我們是亞裔，我們在紐約當警察

In New York City, a Toll Is Newly Felt as Asians Rise in the Police Ranks

我們是亞裔，我們在紐約當警察

Officer Peter Liang is the rookie who fatally shot an unarmed man, in what police officials said was an accident, in the stairwell of an East New York, Brooklyn, housing project.

警官彼得·梁(Peter Liang，音譯)在紐約東區(qū)布魯克林一幢居民樓樓梯上開槍打死一名手無寸鐵的男性時剛成為警察不久。警方說那是一次意外事故。

Lt. Philip Chan is the veteran officer who suffered a broken nose after being punched during a protest on the Brooklyn Bridge.

副警長菲利普·陳(Philip Chan，音譯)是位老警察，在一次布魯克林大橋上發(fā)生游行示威時，他被人打中鼻梁，鼻骨骨折。

And Officer Wenjian Liu was one of the two policemen who were gunned down in their patrol car in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.

警官劉文健(Wenjian Liu，音譯)則是布魯克林貝爾福·司徒文森區(qū)襲警案兩名死難警察之一。

Within the last few weeks, Asian-American officers have been in the middle of a series of wrenching incidents involving the New York Police Department. Their front-line roles are more than just coincidence: They testify to a little-noticed but significant surge in their ranks.

過去幾周，紐約接連發(fā)生的幾起涉及紐約警察的暴力事件都有亞裔警官牽涉在內。他們頻繁出現(xiàn)在第一線并不是巧合：他們證明著亞洲族裔在警察隊伍中快速但很少被人注意的崛起。

Twenty-five years ago, there were just 200 Asian-American officers in New York City. Now there are more than 2,100 in uniform, or six percent of the total, police statistics show. The percentage of academy graduates, moreover, has jumped to 9 percent, from 4 percent, in the last decade.

警方統(tǒng)計顯示，25年前，紐約市只有200名亞裔警官;現(xiàn)在有2100名，占紐約警察總人數(shù)的6%。過去10年間，警校畢業(yè)生中亞裔所占比例則從4%躍升至9%。

Many arrived in the United States as children and grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan working alongside their parents in restaurants or garment factories. And a good number say they chose law enforcement because of the allure of a steady Civil Service job, a less-heralded career path than the legal, medical and engineering tracks that many immigrant families — especially those coming from wealthier and better-educated backgrounds — aspire to.

他們中很多人是童年移民到美國的，在曼哈頓下東區(qū)長大，父母往往在餐館或者制衣廠工作。很多人說他們選擇成為警察，是因為希望得到一份穩(wěn)定的公務員工作。比起很多移民家庭——特別是來自富裕、有良好教育背景的家庭——所選擇的法律、醫(yī)療和工程類職業(yè)，這條職業(yè)道路不那么引人注目。

“Even though the elites get all the attention, this is the group that’s comparable to most other immigrants and migrants that have entered into the American workplace,” said John Kuo Wei Tchen, a New York University historian who is a co-founder of the Museum of Chinese in America. “This is the working man’s opportunity to move up the ladder.”

“社會精英得到了所有的關注，但這個群體比其他多數(shù)在美國找到工作的移民，都毫不遜色。這是勞動階級向上流動的一條途徑，”紐約大學歷史學家陳國維(John Kuo Wei Tchen)說。他是美國華人博物館的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人。

Asian-Americans are now assigned to all precincts, not just ethnic enclaves such as Chinatown; Flushing, Queens; and Sunset Park, Brooklyn. But with critical mass has come, invariably, more risk.

紐約各區(qū)現(xiàn)在都有亞裔警官，而不只是在少數(shù)族裔聚居的地區(qū)，比如華埠、皇后區(qū)的法拉盛，或布魯克林的日落公園。但隨著亞裔警員規(guī)模的壯大，風險也不可避免地增加。

Officer Liu is believed to be the first Chinese-American to be killed in the line of duty in the city. Last year, Officer James Li survived after being shot in the legs on a bus in Brooklyn.

劉文健被認為是本市殉職的第一位華裔警官。去年，警官詹姆斯·李(James Li，音譯)在公車上被人開槍擊中雙腿，但未致命。

About half of the department’s Asian members are Chinese, reflecting the composition of the city’s overall Asian population. But even with their growth, Asians are still underrepresented in the department relative to the 15 percent of city residents who identify themselves as Asians, census figures show. By comparison, 10 percent of the Los Angeles Police Department’s officers and 13 percent of that city’s population are Asian.

紐約市警察局大約一半的亞裔警員是華人，反映了華人在紐約亞裔人口中的占比。但盡管亞裔警官不斷增多，他們仍不足以反映亞裔人口在紐約的比重：人口普查顯示，15%的紐約居民是亞洲族裔。相比之下，洛杉磯警察局10%的警員為亞洲人，該市人口中13%是亞洲人。

But barriers abounded a generation ago. The department’s 5-foot-8 height requirement for men — overturned by litigation in the 1970s — disqualified an untold number of candidates, especially those who hailed from Hong Kong and southern China, where the men are typically shorter. And few immigrants had law enforcement or military roots; if anything, many, accustomed to repressive governments in China and Taiwan, were suspicious of authority.

但就在一代人之前，亞洲人還面臨著眾多障礙。紐約警察局曾有一個身高5英尺8英寸的要求——20世紀70年代通過法律訴訟被撤銷——讓無數(shù)人無緣警界，特別是那些通常身材較矮的香港和中國南方移民。移民中很少人來自警察或軍人家庭;很多人習慣了中國大陸和臺灣的專制政權，對政府抱有懷疑。

One veteran officer in Chinatown, who moved to New York from Guangdong province when he was 10, said that while his parents were open-minded about his career choice, many of their friends disapproved. He remembered his parents’ friends alluding to a common axiom, which roughly translates as “Good sons don’t become public officials.”

華埠的一位老警察10歲時從廣東省移民到紐約。他說，他的父母能接受他的職業(yè)選擇，但父母的很多朋友不認同。他還記得他們的朋友說過一句中國俗語，大意是“好男不當官”。

“Few would become cops,” said the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. “But now more and more.”

“過去很少有人當警察，現(xiàn)在越來越多了，”他說。因為未被授權公開講話，他要求匿名。

Other skeptics included the New Yorkers the officers were trying to protect.

其他持懷疑態(tài)度的，還包括警官們需要保護的紐約市民。

“Some people refused to be arrested by me, even when I showed them the badge,” said Thomas N. Ong, who retired in 1999 as a detective and is now a private investigator. “They’d say things like, ‘You’re a cop? There are Chinese cops? I didn’t know Chinese were cops.’ ”

“有人不讓我逮捕他們，即使我出示了警徽也不行，”1999年作為警方探員退役的托馬斯·N·王(Thomas N. Ong，音譯)說。“他們會說，你是警察?還有中國警察嗎?我不知道中國人也會當警察。”托馬斯·N·王現(xiàn)在是私家偵探。

The police had all but adopted a laissez-faire attitude toward Asian-dominated neighborhoods, “thinking that the Asians had their own way of doing things,” said Peter Kwong, a Hunter College professor who has written several books about Chinatown.

紐約警察長期對亞洲人為主的社區(qū)采取放任的態(tài)度，“認為亞洲人有他們自己的做事方式，”亨特學院的彼得·鄺(Peter Kwong，音譯)說，他已出版多部著作介紹華埠。

“There’s a long history of frustration,” he said. “When you complained they would say we don’t know the community, we don’t know the language. And since Asians didn’t vote, there was no pressure on the police to be proactive.”

“很長時期，人們無可奈何，”他說。“你如果抱怨，他們會說，我們不了解這個社區(qū)，我們語言不通。亞裔人口沒有投票權，因此警察也沒有積極執(zhí)法的壓力。”

Even today, with the increased Asian presence on the force, language remains a barrier. Chinese officers, particularly older ones, tend to speak Cantonese or Mandarin, and not the Fuzhou dialect that has become more prevalent in working-class areas like Chinatown and Sunset Park. Tensions also persist over neighborhood issues like enforcement of street-vending rules and police vehicles taking up precious parking spaces in Chinatown, which abuts Police Headquarters and court buildings.

就是今天，當更多亞裔美國人成為警察，語言的障礙也仍然存在。華裔警官，特別是年紀大些的，往往會說廣東話或者普通話，卻不會在華埠和落日公園等地更加普遍的福州方言。各種社區(qū)問題也加劇了矛盾，比如街邊攤位執(zhí)法、警察占據(jù)華埠寶貴車位(華埠緊鄰警署和法院大樓)等問題。

But the department has moved to integrate its ranks far more quickly than, say, the Fire Department, after aggressive recruiting and community-relations efforts. Protests in Chinatown alleging police brutality in the 1970s, as well as intensifying gang violence in the 1980s, accelerated that endeavor, Professor Kwong said.

但是，紐約警方通過積極的招聘項目和社區(qū)關系建設，已經(jīng)改善了警察隊伍的構成，進展的速度比消防局快。彼得·鄺說，70年代華埠的示威活動和80年代嚴重的團伙暴力犯罪加快了這種改變的進程。

Another breakthrough came in 1984, when Hugh H. Mo was appointed as deputy police commissioner of trials, and became the highest-ranking person of Asian descent in city government. He gladly posed for a recruiting poster.

另一個突破發(fā)生在1984年。當時，莫虎(Hugh H. Mo)出任紐約警察總局副局長兼審判廳長，成為市政府部門官職最高的亞裔美國人。他還為警署的招聘海報欣然拍照。

Years after Mr. Mo, a former prosecutor, left office, he said, “I ran into these parents who came up to me and said, ‘Mr. Mo, my son is a cop, and they say it’s because of you.’ ”

曾做過檢察官的莫虎離職時說過：“我遇到一些父母，他們會走過來對我說，莫先生，我的兒子是警察，他們說那是因為你。”

The recruitment effort extended beyond the five boroughs. Robert May, a retired Port Authority of New York and New Jersey police officer who is president emeritus of the New Jersey Asian American Law Enforcement Officers Association, said that New York police officers would attend his group’s events, and try to convince members to take the city’s written test. Several did.

招聘的工作不止于紐約的五個區(qū)。曾在紐約與新澤西港務局轄區(qū)做警察的羅伯特·梅(Rober May，音譯)是新澤西亞裔美國人警官協(xié)會榮譽主席。他說，紐約警察有時會來參加他們的活動，希望說服協(xié)會成員參加紐約市的書面考試。有人真的參加了。

Detective Ong was one of about a dozen officers who founded the Asian Jade Society, a police fraternal group, in 1980. By 1994, when the group held its annual banquet, there were 300 members. A few years ago, the group exceeded 1,000 dues-paying members.

探員托馬斯·N·王是1980年創(chuàng)立警察聯(lián)誼組織亞洲玉協(xié)會的十幾個人之一。到1994年，協(xié)會舉辦年度宴會的時候，規(guī)模已達到300人。幾年前，協(xié)會已有超過1000名正式會員。

“We envisioned that it was going to grow, but to grow to 1,000 in my lifetime?” Detective Ong said.

“我們預計規(guī)模會擴大，但是我這輩子能看到超過1000人?”托馬斯·N·王說。

The story of Officer Ben Hoo Wong, who works out of the 109th Precinct in Flushing, is typical.

法拉盛109分局的黃斌豪(Ben Hoo Wong，音譯)警官的經(jīng)歷很有代表性。

Mr. Wong, 42, emigrated from Taishan in 1991 with his parents and two older siblings. After working in a garment factory and spending a year at LaGuardia Community College, he became a Postal Service employee — another popular Civil Service option — because his parents wanted him to land a “good, stable government job,” he said. But he also volunteered to be an auxiliary officer, because “since I was a young child, my parents said I needed to help people.”

42歲的黃警官1991年隨父母和哥哥姐姐從臺山移民紐約。他先是在制衣廠打工，在拉瓜迪亞社區(qū)學院讀了一年書，然后又在郵政局供職——這也是很多人選擇的成為公務員的途徑之一——他說，因為父母想讓他找到一份“好的、穩(wěn)定的政府工作”。但他也義務做協(xié)警，因為“我父母從小告訴我，要幫助別人”。

After some budget cuts at the post office, Mr. Wong said, he applied to the Police Department and graduated from the academy in 2010 as the oldest new officer, at 38, in his class. Since then, he has routinely handled situations requiring a Chinese-speaking officer. He says he is inspired by how many Asian-Americans have become department supervisors.

郵政局幾次削減預算之后，黃斌豪向警察局投了申請，2010年從警校畢業(yè)。那年他38歲，成為年齡最大的新警察。從那以后，他經(jīng)常處理需要中文的情況。他說，很多亞裔美國人已經(jīng)成為部門主管，他也受到鼓舞。

If Mr. Wong embodies the current generation, then Yishan Tu, a 23-year-old native of Pingtung, in southern Taiwan, may well represent the future.

如果說黃斌豪代表了當前這代人，那么來自臺灣屏東的23歲的屠易珊(Yishan Tu，音譯)則可能代表著未來。

When Ms. Tu’s family moved to Queens eight years ago, her father, a schoolteacher, could find work only as an assistant to a real estate agent. But, she said, the family scraped by thanks to government and community help, and she attended public schools.

八年前，屠易珊一家移民到皇后區(qū)。當時，他的做學校教員的父親只能找到一份地產(chǎn)中介助理的工作。但她說，政府和社區(qū)的幫助讓一家人度過了難關，她進入了公立學校。