美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Unite The Right' Rally Forced Charlottesville To Rethink Town's Racial History

 

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

Charlottesville, Va., is bracing¹ for the anniversary of the white nationalist rally that shook the city nearly a year ago. It resulted in three deaths. A counterprotester was run over by a car, and two state troopers were killed in a helicopter crash. Many more people were injured. The tragedy also left an imprint² on the town, forcing it to rethink a fraught³ racial history. NPR's Debbie Elliott reports.

DEBBIE ELLIOTT, BYLINE⁴: Charlottesville has long been known as a charming college town home to the University of Virginia and its founder⁵ Thomas Jefferson. After the events of August 12 last year, Charlottesville has become shorthand for racial strife⁶.

MICHAEL COLEMAN: As a community, I honestly feel more divided than ever, which is sad.

ELLIOTT: Michael Coleman is a 30-year-old musician and sales manager. He's African-American and standing⁷ by the statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee that white nationalists came to defend from removal last year. The space brings reflection.

COLEMAN: How it's been such a source of hate and turmoil⁸ and conflict.

ELLIOTT: I first met Coleman at a candlelight vigil on the UVA campus last year where he posed this provocative⁹ question.

COLEMAN: Three thousand people gathered with candles singing is beautiful, but are you going to talk to people tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the next day?

ELLIOTT: A year later, he says, it's been a struggle.

COLEMAN: We've tried to have conversations about it. And it just helps you realize how difficult the conversation of race is.

ELLIOTT: Coleman is channeling his energy in writing songs about the experience. Others are still trying to find reconciliation¹⁰.

UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Singing) Spirit of the living God fall afresh on me.

ELLIOTT: A local clergy¹¹ collective has held prayer gatherings¹² in this downtown park twice a day all this week leading up to the anniversary.

FRANCES RACETTE: Yeah, we're trying to piece together our city.

ELLIOTT: Frances Racette is with the Charlottesville Friends Meeting, a Quaker group.

RACETTE: We don't want to put back together what we had because what we had broke down because of a clear representation of the hate and racism¹³ that it was built on.

ELLIOTT: Also at the Quaker meeting, retired¹⁴ coach and teacher Steve McNerney says there's a need for both personal work and institutional change. But he says everybody is not ready to embrace that.

STEVE MCNERNEY: I think there are a major, major, major number of people who just want things to get back to normal. But what they're missing is it's kind of the normal that's the problem.

ELLIOTT: Since the violence last year, Charlottesville city government has been upended. Local authorities faced harsh criticism for not intervening and preventing the bloodshed. The police chief, city manager, city attorney and a spokesperson from last year are all gone. And there's a new mayor who comes from an activist¹⁵ background - Nikuyah Walker. She welcomes the spotlight¹⁶ that has resulted from the Unite the Right rally picking Charlottesville.

NIKUYAH WALKER: Everything that's been going on since Thomas Jefferson created this place needed to have the level of attention magnified on it.

ELLIOTT: With a population of less than 50,000, Charlottesville prided itself on being a liberal college town and a top tourist destination. Now, she says, the new narrative¹⁷ is coming from the nearly 20 percent of residents who are not white and have long experienced racial disparities.

WALKER: And all the things that are very ugly and very real that people face here every day - they didn't want to talk about those things. And last year changed that, the ability for people to walk into a room and demand that you tell the story they wanted told.

ELLIOTT: But as that story is being amplified¹⁸, some fear being drowned out of the conversation. Charlottesville City Council meetings have been marked by disruptions over the last year. David Pettit is a local attorney and a member of the downtown merchants' association. He says just like the national political climate, finding common ground for discourse¹⁹ here is elusive²⁰.

DAVID PETTIT: Out of the events of last year has come a fair amount of pretty heated rhetoric²¹ relating to racial issues, socioeconomic disparity, housing, all of which are very legitimate²² issues. And we're still not to the point of being able to coalesce²³ around solutions.

ELLIOTT: The ongoing²⁴ turmoil has been disruptive to commerce. Joan Fenton has a gift shop and a women's clothing store on the downtown pedestrian mall.

JOAN FENTON: Their anger at the city, the anger at whatever historically has happened comes at a disliking all business. And because we are downtown where City Hall is, we get tied into that even though it's not a real tie.

ELLIOTT: This area is where Heather Heyer was killed and dozens injured when a car rammed²⁵ into a crowd of counterprotesters last year. This weekend, the downtown will be closed to traffic, and even pedestrian access will be controlled by security checkpoints. There's an uncertainty²⁶ about what might happen during memorial events. The local organizer of last year's Unite the Right rally is planning a protest in Washington, D.C. Still, local people fear hate groups might show up in Charlottesville as well. And they're grappling with what action to take.

LISA WOOLFORK: If it feels like freedom, do it. If it doesn't feel like freedom, don't do it. You know what I'm saying?

ELLIOTT: Black Lives Matter organizer Lisa Woolfork offers advice to a college student at an event this week at the Jefferson School African-American Heritage Center. Woolfork, a professor at UVA, says it's not surprising that Charlottesville is still struggling a year later. She says after a large cultural catastrophe²⁷ there tends to be an unrealistic rush toward healing.

WOOLFORK: These things that have to happen at a cellular²⁸ level - and if we think about what the cellular history of Charlottesville is, that is a white supremacist history. And it will take a long time to recover from that.

ELLIOTT: Ahead of the anniversary groups have been training ordinary citizens on how to respond if another crisis erupts, whether acting²⁹ as mediators to de-escalate violence or providing water and shade in the sweltering Southern summer. Authorities have already declared a state of emergency and say more than a thousand law enforcement officers will be deployed³⁰ this weekend. Debbie Elliott, NPR News, Charlottesville, Va.

1 bracing   

adj.令人振奋的

参考例句：

• The country is bracing itself for the threatened enemy invasion. 这个国家正准备奋起抵抗敌人的入侵威胁。
• The atmosphere in the new government was bracing. 新政府的气氛是令人振奋的。

2 imprint   

n.印痕，痕迹；深刻的印象；vt.压印，牢记

参考例句：

• That dictionary is published under the Longman imprint.那本词典以朗曼公司的名义出版。
• Her speech left its imprint on me.她的演讲给我留下了深刻印象。

3 fraught   

adj.充满…的，伴有(危险等)的；忧虑的

参考例句：

• The coming months will be fraught with fateful decisions.未来数月将充满重大的决定。
• There's no need to look so fraught!用不着那么愁眉苦脸的！

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

6 strife   

n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争

参考例句：

• We do not intend to be drawn into the internal strife.我们不想卷入内乱之中。
• Money is a major cause of strife in many marriages.金钱是造成很多婚姻不和的一个主要原因。

7 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

8 turmoil   

n.骚乱，混乱，动乱

参考例句：

• His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
• The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。

9 provocative   

adj.挑衅的，煽动的，刺激的，挑逗的

参考例句：

• She wore a very provocative dress.她穿了一件非常性感的裙子。
• His provocative words only fueled the argument further.他的挑衅性讲话只能使争论进一步激化。

10 reconciliation   

n.和解，和谐，一致

参考例句：

• He was taken up with the reconciliation of husband and wife.他忙于做夫妻间的调解工作。
• Their handshake appeared to be a gesture of reconciliation.他们的握手似乎是和解的表示。

11 clergy   

n.[总称]牧师，神职人员

参考例句：

• I could heartily wish that more of our country clergy would follow this example.我衷心希望，我国有更多的牧师效法这个榜样。
• All the local clergy attended the ceremony.当地所有的牧师出席了仪式。

12 gatherings   

聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集

参考例句：

• His conduct at social gatherings created a lot of comment. 他在社交聚会上的表现引起许多闲话。
• During one of these gatherings a pupil caught stealing. 有一次，其中一名弟子偷窃被抓住。

13 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

14 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

15 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

16 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

17 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

18 amplified   

放大，扩大( amplify的过去式和过去分词 )； 增强； 详述

参考例句：

• He amplified on his remarks with drawings and figures. 他用图表详细地解释了他的话。
• He amplified the whole course of the incident. 他详述了事件的全过程。

19 discourse   

n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述

参考例句：

• We'll discourse on the subject tonight.我们今晚要谈论这个问题。
• He fell into discourse with the customers who were drinking at the counter.他和站在柜台旁的酒客谈了起来。

20 elusive   

adj.难以表达(捉摸)的；令人困惑的；逃避的

参考例句：

• Try to catch the elusive charm of the original in translation.翻译时设法把握住原文中难以捉摸的风韵。
• Interpol have searched all the corners of the earth for the elusive hijackers.国际刑警组织已在世界各地搜查在逃的飞机劫持者。

21 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

22 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

23 coalesce   

v.联合，结合，合并

参考例句：

• And these rings of gas would then eventually coalesce and form the planets.这些气体环最后终于凝结形成行星。
• They will probably collide again and again until they coalesce.他们可能会一次又一次地发生碰撞，直到他们合并。

24 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

25 rammed   

v.夯实（土等）( ram的过去式和过去分词 )；猛撞；猛压；反复灌输

参考例句：

• Two passengers were injured when their taxi was rammed from behind by a bus. 公共汽车从后面撞来，出租车上的两位乘客受了伤。
• I rammed down the earth around the newly-planted tree. 我将新栽的树周围的土捣硬。 来自《简明英汉词典》

26 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

27 catastrophe   

n.大灾难，大祸

参考例句：

• I owe it to you that I survived the catastrophe.亏得你我才大难不死。
• This is a catastrophe beyond human control.这是一场人类无法控制的灾难。

28 cellular   

adj.移动的；细胞的，由细胞组成的

参考例句：

• She has a cellular telephone in her car.她的汽车里有一部无线通讯电话机。
• Many people use cellular materials as sensitive elements in hygrometers.很多人用蜂窝状的材料作为测量温度的传感元件。

29 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

30 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。