日前，美籍韓裔演員約翰·趙（John Cho）為亞裔美國人在疫情期間遭受的種族歧視勇敢地發了聲。
這位現年47歲的男演員出生在韓國，但在6歲隨家庭赴美國並在那裡長大成人。
4月22日，他在《洛杉磯時報》(Los Angeles Times)上發表了一篇強有力的文章，闡述了他認為新冠病毒恰好提醒了亞裔美國人，他們所謂的“歸屬感”其實是有條件的。
文章全文如下：
By John Cho April 22, 2020 3Am
I called my parents a few nights ago to tell them to be cautious when stepping out of the house, because they might be targets of verbal or even physical abuse. It felt so strange. Our roles had flipped.
My plea mirrored the admonitions I received from them as a child growing up in Houston. The world, they cautioned, was hostile and it viewed us as strangers. So they warned me to stick close to my family. Close to my kind.
The fact that the coronavirus seems to have originated in China has spawned a slew of anti-Asian hate crimes. Across the country, Asian American parents and children are making versions of the call I made. Friends are sharing first-hand accounts of abuse on text chains and circulating articles on Facebook, always ending with the suddenly ominous "stay safe".
4月22日 凌晨3點
幾天前的一個晚上，我打電話給我的父母，告訴他們走出家門時要小心，因為他們可能會成為言語甚至人身攻擊的目標。
這種感覺挺奇怪的。好像我和我父母的角色互換了似的。
我對他們的勸解，和他們對從小到大在休斯頓長大的我的警告幾乎一模一樣
當時他們曾經告訴我，這個世界充滿敵意，把我們當成外來人。所以他們告誡我，要和家人呆在一起，並儘量和我的同類人群在一起活動。
一些媒體口中的“新冠病毒似乎起源於中國”這件事，催生了大量的反亞裔仇恨犯罪。在美國各地，亞裔父母和孩子們都在說著類似我那通電話中的呼籲。朋友們在短信中分享著關於人身攻擊的一手資料，在臉書上上傳文章的鏈接，卻總是以一句莫名其妙的“注意安全”作為結束語。
約翰·趙《星際迷航》劇照
圖源：Paramount
Growing up, the assumption was that once we became American enough, there would be no need for such warnings - that we would be safe. To that end, my parents encouraged me and my younger brother to watch as much television as possible, so that we might learn to speak and act like the natives. The hope was that race would not disadvantage us - the next generation - if we played our cards right.
When I became an actor (maybe as a result of all that TV), and really started to work, I felt glimmers of my parents’ hope coming to fruition — doors were open, strangers were kinder. In some ways, I began to lead a life devoid of race. But I’ve learned that a moment always comes along to remind you that your race defines you above all else.
It might be a small moment, like a salesperson greeting you with “konnichiwa.” Or it might be a string of moments, like the press tour that Kal Penn and I took to promote “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle” in 2004, a few years after 9/11.
在成長的過程中，我們總是認為，一旦我們足夠“美國化”，就沒有必要再發出這樣的警告——我們終究會安全的。為此，我的父母總是鼓勵我和弟弟儘可能多看電視，這樣我們就可以學著像美國當地人一樣說話和做事。我們的希望是，如果我們玩對了牌，種族問題將不會使我們——也就是他們的下一代——處於不利地位。
當我成為一名演員的時候（沒準是因為小時候電視看多了），而且真正開始拍戲的時候，我感到父母眼中的希望有了實現的曙光——大門敞開了，路邊的陌生人更友善了。在某些方面，我終於開始過一種沒有種族問題的生活了。但我明白，總會有那麼一刻提醒你，你的種族定義了你的全部。
這可能是個很小的時刻，比如一個銷售員用日語的你好來和你打招呼。也可能是一連串的時刻，比如我和卡爾·佩恩(Kal Penn)在2004年為《哈羅德和庫馬爾》(Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle)進行媒體巡演，那正好是911事件剛過去的幾年。
《哈羅德和庫馬爾》劇照
We flew across the country — New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle — and it became a grim routine: Flight after flight, Kal would be pulled aside for a “random” search. On one leg of the tour, Kal’s friend Gabe joined us, and when we hit security, Kal was selected for a search while Gabe and I flew through unscathed. We gathered our bags and waited on a bench for Kal to be released. Rummaging through his backpack, Gabe suddenly said, “Kal’s going to be annoyed.” When I looked inside it, I realized why: Gabe, who is white, had gone camping recently, and had neglected to remove his Rambo-sized hunting knife from his backpack.
我們當時幾乎飛越了整個美國——紐約、芝加哥、亞特蘭大、西雅圖——形成了一個殘酷的規律：一次又一次的飛行，卡爾（美國印度裔）總會被拉到一邊進行“隨機”搜查。在其中一段行程中，卡爾的朋友蓋比 （Gabe）加入了我們的團隊。
當我們準備接受安檢時，卡爾又被選中開包搜身，而蓋比和我毫髮無損地通過了安檢。我們收拾好行李，在長凳上等待卡爾被放行。蓋比翻著他的揹包，突然說：“卡爾會生氣的。”我往他揹包裡看了看，立馬就意識到了為什麼：蓋比是白人，有一把最近去露營用過的《第一滴血》一樣大小的獵刀還在他的揹包裡一直忘了取出來。
I gasped and looked back at Kal, who was watching a Transportation Security Administration worker empty the contents of his bag. It was a reality check.
Asian Americans are experiencing such a moment right now. The pandemic is reminding us that our belonging is conditional. One moment we are Americans, the next we are all foreigners, who “brought” the virus here.
Like fame, the “model minority” myth can provide the illusion of “raceless-ness.” Putting select Asians on a pedestal silences those who question systemic injustice. Our supposed success is used as proof that the system works — and if it doesn’t work for you, it must be your fault.
Never mind that 12% of us are living below the poverty line. The model minority myth helps maintain a status quo that works against people of all colors.
我倒抽了一口氣，回頭瞧了瞧卡爾，他正眼看著安檢工作人員清空他包裡的東西。這就是現實。
亞裔美國人現在正在經歷這樣的時刻。
新冠病毒全球大流行提醒我們，我們的歸屬感是有條件的。可能這個瞬間我們是美國人，下一個瞬間，我們都成了把病毒”帶到“這裡的外國人。
與名聲一樣，“模範少數族裔”的神話也會給人一種“沒有種族”的錯覺。把亞裔少數族群的傑出人物捧上神壇，會讓那些質疑制度不公正的人啞口無言。人們認為我們亞裔必定會成功，我們被用來證明這個制度是有效的——如果它在你身上不靈驗的話，那一定是你個人的錯。
哪怕我們少數族群有12%的人還生活在貧困線以下，模範少數族裔的神話起到的是維持現狀的作用，而這種現狀對非白人族群都是不利的。
圖源：Getty Images
But perhaps the most insidious effect of this myth is that it silences us. It seduces Asian Americans and recruits us to act on its behalf. It converts our parents, who in turn, encourage us to accept it. It makes you feel protected, that you’re passing as one of the good ones.
And because the stereotypes may be complimentary (hardworking, good at math), it makes people — including us — think that anti-Asian sentiment is somehow less serious, that it’s racism lite. That allows us to dismiss the current wave of Asian hate crimes as trivial, isolated and unimportant. Consider the comedians who mock Asians, but restrain themselves when it comes to other groups.
Of course, with the falsely positive come the negative stereotypes (you’re sneaky, you’re stealing jobs, you’re corrupt). After I had been busted for cheating on a Latin quiz in high school, I recall my teacher asking, “Why are Koreans such cheaters?”
但也許這個神話最可怕的影響是，它使我們沉默。它引誘亞裔美國人，並招募我們代表它行事。
它改變了我們的父母，於是父母反過來鼓勵我們接受它。這讓你覺得受到了保護，因為你是“模範少數族裔”中的一分子。
因為當地人對亞裔的刻板印象可能是正面的（我們勤奮，擅長數學），它使人們——包括我們自己——認為美國的反亞裔情緒不怎麼嚴重，認為這裡只有輕度版本的種族歧視。這很容易使我們把當前的仇恨犯罪浪潮斥為微不足道、孤立和不重要的。想想那些嘲笑亞洲人，但在涉及其他群體時卻剋制自己的喜劇演員吧。
當然，虛假的正面印象多了，負面的刻板印象也隨之而來（你鬼鬼祟祟，你偷了本地人的飯碗，你腐敗)。我上高中時在一次拉丁語考試中作弊被抓，記得當時老師問我：“為什麼韓國人這麼愛作弊？”
During times of national stress, it’s these darker stereotypes that prevail. My wife’s families were incarcerated in camps during World War II, even while her great-uncles were serving in an all-Japanese American battalion of the U.S. Army. Vincent Chin, a Chinese American autoworker, was brutally beaten to death in Detroit in 1982, blamed for the Japanese “takeover” of the auto industry. And just recently, an Asian woman in Brooklyn had acid thrown at her while she was taking out the trash, another among the skyrocketing attacks against Asians.
在國家面臨巨大壓力的時候，正是這些黑暗的刻板印象佔據了上風。
第二次世界大戰期間，我妻子的家人被關在集中營裡，哪怕她的曾伯祖父們還在美軍一個全日裔美軍營裡為國戰鬥。美籍華裔汽車工人陳昌華(Vincent Chin) 1982年在底特律被殘忍地毆打致死，原因竟是兇手認為日本“搶走了”汽車業的生意。
就在最近，布魯克林的一名亞裔女性在倒垃圾的時候被人潑了硫酸，這也是逐漸增加的針對亞裔的攻擊事件的其中一起。
I came to this country in 1978, at the age of 6. I was naturalized on Nov. 21, 1990, during the military buildup before the start of the Gulf War. I remember being surprised by the judge at the ceremony asking me whether I would defend my country in uniform if called upon. I wasn’t expecting that question, though my friends and I had been wondering about a possible draft, and I took my time to truly consider it. I answered yes and I meant it.
我是1978年移民到這個國家的，那時我才6歲。
我於1990年11月21日入籍，當時正值海灣戰爭爆發前的軍事集結時期。我記得我在典禮上被法官嚇了一大跳。法官問我，如果我被招入伍，我是否會穿上軍裝保衛這個國家。我完全沒想到他會提這樣的問題，儘管我和我的朋友們猜想過我們可能真的會被徵召入伍，我也花了不少時間真正考慮過這個問題。
圖源：雪城大學官網
I claimed the citizenship my parents wanted for me and I think I’ve spent my life earning it. I’m not going to let anyone tell me or anyone who looks like me that we are not really American.
If the coronavirus has taught us anything, it’s that the solution to a widespread problem cannot be patchwork. Never has our interconnectedness and our reliance on each other been plainer.
You can’t stand up for some and not for others. And like the virus, unchecked aggression has the potential to spread wildly. Please don’t minimize the hate or assume it’s somewhere far away.
我的回答是肯定的，而且我說我是嚴肅的。
我得到了父母想讓我得到的美國公民身份，他們這輩子都在為這個身份而努力。誰都不能告訴我或任何長得像我一樣的人，我們並不是真正的美國人。
如果說新冠病毒教會了我們什麼，那就是靠著東拼西湊打補丁是無法解決一個已經普遍存在的問題的。人與人之間的紐帶和相互依賴從未如此明顯。
你不能職位一部分人維權，而完全不管剩下的人。就像新冠病毒一樣，如果不管不顧它，它就會不加抑制地瘋狂傳播。請不要把仇恨變得輕描淡寫，也不要以為仇恨還在看不到的遠方。
圖源：Getty Images
It’s happening close to you. If you see it on the street, say something. If you hear it at work, say something. If you sense it in your family, say something. Stand up for your fellow Americans.
John Cho is an actor best known for his roles in the “Harold & Kumar” and “Star Trek” films. He lives in Los Angeles.
它就發生在你的身邊。
如果你在工作中聽到它，你就應該說點什麼。如果你在你的家人身上感覺到這種苗頭，也要說點什麼。捍衛你的美國朋友們。
本文的作者約翰·趙，1972年6月16日出生於韓國首爾，是一名美籍韓裔影視男演員，畢業於加州大學伯克利分校。他最著名的作品是《哈羅德和庫馬爾》、《網絡迷蹤》和《星際迷航》系列電影。
有人說，我們這個時代最不缺的，就是無緣無故的仇恨和藉機揮灑的歧視。就像約翰·趙在他的文中寫到的一樣, 偏見和歧視從來都不是一朝一夕形成的。越是閉塞視聽、視而不見，它就越會不受控制地瘋狂蔓延。
不要沉默，讓它像新冠病毒一樣，被隔離。#演員# #美國危機# #好萊塢# #爆料# #疫情下的人生百態#
