我如何能熱愛一個憎恨我的民族

There was a pretty strict system of segregation in Atlanta. For a long, long time I could not go swimming, until there was a Negro YMCA. A Negro child in Atlanta could not go to any public park. I could not go to the so-called white schools. In many of the stores downtown, I couldn't go to a lunch counter to buy a hamburger or a cup of coffee. I could not attend any of the theaters. There were one or two Negro theaters, but they didn't get any of the main pictures. If they did get them, they got them two or three years later.
亞特蘭大擁有相當嚴格的種族隔離制度。很長很長一段時間我都不能去游泳，直到一個黑人基督教青年會建成。在亞特蘭大，黑人孩子不能去任何公共的公園，不能去所謂的白人學校，在市中心的許多商店里不能去午餐柜臺買漢堡或一杯咖啡，不能去任何劇院觀看演出。雖然那里有一兩個黑人劇院，但他們拿不到任何重大影片的膠片，即使拿到了，那也是影片公映后兩到三年的事了。

I had grown up abhorring not only segregation but also the oppressive and barbarous acts that grew out of it. I had seen police brutality with my own eyes, and watched Negroes receive the most tragic injustice in the courts. I can remember the organization known as the Ku Klux Klan. It stands out white supremacy, and it was an organization that in those days even used violent methods to preserve segregation and to keep the Negro in his place, so to speak. I remember seeing the Klan actually beat a Negro. I had passed spots where Negroes had been savagely lynched. All of these things did something to my growing personality.
在成長過程中，我不僅憎惡種族隔離，而且對于由此造成的壓迫和野蠻行為深惡痛絕。我曾親眼看到警察的暴行，目睹黑人在法庭上遭受最為悲慘的不公正待遇。我還記得一個叫做三K黨的組織，它堅持白人至上主義。可以這么說，在那些曰子里，這個組織為了保持隔離制度，為了讓黑人待在自己的地方，甚至采用暴力的手段。我仍然記得見過三K黨鞭打一個黑人，我還到過黑人被濫用野蠻私刑的地方。所有這些事情對我人格的養(yǎng)成都起到了一定的作用。

In my late childhood and early adolescence, two incidents happened that had a tremendous effect on my development. The first was the first empty seats at the front of the store. A young white clerk came up and murmured politely:
在我的童年末期和少年早期發(fā)生了兩件事情，對我的成長產生了巨大的影響。第一件事發(fā)生在商店里，和店前的幾個空座位有關。一個年輕的白人店員走過來，禮貌地低聲說：

"I'll be happy to wait on you if you'll just move to those seats in the rear."
"如果你挪到后面的座位上，我會很樂意為你服務。"

Dad immediately retorted, "There's nothing wrong with these seats. We're quite comfortable here."
爸爸立即反駁道："坐這些座位有什么不對。我們在這兒很舒服。"

"Sorry，" said the clerk, "but you'll have to move."
"對不起，"職員說，"但你必須得移開。"

"We'll either buy shoes sitting here，" my father retorted, "or we won't buy shoes at all."
"我們要么坐在這兒買鞋，"我爸爸回答說："要么什么也不買。"

Whereupon he took me by the hand and walked out of the store. This was the first time I had seen Dad so furious. The experience revealed to me at a very early age that my father had not adjusted to the system, and he played a great part in shaping my conscience. I still remember walking down the street beside him as he muttered, "I don't care how long I have to live with this system, I will never accept it."
于是他拉著我的手，走出了商店。這是我第一次看到爸爸如此憤怒。那次經歷讓年少的我認識到父親并不適應這種制度，他對我善惡觀念的形成發(fā)揮了至關重要的作用。我現(xiàn)在依然還記得我和他并排走在街上，他喃喃地說："我不在乎我還要在這種制度下生活多久，我永遠都不會接受它。"

And he never has. I remember riding with him another day when he accidently drove past a stop sign. A policeman pulled up to the car and said:
而且，他也從未接受過。記得還有一次和他開車外出，他不小心開過了一個停車的標志。一個警察把車開到我們旁邊，說道：

"All right, boy, pull over and let me see your license."
"好吧，孩子，靠邊停車，讓我看看你的駕照。"

My father instantly retorted: "Let me make it clear to you that you aren't talking to a boy. If you persist in referring to me as boy, I will be forced to act as if I don't hear a word you are saying."
我父親立即反駁道："讓我清楚地告訴你，你并不是在和一個孩子講話。如果你堅持說我是個孩子，我將不得不對你的話充耳不聞。"

The policeman was so shocked in hearing a Negro talk to him so forthrightly that he didn't quite know how to respond. He nervously wrote the ticket and left the scene as quickly as possible.
警察聽到一個黑人和他說話如此直率，大吃一驚，一時真不知該如何回應才好。他緊張地寫下罰單，盡快離開了現(xiàn)場。