VOA双语新闻 - 美国非裔农民及原住民获赔偿（在线收听）

　　Tens of thousands of African American farmers and Native Americans will soon receive compensation for discrimination and mismanagement they allegedly suffered at the hands of the federal government.

　　数万名美国非洲裔农民和原住民将接受赔偿，以补偿他们所说联邦政府的歧视和管理失当给他们造成的痛苦。

　　President Barack Obama is expected to sign a $4.5 billion bill just passed by the U.S. Congress to settle these long-standing claims.

　　奥巴马总统上星期已经签署了国会通过的这项46亿美元的法案，以解决这个历时多年的诉讼案。

　　Black farmers settled their lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture more than a decade ago over claims of racial discrimination in federal loans and other programs that USDA administers, but disputes over who was eligible and Congressional wrangling over funding for the settlement delayed final resolution.

　　10多年前，美国非裔农民和联邦农业部就一项诉讼案达成和解。在那个案件中，非裔农民指控农业部在其主管的联邦贷款和其他项目中有种族歧视行为。但是围绕哪些人应该获得赔偿以及国会相关拨款的争论，使问题一直没有得到最后的解决。

　　The new law makes nearly 80,000 black farmers eligible to apply for compensation that amounts to about $50,000 each.

　　新法案使将近8万名黑人农民取得申请赔偿的资格，每人可获得大约5万美元的赔偿。

　　'Bittersweet' victory

　　John Boyd, president of the National Black Farmers Association, described Congressional passage of the Claims Settlement Act as long-overdue justice.

　　美国黑人农民协会会长约翰·博伊德称国会通过的这项索赔清偿法案是“迟来的正义”。

　　"It's very, very good that black farmers will finally have the opportunity to have their cases heard, based on their merit," he said.

　　“黑人农民终于有机会使他们的申诉得到审理，这是件非常好的事。”

　　But Boyd said the victory as bittersweet, because many black farmers who suffered discrimination have died before their cases could be resolved.

　　不过，博伊德形容这次胜利，是甜中带苦，因为许多受到歧视的非裔农民在定案之前已经离开人世了。

　　USDA is also taking steps to resolve claims of discrimination involving Hispanic and women farmers along the same lines as the settlement with black farmers.

　　农业部长汤姆·维尔萨克说，农业部也在采取步骤，以同样方式解决拉美裔和女性农民的歧视案。

　　Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said, "There has been a concerted effort to do what has not been done in many cases for 10, 15, 20, in some cases 30 years, which is to try to resolve as many of these cases in as fair and equitable a way as possible."

　　“我们正努力于解决那些拖延了10年、15年、20年、甚至30年的案件。我们将努力以公平合理的方式解决尽可能多的案子。”

　　Native American land, water

　　In addition to the settlement with black farmers, the new law also provides $3.4 billion to settle a variety of claims made by Native Americans. They include mismanagement by the Department of the Interior of hundreds of thousands of trust funds intended to compensate Native Americans for the use of their lands and resources.

　　除了非裔农民的索赔之外，新法案中还有34亿美元，用于支付美国原住民的各种索赔要求，其中包括就内政部对印第安人信托基金管理不当而提出的诉讼。这些信托基金是为补偿土地和资源被政府征用的原住民而设立的。

　　Deputy Secretary of the Interior David Hayes says the new law also makes historic progress on four water-rights cases in the arid American West long pursued by Native American groups.

　　内政部副部长戴维德·海斯说，新法案在四个有关原住民长期争取的西部干旱地区用水权案子上，取得了历史性进展。

　　"These four matters have been, in fact, in litigation for cumulatively over 100 years of litigation," he said. "We brought all of them to settlements."

　　“这四个案子前后持续了100多年。我们把它们一并解决。”

　　In a written statement, Jefferson Keel, president of the National Congress of American Indians, said the law settles historic injustices and starts the U.S. government on a course to make Native American lands more productive for future generations.

　　美国印第安人全国代表大会主席杰斐逊·吉尔说，这项法案纠正了历史的不公，美国政府开始走上使原住民的土地世世代代更具生产力的道路。