The young and aggrieved have always been the catalyst behind protest movements. So have powerful images. This moment is no different. The graphic video of Floyd gasping for air and pleading for his life under the knee of a police officer is understood across the entire human spectrum. Floyd's suffering inflicted by a cop who has the demeanor of a man on coffee break is what enrages, unites, and ultimately focuses those committed to change.
年轻人和受不平等对待的人一直是抗议运动的催化剂。同样的还有强有力的图像。这一刻没有什么不同。弗洛伊德在警察膝盖下痛苦喘息和求救的视频,全人类都可以理解。弗洛伊德的痛苦和警察悠然如咖啡休息期间的神态,激怒、团结并凝结了所有致力于改革的人们。
That change is needed is beyond dispute. Despite the tremendous racial progress in America over the past few decades, the relationship between police and African Americans has remained mired in an impenetrable cycle of uneasiness, distrust, and, too often, lethal hostility. Nowhere is the nature of the relationship more clearly seen than in statistics that reveal that 1 in 1,000 black males die annually as a result of a police encounter that turns violent. No other American demographic comes close, although Hispanic-American males also have disturbingly frequent fatal interactions with police.
改革是毫无争议的。尽管在过去几十年,美国在种族问题上取得巨大的进步,但是美国警察和非裔美国人之间的关系仍然处于一个令人费解的不安、缺乏信任,甚至常常是致命的敌对状态。这种关系的本质最清晰的体现,就是每年有千分之一的黑人男性因遭遇警察暴力而丧生。没有其他美国种族与之数字相近,虽然拉丁裔美国男性也经常与警察发生致命冲突。
African Americans make up 13 percent of the U.S. population but are more than two and a half times as likely to be killed by police as white Americans. Most of these deaths happen to black males in their early 20s. By the time a black man reaches middle age, the chance of a fatal police encounter drops precipitously but remains disproportionately high.
非洲裔美国人占美国总人口的13%,但被警察杀死的可能性是美国白人的二点五倍。这些死亡大多数发生在20多岁的黑人男性身上。当黑人男性到达中年时,与警察的致命碰撞的机会急剧下降,但比例仍然很高。
Floyd was 46. He had aged out of the well-documented danger zone experienced by younger black men involved in even minor police encounters. He should have been relatively safe. He wasn't.
弗洛伊德46岁,他的年龄已经超过了数据中所指的年轻黑人男子的危险范围,即使是与警察轻微冲突的情况。他应该比较安全,但实际上并没有。
Stopped on suspicion of passing a counterfeit $20 bill, he was quickly exposed to a form of extrajudicial police punishment that resulted in death. America -- and nations around the world -- have taken notice. Why?
由于涉嫌使用20美元面额的伪钞而被捕,他迅速受到了警察的法外处分,并最终导致其死亡。美国和世界其他国家都在关注。为什么?