楊安澤：亞裔在美國的發展、未來、危機和希望
【編者按】這個演講，可以說是美國曆史上，有關亞裔美國人在美國的發展、未來、危機和潛在希望，最接地氣，最切中要害的演講之一。發人深思，值得都聽一聽。演講人是2020年美國總統競選候選人楊安澤（Andrew Yang），這是他今年3月在出席Yuan傳媒主持的“亞裔美國人政治一瞥”活動時，做的演講，篇尾有英文視頻。（周宇編譯）
我在紐約州北部長大，然後去了一些你們去過的學校。我從沒想過我會競選總統。我當然不是一個瘋狂的天天想著“有一天我會做總統”那樣的一個人。因此，如果你們有誰認為我更異稟之類，那麽其實我那時候就是在玩電子遊戲，做著任何一個在紐約州北部的亞裔孩子做的事情。
現在我正在競選總統，因我已經更深切了解了亞裔美國人在社會中的地位。令我擔心的一個情況是，到2045年，這個國家將走向成為少數民族占多數。從現在開始算起，隻有27年。在某些方麵，這是個好事，隨著國家變得更加多樣化，這個國家將變得更加寬容。
你是否覺得這隻是個數字問題？因為如果你的人數足夠多，每個人都必須和諧相處？不幸的是，事情並非如此。
如果你看一下曆史的例子，在人類曆史上極少有占主導地位的種族群體主動放棄其主導地位。那樣不是常態。因此，如果你看看這個國家現在正在發生的事情，你會發現越來越多喪失安全感的白人變得越來越敵對。真的。在接下來的10到20年裏，誰將會成為美國社會眼中的龐大競爭對手？中國。
I grew up in upstate New York and then went tosome of the schools that you all went to. And I never imagined I'd be runningfor president. I was certainly not some crazy kid being like I'm gonna be president one day. So if any of you are thinking that like you're more advanced than I was like I was playing video games and just doing whatever Asian kids do in upstate New York. So now that I'm running for president like I've learned more about the Asian-American place in society. And one thing that scares the heck out of me is that this country is heading towards being coming majority minority by 2045. That's twenty seven years from now. And so there's a very happy notion in some quarters that. The country will just become more tolerantas it gets more diverse. Do you just figure that math will take care of it, because if you have enough people everyone will just have to get along? Unfortunately that is not really the way things play out. If you look athistorical examples. There are very very few examples in human history of adominant racial ethnic group giving up its dominance over time that actually isnot normal. That's not normal behavior. And so if you look at what's happening right now in this country you can see an increasingly insecure white majority becoming more and more hostile. Truly. And who is going to be the boogey man of the next 10 to 20 years who's going to be the great rival to the United States in theeyes of American society. China.
那就對了。所以你認為隨著時間的推移，那些正在失去工作的不安全的白人大多數，他們的態度會怎樣隨著時間而變化？對我們華裔美國人或亞裔美國人來說，我曾在哈佛大學說過，我們離像匹茲堡猶太教堂受襲擊那樣隻差一代人的光景。或者就像幾個月前說過的，因為冷戰或者其他原因，發生美國人朝亞裔開槍的事，也可能隻有一代的光景。我擔心，我的孩子長大將要麵臨的巨大危險。
我有兩個兒子，一個六歲、一個三歲，他們是美國人，我也是美國人。亞裔美國人在曆史上一直不是政治活躍的人群。投票參與水平低，政治捐款水平低，因此，占主導地位的政黨並不關心亞裔美國人。他們根本不認為我們是一個非常重要的選區。他們認為我們如今仍然是次級重要的“ATM（提款機，這裏指籌款）人群”。我們出來就是拍些照片，因為我們喜歡照相，然後賺點錢走人，然後很長一段時間不再關心。這就是我們現在在美國政治中的位置。
這部分是因為我們住的地方。我們住在哪裏？我們生活在像紐約和加利福尼亞這樣的地方，坦白地說，我們的投票不會起到關鍵的分量，而且我們人數也不多。
That's right. And so what do you think the attitude is going to be over time for the shrinking insecure white majority that's losing their jobs. For let's say Chinese Americans or Asian-Americans. Idon't I'm like I personally I said to a group at Harvard I think we're one generation away from falling into the same camps as the Jews who were attacked in the synagogue in Pittsburgh. Like just a couple of months ago it's likewe're probably one generation away from American shooting up a bunch of Asians saying like you know damn the Chinese because there's a giant Cold War or even more with China. That is the great danger that I fear that my children aregoing to grow up in. I have two young boys 6 and 3. They're American I'm American. And Asian-Americans historically have not been highly politically active or energized Asian-Americans vote at lower levels. They donate at lower levels. And because of this the dominant political parties do not care about Asian-Americans. They do not regard us as a very important constituency at all. They regard us as a low level A.T.M. Well they'll show up take some pictures because we love pictures. Get some money, leave and then not have to care about it for quite some time. That is our place in American politics right now. And this is partially because of where we live. Where do we live? We live in like New York and California and places where frankly our votes are not going to tip anything. And there aren't so many of us.
如果亞裔美國人都住在愛荷華州，我告訴你們，我們會是一個非常重要的投票板塊。你知道嗎，因為我將在下周第七次去愛荷華州，因為要在這個階段，你需要贏得愛荷華州才能有戲當選。但是每個人都知道，在紐約，亞裔美國人就會是這樣的態度：投票無所謂，我們不投票，我們不參加。還有一種觀念是認為我們沒有領導力，我們不是領導者。這就是我逐漸發現的。
這不是我競選總統的最初目的，但我們需要非常迅速地改變這一點，因為如果我們坐著認為，“嘿，美國將保持穩定、並組織和獎勵努力工作的人，我們將安心賺錢並享受美好時光，而不是我們必須關心門外發生的事情”，這種態度很快就不行了。
過上五年、十年，很不幸，這種態度就不夠用了。我們必須開始非常積極參與，並向所有其他人展示我們可以解決問題。我們有自己的願景，我們有自己的領導力。因此，當我與亞裔美國人群體交談時，有些人覺得，我競選總統的有點莽撞之類、有點不按牌理出牌，部分是因為我不是從參議員或州長或者其他一些民選官職開始。
I'll tell you guys if Asian Americans all lived in Iowa. We will be a very important voting bloc indeed. You know because I'm going to Iowa next week for the seventh time because in order to become president at this stage you need to win Iowa. But everyone knows that Asian-Americans by the time you get to New York like the votes don't don't matter and we don't vote we don't participate. And there's a notion that we don't lead. You know that we're not leaders. So. That is what I've discovered over this time. Thiswas not my initial purpose in running for president but we need to change that very very quickly because if we sit back and think hey America will stay stable and organize and reward hard work and we'll make money and have a good time and not have to care about what happens outside of our doors. That attitude is going to stop working pretty quickly. Next five to 10 years unfortunately. Sowe need to start getting very very engaged and active and show the rest of thecountry that we can solve problems. We have our own vision we have our own leadership. And so some of the things that I talk about when I talk toAsian-American groups some people find the fact that I'm running for president to be you know a little bit audacious or something like out of the natural order, let's say. And part of it is that well you know I haven't been a senatoror governor. Or some other elected official.
但我有許多朋友支持江俊輝競選加州州長。我向亞裔美國人建議過的一件事，我今晚要向大家再次建議。如果我們等待機會輪到我們，我們永遠也等不到。永遠不會有人看看說，哦，現在是輪到亞裔當美國參議員或州長的時候了，或者競選總統並成為總統。根本不是這樣的，永遠不會發生這樣的情形。
我們能夠在領導地位占有一席之地的唯一方法，就是登上五月份的民主黨初選辯論台。我們隻有站出來說，我們對這個國家有一個願景，就像其他人的願景一樣強大、一樣重要。這是首要的根本。第二點是，我們在下一個周期中在政治上獲得巨大的機會。
剛才說，各方都不關心亞裔美國選民，因為他們一般都不關心政治。但在這個周期中，加州的初選投票順序有了提升，這次加州是第五個投票站。前四名是愛荷華、新罕布什爾、內華達和南卡。這一次加州輪到第五，所以很多人作為民主黨的競選候選人，大概20到25個，包括我自己在內，等到來到加州時，將仍然分不出勝負。
But I have many friends who back John Chung for governor of California. And one thing I suggest to Asian-Americans I'm going to suggest to you all tonight. If we wait for it to be our turn. It will never be our turn. There is never going to be a point when someone looks overand says Oh. It's time for that Asian-American senator or governor. To run forpresident and be president. That's not the way this works at all. Like we will never get there. The only way that we're going to actually have a seat at that leadership table or in this case on the debate stages of the Democratic primaries next May. The only way we get there is if we step up and say we havea vision for this country and it is just as powerful just as important as anyoneelse's vision. Only when we get there. Number two is that we've been gifted amassive opportunity politically in this next cycle. So I just finished saying that the parties do not care about Asian-American voters because they generally do not. But in this cycle California moved its primary vote up by a bit morethan a month. And so this time California votes fifth. The first state is Iowathe second state is New Hampshire the third state is Nevada. The fourth state is South Carolina. And in this time the fifth state is California. So you're going to have a lot of people running for president as a Democrat probably 20 to 25 including me. And it is not going to be resolved by the time they get to California.
所以這次亞裔美國人投票的方式，實際上可能決定了美國的麵貌。這是幾十年來頭一遭。我印象中前所未有。所以這是一個機會，讓我們站起來說話，讓我們的聲音變得重要。
第三件事，也許是最重要的事情——在座有多少父母？——話說起來有點讓人不舒服，但是你們當中有多少人有這樣的感覺：亞裔美國人可以在美國獲得成功、但我們很難“太”成功？至少有些人相信這一點。這裏有一些真實的信息。我曾見過這個國家的領導人，奧巴馬總統、克林頓總統和布什總統，就像你們也認識十幾位參議員和州長一樣。當你花時間與他們在一起時，你會發現他們並不比我們特別到哪裏去。我向你保證。
So this time the way Asian-Americans votemight actually determine who the present United States is. First time indecades. First time certainly I can remember. So this is an opportunity for us to stand up and say what we think actually matters this time. And the third thing and maybe the most important thing that so many of you -- how many of you are parents? I sense there is at least some parents in the room. Now that is a little uncomfortable. But how many of you have the sense that Asian-Americansare allowed to become this successful in the U.S. but we are not allowed to become this successful. At least some of you believe that. I mean there's a real message you get that that's the case. And I have been with the leaders ofthis country I've been with President Obama and President Clinton and President Bush and like you know a dozen senators and governors. And one of the things you learn when you spend time with them is that they are certainly no better than we are. I guarantee you guys that.
我們都跟他們一樣聰明，一樣努力，一樣創新，一樣愛國，像任何其他美國人一樣充滿愛心。我將在2021年擔任總統職位的路上展現所有這些。當然前提是在2020年獲勝，然後在2021年宣誓就職。我想講的一個關於亞裔美國人的笑話是，我們要把白宮變成金宮。總之，非常感謝你們，很高興見到在政治上特別關注社區的人們來到這裏。非常感謝你們。
That we are every bit as smart. Certainly every bit as hardworking. Every bit as innovative. Every bit as patriotic and every bit as loving as any other American. And that is what I'm going todemonstrate on the path of the presidency in 2021. Well that's when you get sworn in. You win in 2020. They get sworn in in 2021. And one joke I like totell about Asian-Americans is that we're going to make the White House the gold house. So. So thank you all very, very much we'd love to take some questions but feel really glad to be here with people who are definitely exceptionally politically engaged in this community. So thank you all very much.
楊安澤演講視頻
- 本文來源於“陌上美國”公眾號 -
###
【編者按】本文僅代表作者觀點，不代表APAPA Ohio及OCAA官方立場。所有圖片均由作者提供或來自網絡。如存在版權問題，請與我們聯係。更多精彩文章，請查看我們公眾號的主頁。歡迎大家積極投稿！
【近期文章】
關於俄州亞太聯盟公眾號
俄州亞太聯盟公眾號是APAPA Ohio在俄亥俄華人協會(OCAA)的支持下辦的公眾號，旨在為俄亥俄的亞裔群體、尤其是華人群體提供一個分享、交流、互助的平台，宣傳APAPA Ohio 、OCAA和其他亞裔團體的活動，促進亞裔社區對美國社會、政治、文化、教育、法律等的了解。APAPA的全名是Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs Association (美國亞太聯盟)，是在美國聯邦政府注冊的501(c)(3)非營利組織。網址：APAPA.org
