Hi, everybody. Congratulations to H.B.C.U. (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) class of 2020. Michelle and I are so proud of you.

大家好。祝贺传统黑人大学2020届毕业生。我和米歇尔真为你们骄傲。

 

Graduating from college is a big achievement under any circumstances. And so many of you overcame a lot to get here. You navigated¹ challenging classes, and challenges outside the classroom. Many of you had to stretch to afford tuition. And some of you are the first in your families to reach this milestone².

无论如何，从大学毕业都是一项巨大的成就。而且你们中有很多人是克服了重重困难才走到今天。你们成功完成了充满挑战的课堂学习，妥善应对了课外挑战。你们中的许多人不得不自己赚取学费。还有些人是家族中取得这一重要成就的第一人。

So even if half this semester was spent at Zoom³ University, you’ve earned this moment. You should be very proud. Everybody who supported you along the way is proud of you — parents, grandparents, professors, mentors⁴, aunties, uncles, brothers, sisters, cousins, second cousins, cousins who you aren’t even sure are cousins. Show them some gratitude⁵ today.

因此，即使这个学期有一半是在网上完成的，你们也成功毕业了。你们应该非常自豪。一路支持你们的每个人都以你们为荣——除了父母和祖父母外祖父母，还有教授和导师、姨姑和叔伯、兄弟和姐妹、堂亲和表亲、远房堂亲和表亲，甚至你们自己都不确定是不是亲戚的亲戚们。今天对他们都表示感谢吧。

 

Now look, I know this isn’t the commencement any of you really imagined. Because while our H.B.C.U.s are mostly known for an education rooted in academic rigor⁶, community, higher purpose — they also know how to turn up. Nobody shines quite like a senior on the yard in springtime. Springfest at schools like Howard and Morehouse, that’s the time when you get to strut⁷ your stuff a little bit. And I know that in normal times, rivals like Grambling and Southern, Jackson State and Tennessee State, might raise some eyebrows⁸ at sharing a graduation ceremony.

我想说，我知道这实在不是你们想象中的毕业典礼。因为虽然我们传统黑人大学主要以学术严谨、奉献社区、目标高远的教育理念而闻名，但大家也知道如何让自己成为耀眼的明星。春日的校园里，没有人比毕业班的同学更闪亮。霍华德和莫尔豪斯等学校的春季庆典就是让你们显露身手的。我知道，正常情况下，像格兰布林和南方大学、杰克逊州立大学和田纳西州立大学这样的对手，每个的毕业典礼都会有令人惊喜之处。

 

But these aren’t normal times. You’re being asked to find your way in a world in the middle of a devastating⁹ pandemic and a terrible recession. The timing¹⁰ is not ideal. And let’s be honest — a disease like this just spotlights¹¹ the underlying¹² inequalities and extra burdens that black communities have historically had to deal with in this country. We see it in the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on our communities, just as we see it when a black man goes for a jog, and some folks feel like they can stop and question and shoot him if he doesn’t submit to their questioning.

但是，目前我们处在非正常情况下。这个世界正处于毁灭性的大流行病和可怕的经济衰退中，要你们在这样的世界找到自己的发展道路，时机很不理想。坦白说，这样的疾病恰恰凸显出潜在的不平等和额外的负担——这两者都是黑人群体在这个国家有史以来不得不应对的。我们可以从新冠肺炎对黑人群体的巨大影响中看到这一点，就像一个黑人慢跑时可能发生的情况：有些人觉得，如果他不乖乖配合他们的问询，他们就可以拦住他、质问他、朝他开枪。

 

Injustice¹³ like this isn’t new. What is new is that so much of your generation has woken up to the fact that the status quo needs fixing; that the old ways of doing things don’t work; and that it doesn’t matter how much money you make if everyone around you is hungry and sick; that our society and democracy only works when we think not just about ourselves, but about each other.

像这样的不公正早已不是新鲜事。新鲜的是，你们这一代人中的很多人已经意识到，现状需要改变；意识到，旧的做事方式行不通；意识到，如果身边每个人都饥病交迫，你们赚多少钱都无关紧要；意识到，只有当我们不仅考虑自己还考虑彼此时，我们的社会才会良好运转，民主才会发挥作用。

 

More than anything, this pandemic has fully¹⁴, finally torn back the curtain on the idea that so many of the folks in charge know what they’re doing. A lot of them aren’t even pretending to be in charge.

最重要的是，这场新冠疫情终于完全扯开了那块遮着的幕布——幕布扯开前，人们都以为那许多担负重责的人知道自己在干什么。他们中的很多人甚至都不装装样子，假装自己在负责做着什么。

 

If the world’s going to get better, it’s going to be up to you. With everything suddenly feeling like it’s up for grabs, this is your time to seize the initiative. Nobody can tell you anymore that you should be waiting your turn. Nobody can tell you anymore “this is how it’s always been done.” More than ever, this is your moment — your generation’s world to shape.

如果世界会变得更好，那将取决于你们。当你们突然觉得一切都可以争取时，你们就该抓住主动权了。没有人能再让你们等着轮到你们的时候。没人能再让你们遵从“这是历来的做法”。比以往任何时候都重要的是，这是你们的时刻——这是你们这一代人要塑造的世界。

 

In taking on this responsibility, I hope you are bold. I hope you have a vision that isn’t clouded by cynicism or fear. As young African Americans, you’ve been exposed, earlier than some, to the world as it is. But as young H.B.C.U. grads, your education has also shown you the world as it ought to be.

我希望你们勇敢担负起这一责任。我希望你们的视野不要被犬儒或恐惧所蒙蔽。作为年轻的非裔美国人，你们比一些人更早接触到了这个现实世界。但是，作为传统黑人大学的年轻毕业生，你们所受的教育也向你们展示了一个理想世界。

 

Many of you could have attended any school in this country. But you chose an H.B.CU. — specifically because it would help you sow seeds of change. You chose to follow in the fearless footsteps of people who shook the system to its core — civil rights icons¹⁵ like Thurgood Marshall and Dr. King, storytellers like Toni Morrison and Spike¹⁶ Lee. You chose to study medicine at Meharry, and engineering at NC A&T, because you want to lead and serve.

你们中的许多人本可以选择就读美国任何一所学校。但是，你们选择了一所传统黑人大学——就因为它可以帮助你们播下变革的种子。你们选择了追随那些撼动整个体制的人的无畏脚步——瑟古德·马歇尔和金博士那样的民权标杆，托尼·莫里森和斯派克·李那样的故事创作者。你们选择了在梅哈瑞医学院学医，在北卡罗莱纳农工州立大学学工程，因为你们想要领导和服务。

 

And I’m here to tell you, you made a great choice. Whether you realize it or not, you’ve got more road maps, more role models, more resources than the civil rights generation did. You’ve got more tools, technology, and talents than my generation did. No generation has been better positioned to be warriors¹⁷ for justice and remake the world.

我在这里告诉你们，你们的选择非常棒。不管你们是否意识到，与民权运动那一代相比，你们拥有更多的指导、更多的榜样和更多的资源。与我们这一代相比，你们拥有更多的工具、技术和天赋。没有哪一代人比你们这一代更有能力成为伸张正义、重塑世界的斗士。

 

Now, I’m not going to tell you what to do with all that power that’s in your hands. Many of you are already using it so well to create change. But let me offer three pieces of advice as you continue on your journey.

现在，我不会告诉你们如何使用手中的权力。你们中的许多人已经很好地利用它来做出改变。但是，在你们继续旅程之际，我想给你们三点建议。

 

First, make sure you ground yourself in actual communities with real people — working whenever you can at the grass-roots level. The fight for equality and justice begins with awareness¹⁸, empathy, passion, even righteous anger. Don’t just activate¹⁹ yourself online. Change requires strategy, action, organizing, marching, and voting in the real world like never before. No one is better positioned than this class of graduates to take that activism to the next level. And from tackling health disparities to fighting for criminal justice and voting rights, so many of you are already doing this. Keep on going.

第一，只要能在基层工作，就一定要让自己接触真正的大众、融入实实在在的社群。争取平等和正义的斗争始于意识、同情、激情，甚至义愤。不要只在网上表现活跃。现实世界的变革比以往任何时候都需要策略、行动、组织、游行和投票。没有人比你们这届毕业生更有能力将这种行动主义带到下一个阶段。从解决健康差距到争取刑事正义和投票权，你们中的许多人已经在这样做。请继续。

 

Second, you can’t do it alone. Meaningful change requires allies in common cause. As African Americans, we are particularly attuned²⁰ to injustice, inequality, and struggle. But that also should make us more alive to the experiences of others who’ve been left out and discriminated²¹ against.

第二，你们不能孤军奋战。有意义的变革需要志同道合的盟友。作为非裔美国人，我们特别关注不公正、不平等和斗争。但我们也应该因此更加关注那些被忽视和被歧视之人的经历。

 

So rather than say, “What’s in it for me?” or “What’s in it for my community? And to heck with everyone else,” stand up for and join up with everyone who’s struggling — whether immigrants, refugees, the rural poor, the L.G.B.T. community, low-income workers of every background, women who so often are subject to their own discrimination and burdens and not getting equal pay for equal work; look out for folks whether they are white or black or Asian or Latino or Native American. As Fannie Lou Hamer once said, “nobody’s free until everybody’s free.”

所以，不要说“这对我有什么好处？”或“这对我们黑人有什么好处？让其他人见鬼去吧。”这样的话，而要站出来支持每一个正在艰苦奋斗的人，跟他们站在一起——无论他们是移民、难民、乡村穷人、L.G.B.T.人群，还是各种背景的低收入工人和妇女，他们常常由于自身遭受的歧视和背负的种种包袱而无法得到同工同酬的待遇；无论他们是白人、黑人、亚裔、拉丁裔还是原住民，都要为他们着想。正如范妮·卢·哈默曾经说过的：“没有人是真正自由的，除非所有人都获得了自由。”

 

And on the big unfinished goals in this country, like economic and environmental justice and health care for everybody, broad majorities agree on the ends. That’s why folks with power will keep trying to divide you over the means. That’s how nothing changes. You get a system that looks out for the rich and powerful and nobody else. So expand your moral imaginations, build bridges, and grow your allies in the process of bringing about a better world.

美国还有未完成的宏伟目标，比如经济和环境正义，比如全民医保，在这些目标上，大多数人达成了一致。这就是为什么那些有权有势之人会不断用手段分化你们。这就是一切都没有改变的原因所在。你会看到一个除了权贵不关心其他任何人的体制。所以，在让世界变得更加美好的过程中，你们要扩展道德想象，建立沟通桥梁，发展自己的盟友。

 

And finally, as H.B.C.U. graduates, you have to remember that you are inheritors of one of America’s proudest traditions. Which means you’re all role models now — whether you like it or not. Your participation²² in this democracy, your courage to stand up for what’s right, your willingness to forge coalitions²³ — these actions will speak volumes. And if you are inactive, that will also speak volumes. Not just to the young folks coming up behind you — but to your parents, your peers, and the rest of the country. They need to see your leadership — you’re the folks we’ve been waiting for to come along.

最后，作为传统黑人大学的毕业生，你们一定要记住，你们是美国最值得骄傲的一项传统的继承者。这意味着，不管你们是否乐意，你们如今都是榜样。你们对这个国家民主政治的参与，你们为正义挺身而出的勇气，你们结成联盟的意愿——这些都将意义重大。而如果你们表现消极，那同样意义重大——不仅仅对你们身后的年轻人，还有你们的父母、同龄人和其他所有美国人。他们需要看到你们的领导力——你们是我们一直以来都在等待的人。

 

That’s the power you hold. The power to shine brightly for justice, and for equality, and for joy. You’ve earned your degree. And it’s up to you to use it. So many of us believe in you. I’m so proud of you. And as you set out to change the world, we’ll be the wind at your back.

这就是你们所拥有的力量。为正义、为平等、为快乐而闪耀的力量。你们已经获得了学位，现在就看你们如何利用了。我们很多人都对你们充满信心。我真为你们骄傲！当你们踏上改变世界的征程，我们将是你们身后那股助力的风，祝愿你们一路顺风。

 

Congratulations Class of 2020, and God bless all of you.

恭喜2020届的同学们，上帝保佑所有人。

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