美国总统奥巴马告别演讲(8)
We can argue about how to best achieve these goals.
我们可以就如何才能更好地实现这些目标展开讨论。
But we can’t be complacent about the goals themselves.
但是我们不能因这些目标本身而感到自满。
For if we don’t create opportunity for all people,
因为如果我们不能为所有人创造机会的话，
the disaffection and division that has stalled our progress will only sharpen in years to come.
不满和分裂会阻碍我们的进步，并且这种阻力会逐年增强。
There’s a second threat to our democracy, and this one is as old as our nation itself.
我们的民主政体还面临第二道威胁，这一威胁几乎和我们的国家一样古老。
After my election, there was talk of a post-racial America.
我当选总统之后，出现了后种族时代的说法。
And such a vision, however well-intended, was never realistic.
这样的图景是美好的，但从未实现。
Race remains a potent and often divisive force in our society.
种族问题依然是造成我们社会分裂的一股强力。
Now, I’ve lived long enough to know that race relations are better than they were 10, or 20, or 30 years ago,
现在，我的阅历告诉我种族间的关系比10年、20年或30年前都要融洽，
no matter what some folks say.
不管有些人持怎样的说法。
You can see it not just in statistics, you see it in the attitudes of young Americans across the political spectrum.
你可以从数据中看到这一点，不同政治背景的年轻美国人所持的态度也可以证实这一点。
But we’re not where we need to be.
但是我们现在所实现的仍不够，
And all of us have more work to do.
我们还应付出更多努力。
If every economic issue is framed as a struggle between a hardworking white middle class and an undeserving minority,
如果把每个经济问题都视为努力工作的白人中产阶级和不付出劳动的少数群体之间的斗争，
then workers of all shades are going to be left fighting for scraps while the wealthy withdraw further into their private enclaves.
那么各个阶层工人的努力都只是徒劳，富裕阶层却得以进一步坚守他们的既得利益。
If we’re unwilling to invest in the children of immigrants, just because they don’t look like us,
如果我们单凭移民群体的孩子和我们相貌不同便不愿意投资在他们身上，
we will diminish the prospects of our own children, because
那么我们将同时损害我们自己孩子的前途。因为
those brown kids will represent a larger and larger share of America’s workforce.
那些棕色皮肤的孩子将逐渐成为美国劳动力中越来越重要的一部分。