米歇尔·奥巴马2015塔斯基吉大学毕业演讲(4)
And I’d like to begin today by reflecting on that history
今天，我想追溯历史，
starting back at the time when the Army chose Tuskegee as the site of its airfield and flight school for black pilots.
从军队将塔斯基吉选为黑人飞行员的机场和飞行学校的时刻讲起。
Back then, black soldiers faced all kinds of obstacles.
当时，黑人士兵面临着各种各样的障碍。
There were the so-called scientific studies that said that black men’s brains were smaller than white men’s.
一些所谓的科学研究表明，黑人男性的大脑比白人男性的大脑小一些，不够发达。
Official Army reports stated that black soldiers were “childlike,” “shiftless,” “unmoral and untruthful,”
官方军队报告指出，黑人士兵“孩子气”、“无能”、“不道德且不诚实”，
and as one quote stated, “if fed, loyal and compliant.”
并专门强调，“如果要进入美国联邦储备系统，就要忠诚和顺从”。
So while the Airmen selected for this program were actually highly educated
因此，尽管入选该计划的黑人飞行员实际上已经受过高等教育，
many already had college degrees and pilots licenses — they were presumed to be inferior.
而且他们中的很多人已经拥有大学学位和飞行员执照，但是他们被认定为低人一等。
During training, they were often assigned to menial tasks like housekeeping or landscaping.
培训期间，他们常常被分配给粗活儿，如家务、绿化等。
Many suffered verbal abuse at the hands of their instructors.
导师还经常会辱骂他们。
When they ventured off base, the white sheriff here in town called them “boy” and ticketed them for the most minor offenses.
当他们离开军营，镇上的白人警长称他们为“男孩”，并为一些小事就给他们开罚单。
And when they finally deployed overseas, white soldiers often wouldn’t even return their salutes.
当他们终于被部署在海外，白人士兵甚至常常不回应他们的致敬。
米歇尔·奥巴马2015塔斯基吉大学毕业演讲。