时代周刊:一所特许学校的种族争议（4）

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For as long as there has been an America, scholars have debated the tension between assimilation and multiculturalism¹, race neutrality and race consciousness.

自从有了美国，学者们就一直在争论同化与多元文化主义、种族中立与种族意识之间的紧张关系。

How to make a single, neutral set of rules for a nation whose very Constitution deemed some inhabitants to have a fraction of the personhood of others—

如何为一个国家制定一套单一的、中立的规则，该国的宪法本身就认为一些居民只有其他人一小部分的人格——

a land founded on immigration, genocide and bondage², held together not by an identity but an ideal.

这片土地建立在移民、种族灭绝和奴役的基础上，不是靠身份而是靠理想维系在一起。

In recent years, many Americans have become aware that "equal” rules can have unequal outcomes.

近年来，许多美国人已经意识到“平等”的规则可能带来不平等的结果。

A text book example occurred at Mystic Valley in 2017.

2017年，神秘谷就发生过这样的教科书案例。

To ensure parity³ among students, the school has a strict dress code; it mandates⁴ uniforms and forbids makeup⁵, jewelry⁶ and other forms of ornamentation.

为了确保学生平等，学校有严格的着装规定——强制要求穿制服，禁止化妆、佩戴珠宝和其他形式的装饰。

But the policy against hair extensions had a disproportionate impact on Black girls, 15-year-old twins Mya and Deanna Cook pointed⁷ out.

但15岁的双胞胎米娅·库克(Mya Cook)和迪安娜·库克(Deanna Cook)指出，禁止接发的政策对黑人女孩产生了很大的影响。

For them, box braids weren't an indulgence; they were a way to transition from treated to natural hair.

对他们来说，盒子辫不是一种放纵; 它们是一种从处理过的头发过渡到自然头发的方式。

School officials say the controversy⁸ was merely a misunderstanding.

校方表示，这场争议只是一种误解。

"As a middle-aged⁹ white guy, despite having done civil-rights work for 30 years, I was ignorant to the importance of hair extensions to women of color,” says Howard Cooper,

“作为一个中年白人,尽管从事民权工作30年了，但我不知道有色人种女性接发的重要性，”波士顿的自由派律师霍华德·库珀说,

a liberal Boston lawyer who's argued civil-rights cases for the ACLU and is now representing Mystic Valley in its lawsuit¹⁰ against the state.

他曾为美国公民自由联盟(ACLU)辩护民权案件，现在正代表神秘谷对该州提起诉讼。

Once the school understood the rule's disproportionate effect, Cooper says, it voluntarily changed the policy, expanded the role of its civil-rights coordinator¹¹ and mandated¹² diversity training for all employees.

库珀说，学校一旦意识到这一规定的产生过分的影响，就会主动改变政策，扩大其民权协调员的角色，并对所有学员进行多元化培训。

The following year, its charter was renewed without incident.

第二年，学校顺利地更新了其宪章。

But Mya Cook, now a 20-year-old college student, says this is a sanitized version of the story.

但现在20岁的大学生米亚·库克(Mya Cook)表示，这是一个经过美化的版本。

In multiple meetings, she says, the twins broke down in tears as an all-white group of Mystic Valley administrators¹³ insisted the rule wasn't racist¹⁴ because it applied¹⁵ to everyone.

她说，在多次会面中，当神秘谷的白人管理人员坚称这一规定不是种族歧视，因为它适用于所有人时，这对双胞胎忍不住流下了眼泪。

"They were totally in denial—they didn't want to understand,” recalls Cook, who was banned from prom and extracurricular activities and received multiple detentions¹⁶.

“他们完全否认——他们不想理解，”库克回忆道，他被禁止参加舞会和课外活动，并多次被拘留。

It was only after the state attorney general's office intervened, issuing a letter stating that it considered the policy unlawful and discriminatory, that the school relented.

直到州总检察长办公室出面干预，发出了一封信，称该政策非法且具有歧视性，学校才做出让步。

From Mystic Valley's perspective, this was the end of the problem.

在神秘谷看来，这个问题到此就结束了。

But for many parents, students and alumni, it was just the beginning—an incident that led them to see Mystic Valley's approach to race in a new way.

但对于许多家长、学生和校友来说，这只是一个开始——这一事件让他们以一种新的方式看到了神秘谷对待种族的方式。

The concerns gathered steam during COVID-19, when the school offered fully¹⁷ in-person instruction, unlike other public schools in the area,

新冠肺炎疫情期间，这种担忧愈演愈烈，当时学校提供完全面对面的教学，这与该地区的其他公立学校不同，

and a Facebook group for at—home families became a forum¹⁸ for previously¹⁹ unaired complaints.

并且一个为居家隔离的人们开设的Facebook群成了供人们讨论之前未公开抱怨的论坛。

1 multiculturalism   

n.多元文化

参考例句：

• Switzerland is well known for cheese fondue, penguin parades and its multiculturalism. 瑞士一向以芝士火锅，企鹅游行和多元文化等特色闻名于世。
• That may be one reason why multiculturalism came easily to it. 这也是多元文化容易适应发展的原因之一。

2 bondage   

n.奴役，束缚

参考例句：

• Masters sometimes allowed their slaves to buy their way out of bondage.奴隶主们有时允许奴隶为自己赎身。
• They aim to deliver the people who are in bondage to superstitious belief.他们的目的在于解脱那些受迷信束缚的人。

3 parity   

n.平价，等价，比价，对等

参考例句：

• The two currencies have now reached parity.这两种货币现已达到同等价值。
• Women have yet to achieve wage or occupational parity in many fields.女性在很多领域还没能争取到薪金、职位方面的平等。

4 mandates   

托管（mandate的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Individual mandates would require all people to purchase health insurance. 个人托管要求所有人都要购买健康保险。
• While I agree with those benefits, I'm not a supporter of mandates. 我同意上述好处，我不是授权软件的支持者。

5 makeup   

n.组织；性格；化装品

参考例句：

• Those who failed the exam take a makeup exam.这次考试不及格的人必须参加补考。
• Do you think her beauty could makeup for her stupidity?你认为她的美丽能弥补她的愚蠢吗？

6 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

7 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

8 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

9 middle-aged   

adj.中年的

参考例句：

• I noticed two middle-aged passengers.我注意到两个中年乘客。
• The new skin balm was welcome by middle-aged women.这种新护肤香膏受到了中年妇女的欢迎。

10 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

11 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

12 mandated   

adj. 委托统治的

参考例句：

• Mandated desegregation of public schools. 命令解除公立学校中的种族隔离
• Britain was mandated to govern the former colony of German East Africa. 英国受权代管德国在东非的前殖民地。

13 administrators   

n.管理者( administrator的名词复数 )；有管理（或行政）才能的人；（由遗嘱检验法庭指定的）遗产管理人；奉派暂管主教教区的牧师

参考例句：

• He had administrators under him but took the crucial decisions himself. 他手下有管理人员，但重要的决策仍由他自己来做。 来自辞典例句
• Administrators have their own methods of social intercourse. 办行政的人有他们的社交方式。 来自汉英文学 - 围城

14 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

15 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

16 detentions   

拘留( detention的名词复数 )； 扣押； 监禁； 放学后留校

参考例句：

• Teachers may assign detention tasks as they wish and some detentions have been actually dangerous. 老师可能随心所欲指派关禁闭的形式，有些禁闭事实上很危险。
• Intimidation, beatings and administrative detentions are often enough to prevent them from trying again. 恐吓，拷打和行政拘留足以阻止请愿者二次进京的脚步。

17 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

18 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

19 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。