美国国家公共电台 NPR 'What Doesn't Kill You' Navigates The Challenges Of Existing While Black

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Damon Young says he spent much of his life waiting to be called by a name I won't call anyone and won't repeat here, even though it appears in his new book a lot. His essays are pointed¹, ruminative² and often barbed and funny recollections on how the fact of the color of his skin has posed particular lifelong challenges, questions and anxieties. "What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker" is his memoir³ in essays. And Damon Young, who is co-founder of and editor-in-chief of Very Smart Brothas, a columnist⁴ for GQ and senior editor at The Root, joins us from the studios of WESA in Pittsburgh. Thanks so much for being with us.

DAMON YOUNG: Hey. Thanks for having me.

SIMON: Why did you used to hope, even dream, that some white guy would call you by a name I can't repeat?

YOUNG: (Laughter) So this - my parents had this story about the time where they got into this - basically, got into a race riot at this neighborhood deli in Pittsburgh because a white boy behind the register called my mom and my grandmother niggers. Deli meats were thrown all over the place. Windows were broken. Olives were scattered⁵. It was a mess. And so this happened when I was maybe 6 or 7 years old. And my parents would tell the story at gatherings⁶, at parties, you know? And I wanted a story like that for myself about a time where I was racially intimidated⁷ or that word was used against me, and I was able to defend myself. I was basically able to prove my, quote-unquote, "blackness." And the book deals with similar sorts of anxieties and similar sorts of absurdities⁸ that just spring from this entire existing-while-black experience.

SIMON: Let me get you to talk a bit about your father. Boy, you love him.

YOUNG: Yeah. My dad - you know, he's not just my dad. He was one of my best friends. He taught me how to write. I remember when I was, like, in seventh or eighth grade, and I would have these take-home essays that'd I have to write for class. And he'd help me with them. I get A's. Well, he would get A's...

SIMON: (Laughter).

YOUNG: ...Because he would basically write them.

(LAUGHTER)

YOUNG: Like, I wasn't getting the A's. He was getting the A's. And, you know, he would teach me, like, these words, like behoove⁹ and cognizance and these words that I would try to - you know, in sixth, seventh grade, try to incorporate at recess¹⁰ with, like, minimal¹¹ success. And so my dad has just been this constant positive force throughout my life. And he still is.

SIMON: It might be a little harder to get you to talk about your mother. You didn't love her any less. You say she just gave and gave and gave and gave and gave.

YOUNG: Yeah.

SIMON: But life took and took and took. And you wonder to this day about if the stresses of her being an African-American woman somehow led to the cancer that killed her.

YOUNG: She had been a smoker¹² for 30 years. And people know that if you smoke for that long of a time, then there's a higher likelihood that you will develop certain diseases. But I just think about, you know, what about the environmental and structural¹³ and atmospheric¹⁴ forces that may have compelled her to smoke for that long? I think about the years before her cancer was diagnosed when she would complain about back pain and stomach aches and headaches and was going to the doctors. And, you know, sometimes they give her Advil or, you know, tell her to go - to get more exercise. It makes me wonder, you know, would they have taken her pains more seriously if she wasn't a black woman? And I am 95 percent certain that her race impacted her health and also impacted how she was treated. But I'm not 100 percent...

SIMON: Yeah.

YOUNG: ...Because you can't be. And that gap between the strong likelihood and the certainty - that gap is what drives people crazy sometimes.

SIMON: Let me ask you about another great love of your life in addition to your family. And that's basketball. These Thursday night games - your point guard - you like playing with him, but you're different, aren't you?

YOUNG: Yeah. I played in high school, went to college on a basketball scholarship. And I still try to play as much as I can now. When I do find a good pickup¹⁵ game, you stick with that. And so there's one that I'm a part of. And the majority of guys who come to this game, who frequent this game, are white, including one guy who is probably my favorite guy to play with, where he's this great passer, a great teammate. I also knew that he was not just a conservative but a pretty dogmatic Trump¹⁶ supporter. And so the week of the election, this game still went on.

And, usually, for me, basketball - that's my release. That's my self-care. That's my catharsis. That's where I go and play and sweat and, you know, just go through this whole process of just feeling better. And so there's a chapter in the book that talks about just - I guess, the absurdity¹⁷, too, of attending that game that week where it exists as a stress reliever. But then you're going there and playing with a guy who I know has contributed to the stress in an indirect way and also just the navigating¹⁸ and negotiating that is almost mandatory¹⁹ if you're a black person in America, particularly if you're a black person who lives in a predominately white city or needs to have any sort of interaction with white people.

SIMON: The book ends with an utterly²⁰ gorgeous essay you write about holding your daughter Zoe and what runs through your mind.

YOUNG: The whole chapter, or at least the first part of a chapter, which is me navigating how to give her the good parts of me while kind of hiding all the bad parts and hoping that the bad parts stop with me - wanting her to be discerning but not so discerning and not so thoughtful that she gives herself acid reflux, like I have, and then also recognizing that, you know, yes, she is black, but she is a black girl, which means she'll also have to contend with sexism on top of the racism²¹. And that makes things even more difficult. I think it ends on a hopeful note because I look at her. And I see my mom. I see my dad. I see myself. I see my wife. And it ends on a hope that, yeah, maybe she will take the things that I believe are the good things from me and the things that I believe are the good things from my wife and the things that I believe are the good things from my parents and be able to put those together and succeed at whatever success looks like for her.

SIMON: Damon Young - his book, "What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker" - thanks so much for being with us.

YOUNG: Oh, thank you, Scott.

1 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。

2 ruminative   

adj.沉思的，默想的，爱反复思考的

参考例句：

• in a ruminative mood 陷于沉思

3 memoir   

n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录

参考例句：

• He has just published a memoir in honour of his captain.他刚刚出了一本传记来纪念他的队长。
• In her memoir,the actress wrote about the bittersweet memories of her first love.在那个女演员的自传中，她写到了自己苦乐掺半的初恋。

4 columnist   

n.专栏作家

参考例句：

• The host was interviewing a local columnist.节目主持人正在同一位当地的专栏作家交谈。
• She's a columnist for USA Today.她是《今日美国报》的专栏作家。

5 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

6 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。

7 intimidated   

v.恐吓；威胁adj.害怕的；受到威胁的

参考例句：

• We try to make sure children don't feel intimidated on their first day at school. 我们努力确保孩子们在上学的第一天不胆怯。
• The thief intimidated the boy into not telling the police. 这个贼恫吓那男孩使他不敢向警察报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 absurdities   

n.极端无理性( absurdity的名词复数 )；荒谬；谬论；荒谬的行为

参考例句：

• She has a sharp eye for social absurdities, and compassion for the victims of social change. 她独具慧眼，能够看到社会上荒唐的事情，对于社会变革的受害者寄以同情。 来自辞典例句
• The absurdities he uttered at the dinner party landed his wife in an awkward situation. 他在宴会上讲的荒唐话使他太太陷入窘境。 来自辞典例句

9 behoove   

v.理应；有益于

参考例句：

• It would behoove you and your career to consider this among the most importanttimeless management laws.在职业生涯中你理应考虑到这一点。
• This can change a lot of things,so that the original fantastic become behoove.时间本就能改变很多东西，让原本的匪夷所思成为理所当然。

10 recess   

n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处）

参考例句：

• The chairman of the meeting announced a ten-minute recess.会议主席宣布休会10分钟。
• Parliament was hastily recalled from recess.休会的议员被匆匆召回开会。

11 minimal   

adj.尽可能少的，最小的

参考例句：

• They referred to this kind of art as minimal art.他们把这种艺术叫微型艺术。
• I stayed with friends, so my expenses were minimal.我住在朋友家，所以我的花费很小。

12 smoker   

n.吸烟者，吸烟车厢，吸烟室

参考例句：

• His wife dislikes him to be a smoker.他妻子不喜欢他当烟民。
• He is a moderate smoker.他是一个有节制的烟民。

13 structural   

adj.构造的，组织的，建筑（用）的

参考例句：

• The storm caused no structural damage.风暴没有造成建筑结构方面的破坏。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities.北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

14 atmospheric   

adj.大气的，空气的；大气层的；大气所引起的

参考例句：

• Sea surface temperatures and atmospheric circulation are strongly coupled.海洋表面温度与大气环流是密切相关的。
• Clouds return radiant energy to the surface primarily via the atmospheric window.云主要通过大气窗区向地表辐射能量。

15 pickup   

n.拾起，获得

参考例句：

• I would love to trade this car for a pickup truck.我愿意用这辆汽车换一辆小型轻便卡车。||The luck guy is a choice pickup for the girls.那位幸运的男孩是女孩子们想勾搭上的人。

16 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

17 absurdity   

n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论

参考例句：

• The proposal borders upon the absurdity.这提议近乎荒谬。
• The absurdity of the situation made everyone laugh.情况的荒谬可笑使每个人都笑了。

18 navigating   

v.给（船舶、飞机等）引航，导航( navigate的现在分词 )；（从海上、空中等）横越；横渡；飞跃

参考例句：

• These can also be very useful when navigating time-based documents, such as video and audio. 它对于和时间有关的文档非常有用，比如视频和音频文档。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Vehicles slowed to a crawl on city roads, navigating slushy snow. 汽车在市区路上行驶缓慢，穿越泥泞的雪地。 来自互联网

19 mandatory   

adj.命令的；强制的；义务的；n.受托者

参考例句：

• It's mandatory to pay taxes.缴税是义务性的。
• There is no mandatory paid annual leave in the U.S.美国没有强制带薪年假。

20 utterly   

adv.完全地，绝对地

参考例句：

• Utterly devoted to the people,he gave his life in saving his patients.他忠于人民，把毕生精力用于挽救患者的生命。
• I was utterly ravished by the way she smiled.她的微笑使我完全陶醉了。

21 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。