚是我們的眼淚；在這個陽光明媚的日子，這個黑人聚集的教堂，再一次作為橋梁將一個民族的故事匯入未來的世代和更大的世界。我們的苦難和成功立刻變得獨特而又普遍，是黑人的而又超越這個族群；在記錄我們的歷程中，那些故事和歌謠提供給我們不斷回憶過往而不必羞恥的方法，…有了那些所有民族都該學習和珍惜的記憶，我們就能開始復興我們的民族。”
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.
這便是我在三一教堂的經歷。同那些全國有重要影響力的黑人聚集的教堂一樣，三一教堂使黑人社區——醫生和領取救濟的母親、模范生和黑社會成員，連接成一個整體。跟其他黑人教堂一樣，三一教堂的布道儀式總是充滿沙啞的笑聲，有時還夾雜色情幽默。他們總是在跳舞、鼓掌、尖叫和大喊，似乎會嚇到那些不曾見識過的人。它容納了善意和殘忍、絕頂聰明和盲目無知、尚在困境中掙扎的和已經功成名就的、愛和肯定、苦難和偏見這些美國黑人所經歷的一切。

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.
這或許有助于解釋我和賴特神父的關聯。盡管他可能不盡善盡美，但他如同我的親人。他增強了我的信仰，見證了我的婚禮，并給我的孩子施洗禮。在我同他談話時，我不止一次聽到他用貶損的語言談及那些種族團體，或是對那些與他交往的白人畢恭畢敬。他內心也滿是對他長久以來孜孜不倦獻身其中的共同體的或善意或惡意的矛盾。

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.
我不能否認他，如同我不能否認黑人共同體。我不能否認他，如同而不能否認我的白人祖母。她養育了我，為了我一次次做出犧牲，愛我就像她愛這世界上其他的東西一樣，但她也曾坦言害怕街上那些從她身邊經過的黑人，還不止一次講出讓我畏懼的有關種族的陳詞濫調。

These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love.
這些人是我的一部分，他們是美國的一部分，而這就是我所熱愛的國家。

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.
有人會認為這是我為那些不能被饒恕的言論作開脫的努力。我向你保證這不是開脫責任。如果圖政治上的安全，我會忘卻這一插曲繼續向前走，并希望這些言論會自生自滅。我們也可以把懷特神父看做瘋子或蠱惑人心的政客對他不屑一顧，就像有些人在杰拉爾婷•費拉羅因最近的言語包含深深的種族歧視而對她不屑一顧一樣。

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.
但種族是這個國家不容再忽視的問題。我們如果對此不屑一顧就會犯懷特神父同樣的錯誤，那就是在他關于美利堅的布道中以簡單化的、頗具成見的方式放大美國的負面，結果造成對現實的扭曲。

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.
人們做出的這些評論和最近幾周日漸顯現的問題都反映了這個國家的種族問題的復雜性。我們不能完好地解決種族問題也意味著我們聯邦的尚未完善。如果我們對之視而不見，僅僅撤退到自己的一隅安分守己，我們將不可能團結起來并解決類似醫療、教育或為每個美國人提供好工作的需求的難題。

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.
要理解這一問題，我們需要知道我們是怎樣走過來的。威廉•福克納曾說過：“過往并非僵死而被掩埋掉。事實上，它從來不曾過去。”在此我們無需重提這個國家的種族不平等的歷史。但我們確實需要銘記于心，那些至今仍存在于非裔族群的諸多的不平等，都能直接追溯到那些由我們的前輩傳遞下來的不平等，他們在奴隸制和黑奴時代的殘酷制度下備受折磨。

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.
種族隔離學校曾經是，現在仍是劣等學校；在布朗訴教育委員會案五十年之后，我們還沒有改進它們；從那時起至今，它們提供的低劣教育有助于解釋今天黑人和白人學生之間普遍深入的成就差距。

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.
黑人被歧視是受法律保障的，而這種歧視有時甚至是考暴力維護的。黑人常常被禁止擁有財產，黑人企業往往得不到貸款的貸款，黑人業主不能獲得聯邦住房委員會的抵押貸，黑人常常被禁止參加工會或在警察署或消防署任職。這一切意味著黑人家庭不可能積攢大量財富留給他們的后代。這段歷史有助于解釋黑人和白人之間的財富和收入差距，至今還有眾多居住在城市和鄉村的黑人緊衣縮食，入不敷出。

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.
黑人經濟機會的匱乏和因無力負擔家庭責任而帶來的羞愧和挫敗感，都使黑人家庭的生活處在風雨飄搖中，——這一問題可能因多年來的福利政策而更加惡化。在眾多城市黑人社區缺乏基本的服務設施，比如供孩子玩耍的公園、巡邏警、日常的垃圾車和小區保安等，都導致了長久困擾我們的暴力—衰落—漠視周而復始的發生。

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.
這便是懷特神父和他那個時代的其他非裔美國人的成長環境。他們在20世紀50年代后期和60年代早期長大成人，那時種族隔離仍是這個國家的法律，生存機會被合法壓縮。引人注目的不是他們中間有多少人因種族歧視落荒而逃，而是他們中間有很多男男女女能夠跨越藩籬，絕處逢生，創造出奇跡。

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.
然而對所有艱難地邁向他們自己的美國夢的人而言，很多人沒有成功，他們因這樣或那樣的原因而被種族歧視徹底打垮。這一挫敗的經歷又傳給了他們的下一代，這些年輕男孩和正日漸增多的年輕女孩終日混跡街頭，或在鐵窗里受盡煎熬，沒有希望和前途。即使是那些黑人中的成功人士，種族和種族歧視的問題仍然以致命的方式持續限制著他們的世界觀。就懷特神父同時代成長起來的黑人男女而言，羞辱、質疑和恐懼的記憶尚為時不遠；那些歲月里他們的憤怒和痛苦也同樣恍然如昨。他們的憤怒也許并未在公共場合、在白人同事或朋友面前顯露。但它多在在理發店或餐桌上得到釋放。這種憤怒也時常為政治家們所利用，蠱惑選民結成種族陣線，或用以彌補政治家自身的敗績。

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.
有時它也在星期天早上的教堂里、在布道壇和教堂坐席上得到釋放。如此多的人聽到懷特神父布道時感到鎮靜的事實提醒我們常常聽到的一句老生常談：美國人最為種族隔離的時候是每個星期天的早上。黑人的憤怒并不總具積極意義，它確實在大多數時候干擾了急需解決的問題，阻止我們面對我們自己其實也是目前的狀況產生的原因之一的事實，阻礙了非裔美國人社區形成它所需的能帶來真正的改變的聯盟。但這憤怒是真實的且有巨大的能量，天真地幻想它會煙消云散，或者對其根源不加甄別就一味譴責，只能加深已有的種族間的誤解鴻溝。

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.
實際上，類似的憤怒情緒在一些白人社區同樣存在。許多白人工薪階層和中產階級并不認為他們因其人種而受到特別的優惠。他們的閱歷是移民的經歷，就他們而言，不曾有人賦予他們什么，他們白手起家自己創造了一切。他們終生兢兢業業，很多時候卻眼見屬于他們的工作被轉移到海外或他們一生辛勞所積攢的退休金被廢棄。他們對于自身的未來惶恐不安，察覺到他們夢想正在消退；在薪水不漲和全球競爭的年代，機會似乎是零和游戲，你的夢想的實現以我受損為前提。因此當有人告訴他們他們的孩子必須乘坐小車去城鎮的另一頭上學，當他們聽說非裔美國人因他們自己未曾參與制造的不公正待遇而取得好的工作機會或著去好的大學就讀時；當有人告訴他們他們對城市犯罪的擔憂在某種程度上是成見時，他們厭惡開始膨脹。

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.
同黑人社區的憤怒情緒一樣，這些憎恨并不總是以和善的方式表達出來。它們實際上構成了一代人的政治環境。對社會福利和防止種族與性別歧視的平權政策的憤怒促成了里根聯盟。政治家們為了其自身的競選目的熟練地利用人們對犯罪的擔憂。很多脫口秀主持人和保守黨評論家們的生涯就是靠揭露種族主義的虛假權利要求起飛的。與此同時，他們還將種族不公正和不平等這樣正當合理的討論視為只是政治正確或逆向種族歧視而置之不理。

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.

正如同黑人的憤怒情緒常常產生不良后果，白人的憎恨情緒也同樣使人們偏離使中產階級陷入困境的罪魁禍首——內部交易充斥于整個企業文化中，可疑的會計操作方式，短期投機，國會游說者和特殊利益所主導的政府，服務于少數人而不是大多數人的經濟政策。并且，一廂情愿地希望白人的厭惡煙消云散，不去理解他們的擔憂也是正當的而是指責他們不是偏見太深就是種族主義者也同樣會加寬種族的隔離，阻礙了人們相互理解。
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 naive 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.
這便是我們現在所處的方位。它是我們深陷其中許多年的種族僵局。與那些批評我的黑人和白人評論員的觀點相反，我從不曾天真到相信單憑一次競選巡回，或單靠哪一個候選人，特別是象我這樣一個自身并不完美的候選人，就能擺脫我們的種族分裂問題。

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.
但我持有一個堅定的信念，它植根于我對上帝和美國人民的信仰。我相信如果大家一起努力，我們能夠去除我們久已存在的種族傷痛的一部分，并且如果我們想繼續致力于建立一個更完美的聯邦，除了團結起來我們別無選擇。

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.
對非裔美國人社區來說，這意味著欣然接受我們的過往的重擔而不至于成為過往的犧牲品。它意味著在美國生活的方方面面繼續堅持完全意義上的公正。但它也意味著把我們的強烈不滿，把我們所要求的更好的醫療保障、更好的學校和更好的工作跟美國人的更大的抱負結合起來。這些美國人包括那個艱難追求職位升遷的白人婦女、那個失了業的白種男人、那個努力養家活口的移民。它同時它意味著我們要對自己的生活承擔起完全的職責：向我們的父親提出更多的要求，空出更多時間給孩子，給他們講故事，當他們在生活中面臨挑戰和歧視時教會他們絕不能向絕望或譏諷屈服，讓他們總是堅信他們能夠掌控自己的命運。

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.
極具諷刺意味的是，自立這一美國含義的精髓，并且也是保守的觀念，常常在懷特神父的講道中出現。然而我以前的牧師所不能理解的是發起自立運動也得持有社會能夠進行變革的信念。

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 the 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.
懷特神父布道的內在錯誤不在于他談論我們社會中的種族主義，而在于他假設我們的社會停滯不前，好像從未有過進步，好像這個國家，這個讓他自己的種族中的一個成員可以去競選這個國家的最高職位，并建立起白人和黑人、拉丁裔和亞裔、富人和窮人、年輕人與老者的大聯盟的國家，仍受其悲慘過往的束縛而不可改變。但我們知道并看到的是，美國可以變革。這便是這個民族真正的精神所在。我們已經取得的成果讓我們滿懷希望，為我們未來能夠且必須達到的成就而無畏地去希望。

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.
在白人社區，通向更好的聯邦的路途意味著懂得折磨黑人社區的情緒不只存在于黑人的心中；種族歧視的歷史和當前那些與過去相比不那么平凡的歧視事件，真實而且必須得到表達。不止是用言語，而且也要用行動來表達——通過向我們的學校和社區投資；加強我們的公民權利法案和確保刑事審判制度的公平；向這一代年輕人提供他們的先輩無法得到的機會。它要求所有的美國人都要意識到，你的夢想的實現并不以我的夢想為代價；意識到對黑人、拉丁裔族群和白人的孩子提供醫療、福利和教育最終會對美國的全面繁榮有所助益。

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.
最后我們所倡導的，恰恰正是這世界上所有偉大的宗教都要求的——利人即為利己。圣經教導我們，做我們兄弟的保護人，做我們姐妹的保護人。尋求所有人的共同利益，并在我們的政治中體現這一精神。

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.
在這個國家我們擁有選擇。我們可以選擇引發分裂、沖突和憤世嫉俗的政治。我們可以把種族問題當成情節劇，比如O.J. 辛普森的審判，也可以在悲劇之后痛定思痛，比如卡特里娜颶風風之后，也可以把它作為晚間新聞的素材。我們也可以選擇每天在每個電道播放和討論懷特神父的布道，一直選舉結束，并回答這一競選的唯一的一個問題，即美國人民是否認為在某種程度上看我相信或同情他的許多攻擊性言辭。我們可以選擇希拉里的一句玩笑并認定她是打種族牌，也可以選擇猜測白人在大選中是否會無視約翰•麥凱恩的政策而團結在他的周圍。

We can do that.
我們可以做出那樣的選擇。

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.
但如果真做出那樣的選擇，我敢向你保證到下次選舉時，我們將會探討其他一些轉移我們視線的難題。再下一次又會換一個。再下次再換。但什么變革也不會發生。

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.
這是一種選擇。或者，我們也可以在這場選舉中做出另外一種選擇，我們可以團結起來并宣告“這次不做這樣的選擇”。這次我們想探討一下正日漸崩潰的學校，它使黑人孩子、白人孩子、亞裔孩子、拉丁裔孩子和印第安人的孩子的未來黯淡。這次我們可以懸著拒絕那宣稱這些孩子不可能學會文化知識、那些族裔的孩子是別人該關心的問題的譏諷言辭。美國的孩子不是哪個族裔的人的孩子，他們是我們的孩子，我們將不再容許他們在21世紀的經濟社會中落后于他人。這次絕不再這樣做。

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.
這次我們也可以選擇探討一下急診室里為什么有那么多沒有醫療保險的白人、黑人和西班牙裔人，他們為什么沒有能力戰勝華盛頓的特殊利益集團，并告訴他們只要我們同仇敵該，我們就可以對付這些利益集團。

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.
這次我們還可以選擇討論一下那些曾向不同種族的人們提供舒適的生活的倒閉了的工廠，和那些屬于信奉不同宗教、居住于不同地區、從事各行各業的美國人的正在被出售的的房屋。這次我們懸著想探討一下這樣一個事實：真正的問題不在于其他種族的人可能搶去了你的工作，而是你所工作的公司僅僅為了商業利潤把就業機會輸送到到了國外。

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.
這次我們選擇探討一下不同膚色和信仰的男男女女在愛國主義的旗幟下共赴國難、浴血奮戰。我們想知道如何使他們從這場本不該批準通過并發動的戰爭中重返家園，我們又如何照顧他們和他們的家人，給予他們應得的救濟來表達我們的愛國心。

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.
如果我本人不相信這是大多數美國人對這個國家的期望我就不會去參加本次總統競選。這個國家也許永遠不會完善，但一代又一代美國人證明它可以不斷自身改善。時至今日，每當我發現我對這種可能性心生疑慮或冷眼相看是，下一代人總給予我無窮的希望，年輕人對于變革的態度、信仰和開闊心胸已經在這場選舉中刷新了歷史。

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.
今天我特別想給大家講述一個故事。當我有幸在馬丁•路德•金的家鄉的教堂，亞特蘭大的浸禮會愛波尼哲教堂舉行的他的誕辰紀念日上講話時我講述過這個故事。

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.
一個年僅23歲的年輕白人女子艾仕麗•巴雅在南卡的佛羅倫斯組織我們的競選團隊。她從競選一開始就在一個幾乎全是非裔黑人的社區工作。有一天，她參加了一個圓桌會議，在會上每人輪流講述他們的閱歷和他們參與助選的原因。

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.
艾仕麗說她九歲那年，她的母親得了癌癥。因為母親不得不請假看病，因此遭到解雇，喪失了醫療保險。她們不得不登記破產。從那時起，艾仕麗便下決心要做些事幫助她的母親。

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.
她知道食品是她們日常最大的開銷，因此告訴母親她最喜歡并想吃的是芥菜和可口的三明治。因為這是最省錢的吃法。

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.
到她母親病情好轉時，她已經這樣吃了一年。在圓桌會議上，她告訴每個人她加入我們的競選團隊的原因在于，她愿幫助這個國家那些也愿意并急需幫助他們父母的許許多多的孩子。

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.
而今艾仕麗完全可以做出全然不同的選擇。或許有人會跟她說她母親面臨的困難的根源在于那些享受社會福利卻好吃懶做的黑人，或是那些非法涌入這個國家的南美移民。但她沒有動搖。她尋求反對不公正的聯盟。

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."
艾仕麗講完了她的故事之后就問在場的每個人為什么他們擁護這支競選團隊。他們都有各自不同的故事和原因。許多人談到一些具體問題。最后他們將目光集中在那個一直都默默坐著不曾開口的年長的黑人男子。他不談醫療或經濟，不說教育或戰爭，也沒說他在那里因為是巴拉克•奧巴馬在場。他只簡單地對屋子里的每個人說：“我出現在這里是為了艾仕麗。”

"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.
“我在這里也是為了艾仕麗。”一位年輕的白人女子和一位年長的黑人男子在一個時間點上的相互認可當然遠遠不夠，它尚不能使病者有所醫、失業者重新找到工作，或讓我們的孩子接受教育。

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.
但這是我們的起點，是我們的聯邦開始強大的起點。并且，自221年前一群愛國者在費城簽署下那部文件時起，世世代代的美國人人都意識到這就是更完美的聯邦開始出現的起點。
 

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