新闻周刊:接下去是否还要拆除华盛顿和杰斐逊的雕像(4)

"Is it truly fair to judge a man based on our 21st century understanding of morality?"

“根据我们21世纪对道德的理解来评判一个人，真的公平吗？”

Some believe that if America is to successfully dismantle¹ systemic racism², it needs to confront the reality of the nation's dark history—and accept that even the nation's Founding Fathers need to be taken off their pedestals.

一些人认为，如果美国要成功地消除系统性的种族歧视，就需要面对美国黑暗历史的现实——接受甚至连美国的开国元勋都要被从基座上取下来。

Student Roman Leaphart started a petition last week, urging the University of Missouri to remove a statue of Jefferson from the campus quad³ due to his ties to slavery. It has since collected more than 3,000 signatures.

学生罗曼·利普哈特在上周发起了一项请愿活动，敦促密苏里大学将杰斐逊的雕像从校园广场移走，因为杰斐逊与奴隶制有联系。此后，此项请愿活动已收集了3000多个签名。

"Mizzou has no room for a racist⁴ slave owner on our campus... where thousands of black students pass by everyday, forced to deal with imagery of the past in the future where we should be promoting equality, diversity and inclusion," the petition says. "A memorial of a racist has no place on our campus."

“密苏里大学校园中没有种族主义奴隶主的立足之地……每天有成千上万的黑人学生从这里经过，他们被迫在未来还要处理过去的影像，在未来我们应该促进平等、多样性和包容。”请愿书中写道。“种族主义者的纪念碑在我们校园里没有立足之地的。”

Leaphart told KOMU that a similar petition had been started in 2015, but didn't gain much traction⁵. "I think now is the right time to bring this back up because this is one of the first, easiest steps," he told the station.

利普哈特告诉KOMU，在2015年就开始了一项类似的请愿活动，但并没有引起太多的关注。他告诉电视台，“我认为现在就是重新开始的时候，因为这是第一步，也是最简单的一步，”

Since his petition started gaining traction, a counter-petition has been launched, apparently⁶ by an anonymous⁷ student, to save the Jefferson statue. "Is it truly fair to judge a man based on our 21st century understanding of morality, when the man we are judging lived in a time where slavery was the norm?" it asks.

自从他的请愿获得关注，一个匿名的学生发起了一项明显相反的请愿活动，以挽救杰斐逊雕像。“基于我们21世纪对道德的理解来评判一个人，而这个被评判人生活在奴隶制是常态的时代，这真的公平吗？”请愿书中问到。

A petition to remove a Jefferson statue outside the student center at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York was started by Jaloni Owens two years ago, but has been gathering⁸ steam in recent days.

两年前，贾洛尼·欧文斯发起了一项请愿书，要求将位于纽约亨普斯特德的霍夫斯特拉大学学生中心外的杰斐逊雕像移除，但最近几天，请愿书的声势越来越大。

1 dismantle   

vt.拆开，拆卸；废除，取消

参考例句：

• He asked for immediate help from the United States to dismantle the warheads.他请求美国立即提供援助，拆除这批弹头。
• The mower firmly refused to mow,so I decided to dismantle it.修完后割草机还是纹丝不动，于是，我决定把它拆开。

2 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。

3 quad   

n.四方院；四胞胎之一；v.在…填补空铅

参考例句：

• His rooms were on the left-hand side of the quad.他的房间位于四方院的左侧。
• She is a 34-year-old mother of quads.她是个生了四胞胎的34岁的母亲。

4 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

5 traction   

n.牵引；附着摩擦力

参考例句：

• I'll show you how the traction is applied.我会让你看如何做这种牵引。
• She's injured her back and is in traction for a month.她背部受伤，正在作一个月的牵引治疗。

6 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

7 anonymous   

adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的

参考例句：

• Sending anonymous letters is a cowardly act.寄匿名信是懦夫的行为。
• The author wishes to remain anonymous.作者希望姓名不公开。

8 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。