(单词翻译:单击)
For as long as there has been an America, scholars have debated the tension between assimilation and multiculturalism, race neutrality and race consciousness.
自从有了美国,学者们就一直在争论同化与多元文化主义、种族中立与种族意识之间的紧张关系 。
How to make a single, neutral set of rules for a nation whose very Constitution deemed some inhabitants to have a fraction of the personhood of others—
如何为一个国家制定一套单一的、中立的规则,该国的宪法本身就认为一些居民只有其他人一小部分的人格——
a land founded on immigration, genocide and bondage, held together not by an identity but an ideal.
这片土地建立在移民、种族灭绝和奴役的基础上,不是靠身份而是靠理想维系在一起 。
In recent years, many Americans have become aware that "equal” rules can have unequal outcomes.
近年来,许多美国人已经意识到“平等”的规则可能带来不平等的结果 。
A text book example occurred at Mystic Valley in 2017.
2017年,神秘谷就发生过这样的教科书案例 。
To ensure parity among students, the school has a strict dress code; it mandates uniforms and forbids makeup, jewelry and other forms of ornamentation.
为了确保学生平等,学校有严格的着装规定——强制要求穿制服,禁止化妆、佩戴珠宝和其他形式的装饰 。
But the policy against hair extensions had a disproportionate impact on Black girls, 15-year-old twins Mya and Deanna Cook pointed out.
但15岁的双胞胎米娅·库克(Mya Cook)和迪安娜·库克(Deanna Cook)指出,禁止接发的政策对黑人女孩产生了很大的影响 。
For them, box braids weren't an indulgence; they were a way to transition from treated to natural hair.
对他们来说,盒子辫不是一种放纵; 它们是一种从处理过的头发过渡到自然头发的方式 。
School officials say the controversy was merely a misunderstanding.
校方表示,这场争议只是一种误解 。
"As a middle-aged white guy, despite having done civil-rights work for 30 years, I was ignorant to the importance of hair extensions to women of color,” says Howard Cooper,
“作为一个中年白人,尽管从事民权工作30年了,但我不知道有色人种女性接发的重要性,”波士顿的自由派律师霍华德·库珀说,
a liberal Boston lawyer who's argued civil-rights cases for the ACLU and is now representing Mystic Valley in its lawsuit against the state.
他曾为美国公民自由联盟(ACLU)辩护民权案件,现在正代表神秘谷对该州提起诉讼 。
Once the school understood the rule's disproportionate effect, Cooper says, it voluntarily changed the policy, expanded the role of its civil-rights coordinator and mandated diversity training for all employees.
库珀说,学校一旦意识到这一规定的产生过分的影响,就会主动改变政策,扩大其民权协调员的角色,并对所有学员进行多元化培训 。
The following year, its charter was renewed without incident.
第二年,学校顺利地更新了其宪章 。
But Mya Cook, now a 20-year-old college student, says this is a sanitized version of the story.
但现在20岁的大学生米亚·库克(Mya Cook)表示,这是一个经过美化的版本 。
In multiple meetings, she says, the twins broke down in tears as an all-white group of Mystic Valley administrators insisted the rule wasn't racist because it applied to everyone.
她说,在多次会面中,当神秘谷的白人管理人员坚称这一规定不是种族歧视,因为它适用于所有人时,这对双胞胎忍不住流下了眼泪 。
"They were totally in denial—they didn't want to understand,” recalls Cook, who was banned from prom and extracurricular activities and received multiple detentions.
“他们完全否认——他们不想理解,”库克回忆道,他被禁止参加舞会和课外活动,并多次被拘留 。
It was only after the state attorney general's office intervened, issuing a letter stating that it considered the policy unlawful and discriminatory, that the school relented.
直到州总检察长办公室出面干预,发出了一封信,称该政策非法且具有歧视性,学校才做出让步 。
From Mystic Valley's perspective, this was the end of the problem.
在神秘谷看来,这个问题到此就结束了 。
But for many parents, students and alumni, it was just the beginning—an incident that led them to see Mystic Valley's approach to race in a new way.
但对于许多家长、学生和校友来说,这只是一个开始——这一事件让他们以一种新的方式看到了神秘谷对待种族的方式 。
The concerns gathered steam during COVID-19, when the school offered fully in-person instruction, unlike other public schools in the area,
新冠肺炎疫情期间,这种担忧愈演愈烈,当时学校提供完全面对面的教学,这与该地区的其他公立学校不同,
and a Facebook group for at—home families became a forum for previously unaired complaints.
并且一个为居家隔离的人们开设的Facebook群成了供人们讨论之前未公开抱怨的论坛 。
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