此日后，十年間，見證美國(guó)的變革

1963年，美國(guó)并沒有推出什么重要的民權(quán)法案，但卻是為美國(guó)帶來變革的十年里最重要的一年。

2023年8月28日，星期一，是“為就業(yè)與自由”華盛頓大游行的60周年紀(jì)念日。該游行以馬丁·路德·金博士的“我有一個(gè)夢(mèng)想”演講而聞名，并為社會(huì)大眾，還有一些公眾人物，包括當(dāng)時(shí)的美國(guó)總統(tǒng)約翰·F·肯尼迪和總檢察長(zhǎng)羅伯特·F·肯尼迪，提供了一次參與到前所未有的群眾運(yùn)動(dòng)中的機(jī)會(huì)。

盡管當(dāng)時(shí)總統(tǒng)與總檢察長(zhǎng)是在白宮觀看的游行，他們也驚嘆于金精湛的口才以及他演講的重要性?！罢嫠麐尩暮?，”肯尼迪事后評(píng)價(jià)道。之后，肯尼迪面帶微笑對(duì)金說了一句最能引發(fā)共鳴的話，“我有一個(gè)夢(mèng)想?！?/span>

從一方面看，華盛頓大游行使得那一年達(dá)到了高潮。那一年騷亂動(dòng)蕩，有人洋洋得意，也有人遭受悲劇。那一年充斥著民權(quán)示威和抗議活動(dòng)，揭露了種族隔離制度的暴力。那一年記錄著伯明翰公共安全專員尤金·“公牛”·康納等警察的野蠻行為，也記錄著南方政客，尤其是阿拉巴馬州州長(zhǎng)喬治·華萊士的殘忍行徑。

1963年是發(fā)生激烈對(duì)抗和巨大轉(zhuǎn)折的一年。這一年恰逢1863年解放宣言發(fā)布100周年，這給肯尼迪政府及其“新邊疆”政策帶來了新的壓力，最終使其在支持民權(quán)方面邁出了大膽的一步。出生在哈萊姆的作家詹姆斯·鮑德溫憑借其書《下一次將是烈火》成為當(dāng)年最具影響力的國(guó)際文學(xué)與政治人物?！断乱淮螌⑹橇一稹钒▋善绦【返纳⑽模ㄇ耙荒暝陔s志上發(fā)表），它剖析了種族，美國(guó)例外論，美國(guó)在種族奴隸制上的原罪和其在種族隔離制度中的死灰復(fù)燃之間的關(guān)系。鮑德溫的散文富于雄辯，字里行間充滿著憤怒與非裔群體的脆弱性，揭露了美國(guó)社會(huì)的真相但也對(duì)未來寄予希望。他對(duì)美國(guó)愛之愈深，恨之愈切，批之愈厲。

助長(zhǎng)美國(guó)種族隔離和種族等級(jí)制度的力量，以及對(duì)二者進(jìn)行政治抵抗的力量，在那一年打的不可開交。

發(fā)生在伯明翰的事件就是個(gè)鮮明的例子，它使得世界為之驚動(dòng)。

在四月，由弗雷德·舒特爾斯沃教士領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的一個(gè)當(dāng)?shù)胤捶N族隔離運(yùn)動(dòng)與馬丁·路德·金和南方基督教領(lǐng)袖會(huì)議（SCLC）合作進(jìn)行一個(gè)計(jì)劃已久的對(duì)邁阿密（Magic City）的襲擊。馬丁·路德·金在4月12日，也就是耶穌受難日，被逮捕和監(jiān)禁，并在獄中完成了《伯明翰監(jiān)獄來信》。在信中他不僅抨擊了白人自由主義者，還批判了肯尼迪政府為結(jié)束種族不公的努力只是杯水車薪。盡管這封信言辭犀利，把民權(quán)運(yùn)動(dòng)與美國(guó)建國(guó)初期形成的自由傳統(tǒng)相聯(lián)系，但還是不如能把格拉姆公園里的樹皮扯掉的高壓水炮有沖擊力，不如擊退抗議者的德國(guó)牧羊犬有攻擊性，不足以引發(fā)世界的關(guān)注。

伯明翰暴力事件所造成的群體恐慌為那些致力于推動(dòng)民權(quán)進(jìn)步而努力的人提供了幫助，像是馬丁·路德·金，肯尼迪總統(tǒng)，非裔學(xué)生，白人和猶太活動(dòng)家還有自發(fā)組織的勞工和普通民眾。當(dāng)恐怖事件再次出現(xiàn)時(shí)，他們能夠在公眾中凝聚共識(shí)，團(tuán)結(jié)一致。對(duì)世界上大部分人來說，美國(guó)的民主結(jié)構(gòu)正在分崩離析，或者至少搖搖欲墜。

肯尼迪在1963年6月11日發(fā)表了他一生中最重要的演講，也是美國(guó)歷史上關(guān)于種族公平的最佳演講。他稱公民權(quán)利是全國(guó)上下都應(yīng)當(dāng)支持的“道德問題”，認(rèn)為在面臨種族危機(jī)和民主危機(jī)時(shí)，沒有人可以袖手旁觀?！盁o為者，懦弱且羞恥，”肯尼迪講到，“而勇敢者，則曉事理且明大義?！?/span>

第二天早晨，正直堅(jiān)定的密西西比州全國(guó)有色人種協(xié)進(jìn)會(huì)（NAACP）外勤秘書梅德加·艾維斯慘遭白人至上主義者暗殺。（兇手直到1994年才被判刑）

于7月2日宣布的“為就業(yè)與自由”游行將美國(guó)的自由民主傳統(tǒng)與渴望尊嚴(yán)與公民身份的黑人運(yùn)動(dòng)相聯(lián)系起來，使得黨派分歧之間形成了新的共識(shí)。

貝亞德·拉斯汀是一名黑人同性戀和激進(jìn)的社會(huì)民主主義者，曾在二戰(zhàn)期間良心上拒服兵役而被監(jiān)禁。他應(yīng)A·菲利浦·倫道夫之命領(lǐng)導(dǎo)了華盛頓大游行，后者是勞工領(lǐng)袖，臥車員工兄弟會(huì)的創(chuàng)始人。拉斯汀在運(yùn)動(dòng)前后遭受了惡意的恐同行為。作為非暴力反抗的長(zhǎng)期倡導(dǎo)者，拉斯汀曾擔(dān)任馬丁·路德·金的導(dǎo)師，但后者最終因?yàn)榕卤煌轮袀c拉斯汀保持距離。（比如哈萊姆區(qū)國(guó)會(huì)議員亞當(dāng)·克萊頓·鮑威爾，他曾在幾年前用貝亞德的同性戀行為來威脅金）

盡管面對(duì)著非議，拉斯汀堅(jiān)持了下來，最終使得游行運(yùn)動(dòng)勢(shì)如破竹。他優(yōu)秀的組織能力使得包括宗教團(tuán)體、勞工組織、學(xué)生團(tuán)體、民權(quán)運(yùn)動(dòng)者、商人團(tuán)體和其他公民團(tuán)體達(dá)成共識(shí)，齊聚華盛頓。并且他還為游行準(zhǔn)備了大巴車、移動(dòng)式廁所、三明治、噴泉、貴賓椅等等。

但無論如何，這也是一個(gè)不完美的活動(dòng)。鮑德溫害怕跑題所以拒絕進(jìn)行演講，由演員伯特·蘭卡斯特取而代之。學(xué)生非暴力協(xié)調(diào)委員會(huì)主席約翰·劉易斯刪掉了他演講中冒犯到華盛頓大主教帕特里克·奧博伊的內(nèi)容。這一請(qǐng)求來自于德高望重的勞工領(lǐng)袖和游行組織者倫道夫，目的是保持團(tuán)結(jié)。沒有非裔女性在游行中發(fā)表重要演講，盡管羅莎·帕克斯、格洛麗亞·理查森、黛西·貝茨和全國(guó)黑人婦女委員會(huì)主席多蘿西·海德等女性都在領(lǐng)導(dǎo)游行中發(fā)揮了重要作用。

當(dāng)輪到金發(fā)表演講時(shí)，他的“我有一個(gè)夢(mèng)想”結(jié)束語使其演講主題內(nèi)容相形見絀。他談到了賠償和組織者承受執(zhí)法機(jī)構(gòu)暴力的必要性。他公開反對(duì)南方州的州長(zhǎng)們。這些要點(diǎn)大部分都淹沒于他在總結(jié)時(shí)所喚起的聽眾們的激昂之情，過去如此，現(xiàn)在亦然。

“現(xiàn)在是實(shí)現(xiàn)民主的諾言的時(shí)候，”金在他演講的開篇處說道。60年后，民主的承諾仍未完全實(shí)現(xiàn)，但60年前的這次大規(guī)模非暴力示威仍然是一個(gè)活生生的例子，呼應(yīng)著金所構(gòu)想的“心心相印的社區(qū)”。

大概華盛頓大游行最重要的意義就是它告訴了我們，實(shí)現(xiàn)民主永遠(yuǎn)在路上。美國(guó)在1963年沒有通過任何的民權(quán)法案，但這一年作為一個(gè)分水嶺為之后通過的所有立法奠定了基礎(chǔ)。

在1963年取得的成就，就像我們這個(gè)時(shí)代一樣，不是線性的。六十年間，美國(guó)取得了突破性進(jìn)展也經(jīng)歷了慘痛的挫折。如果我們不止于緬懷過去，如果我們努力實(shí)現(xiàn)金、拉斯汀和其他人所倡導(dǎo)的激進(jìn)務(wù)實(shí)的精神，我們就可以在當(dāng)代人為當(dāng)代的夢(mèng)想而努力時(shí)看到希望。

Original Article:

This single day defined the decade that transformed America

No major civil rights legislation passed in 1963, but it was the most important year in the decade that transformed America.

Monday, August 28, is the 60th anniversary of the historic March On Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Best remembered today for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, the march offered average Americans, along with public figures like then-President John F. Kennedy and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, the closest thing to attending a mass movement meeting they ever would see.

While the president and attorney general watched from the White House, they both marveled at the importance and eloquence of King’s speech. “He’s damn good,” Kennedy remarked afterword. A smiling Kennedy greeted King afterward with the line that resonates most, “I have a dream.”

From one perspective, the March On Washington was the capstone of a tumultuous, triumphant and tragic year filled with civil rights demonstrations, protests that cast a bright light on the violence of a system of racial segregation, the brutality of police such as Birmingham public safety commissioner Eugene “Bull” Connor and the cruelty of Southern politicians, most notably Alabama Gov. George Wallace.

1963 was a year filled with dramatic confrontations and extraordinary twists and turns. The centennial anniversary of the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation brought renewed pressure on the Kennedy administration and its New Frontier vision to finally make bold moves in support of civil rights. The Harlem-born writer James Baldwin became the most impactful global literary and political intellectual of the year with his book “The Fire Next Time,” a slim volume of two powerful essays (published in magazines the previous year) that distilled the relationship among race, American exceptionalism and the nation’s original sin of racial slavery and its afterlife in Jim Crow segregation. Baldwin’s prose shone with eloquence, anger, vulnerability, truth and hope. He loved America enough to criticize it when he experienced disappointment, as he so often did.

The forces that fueled segregation and racial hierarchy in America — and the forces that galvanized the political resistance to both — sped up that year.

Events in Birmingham, for example, forced the world to take notice.

A local desegregation campaign, led by Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, collaborated with King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in April for a long-planned assault on the “Magic City.” Martin Luther King Jr.’s arrest and imprisonment on Good Friday, April 12, set the stage for his “Letter From Birmingham Jail,” which was a critique not just of White liberals but also of the Kennedy administration’s efforts, halting at best, to end racial injustice. Despite the rhetorical power of the letter, which linked the civil rights movement to longstanding American traditions of freedom dating back to country’s founding, it would take the sight of high-pressure water canons, powerful enough to strip the bark off of trees in Kelly Ingram Park, and attacking German shepherds being unleased on protesters, to capture the world’s attention.

Collective horror at Birmingham’s violence helped those working for progress on civil rights — Martin Luther King Jr., President Kennedy, Black school children, White and Jewish activists, organized labor and ordinary citizens — to mold consensus among the general public at a time when it appeared, to much of the world, that parts of America’s democratic fabric were falling apart or at least fraying at the seams.

Kennedy delivered the speech of his life on June 11, 1963, giving the best address on racial justice in American history up until that time. Kennedy called civil rights “a moral issue” that the entire nation would have to support. The crisis of race and democracy, observed the president, could afford no bystanders. “Those who do nothing, invite shame and violence,” said Kennedy. “Those who act boldly recognize right as well as reality.”

Early the next morning, Medgar Evers — the upright, powerful and stalwart NAACP Field Secretary in Mississippi — was assassinated by a White supremacist (who would not be convicted for his crime until 1994).

The March for Jobs and Freedom, announced July 2, forged a new consensus across partisan divides by linking American traditions of freedom and democracy with the Black movement’s aspirational notions of dignity and citizenship.

Bayard Rustin — a Black, gay and radical social democrat who spent time in prison as a conscientious objector during World War II — led the organizing of the March On Washington at the behest of A. Philip Randolph, the legendary founder and labor leader who served as head of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Rustin endured vicious homophobia within and outside of the movement. A longtime advocate of non-violent disobedience, Rustin served as a mentor to Martin Luther King Jr., who eventually distanced himself from Rustin out of fear of being compromised by colleagues (such as Harlem Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, who had threatened a few years earlier to weaponize Bayard’s homosexuality against King).

Yet Rustin endured, making a final unstoppable comeback within movement circles through his ingenuous organizing skills that helped ensure the eclectic coalition of religious, labor, student, civil rights, business and civic groups were all there in Washington, equipped with buses, portable toilets, sandwiches, water fountains, chairs for dignitaries and more.

It wasn’t a perfect event by any stretch. Baldwin refused to have his speech censored out of fear he would go off script, so actor Burt Lancaster read it instead. John Lewis, chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, cut out parts of his speech that offended Patrick O’Boyle, the Archbishop of Washington. The request came from the venerable labor leader and march organizer Randolph as part of a plea to maintain unity. No Black women delivered major speeches at the march, despite the invaluable leadership of Rosa Parks, Gloria Richardson, Daisy Bates and National Council for Negro Women President Dorothy Height.

When it was King’s time to speak, his “I Have a Dream” peroration overshadowed the speech’s bone and sinew. He discussed reparations and the need for organizers to withstand prison and police violence. He publicly repudiated Southern governors. Those elements were then, as now, largely drowned out by the ocean of emotion that his preacher’s cadence brought forth at the keynote’s conclusion.

“Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy,” said King at the beginning of his speech. Sixty years later, that promise is not yet fully realized, but the massive nonviolent demonstration on August 28, 1963 remains one of the most resonant examples of King’s Beloved Community the nation has ever witnessed.

Democracy is a journey and never a destination, perhaps the most important lesson left for us by the March On Washington. No civil rights legislation was passed in 1963, but it set the table for all the watershed legislation that subsequently passed.

Progress in 1963, just like in our own time, was not linear. Six decades later, America has made hopeful breakthroughs and experienced tragic setbacks. If we do more than commemorate the March, if we strive to embody the simultaneously radical and pragmatic spirits that enabled by King, Rustin and so many others, we can find hope in the actions this generation takes toward fulfilling a dream that remains alive in our own time.

原網(wǎng)址：?

https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/25/opinions/march-on-washington-i-have-a-dream-60th-anniversary-mlk-joseph/index.html