TED@NYC
Clint Smith: The danger of silence
克林特．史密斯: 沈默的危險性
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「我們花這麼多時間傾聽人們說的話，卻鮮少注意他們所沒說的事。」說唱詩人與教師克林特．史密斯說。在這段簡短卻真摯有力的演講中，他與我們分享如何找到發聲的勇氣，對抗無知與不公。
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:13
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
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小馬丁．路德．金博士
00:14
in a 1968 speech where he reflects
upon the Civil Rights Movement,
upon the Civil Rights Movement,
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在 1968 年一場演講中反思人權運動時，
00:18
states, "In the end,
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說道：「最終，
00:21
we will remember not the words of our enemies
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我們會記得的並非敵人的話語，
00:24
but the silence of our friends."
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而是朋友的沈默。」
00:27
As a teacher, I've internalized this message.
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身為教師，我把這句話內化了。
00:30
Every day, all around us,
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每天在我們的周遭
00:31
we see the consequences of silence
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都能看見沈默的後果
00:33
manifest themselves in the form of discrimination,
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以各種形式呈現：
歧視、暴力、屠殺、戰爭。
00:36
violence, genocide and war.
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00:39
In the classroom, I challenge my students
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在教室中，我鼓勵學生
00:42
to explore the silences in their own lives
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透過詩作，在生活中探索沈默。
00:44
through poetry.
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00:46
We work together to fill those spaces,
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我們一起填滿那些空白、
00:48
to recognize them, to name them,
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認識它們、指出它們
00:51
to understand that they don't
have to be sources of shame.
have to be sources of shame.
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並瞭解它們並不必是種羞恥。
00:54
In an effort to create a culture within my classroom
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為了在教室裡創造這種文化，
00:57
where students feel safe sharing the intimacies
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讓學生分享他們所沈默的事而感到自在，
00:59
of their own silences,
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01:01
I have four core principles posted on the board
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我將四個核心原則放到黑板上，
01:03
that sits in the front of my class,
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就在教室最前方，
01:05
which every student signs
at the beginning of the year:
at the beginning of the year:
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每位學生在學期開始時都簽名：
01:08
read critically, write consciously,
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批判性地閱讀、有意識地寫作、
01:10
speak clearly, tell your truth.
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清晰地說話、說實話。
01:14
And I find myself thinking a lot about that last point,
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我對於最後一點想了很多，
01:17
tell your truth.
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說實話。
01:19
And I realized that
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後來我發現，
01:20
if I was going to ask my students to speak up,
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如果我要學生勇敢說出口，
01:23
I was going to have to tell my truth
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我就要以身作則說實話，
01:25
and be honest with them about the times
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並在自己無法做到時坦白。
01:27
where I failed to do so.
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01:29
So I tell them that growing up,
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所以我告訴他們，
01:31
as a kid in a Catholic family in New Orleans,
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在紐奧良天主教家庭長大的我，
01:33
during Lent I was always taught
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在大齋期，我總被教導說
01:36
that the most meaningful thing one could do
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一個人能做最有意義的事
01:38
was to give something up,
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就是放棄某一件東西，
01:39
sacrifice something you typically indulge in
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犧牲你平常很享受的一件事
01:42
to prove to God you understand his sanctity.
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向上帝證明你理解祂的神聖。
01:44
I've given up soda, McDonald's, French fries,
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我齋戒過汽水、麥當勞、薯條、
01:47
French kisses, and everything in between.
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法式接吻以及其他不少事。
01:50
But one year, I gave up speaking.
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但有一年，我放棄說話。
01:54
I figured the most valuable thing I could sacrifice
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我想我能犧牲的最寶貴的事情
01:56
was my own voice, but it was like I hadn't realized
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就是我的言語，但其實我沒發現
02:00
that I had given that up a long time ago.
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我老早就放棄自己的言語了。
02:03
I spent so much of my life
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我用了生命中太多時間
02:05
telling people the things they wanted to hear
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告訴別人他們想聽的事
02:07
instead of the things they needed to,
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而非當頭棒喝。
02:08
told myself I wasn't meant to be anyone's conscience
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告訴自己我無須扮演其他人的良知，
02:11
because I still had to figure out being my own,
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因為我也不知道自己的良知是什麼，
02:13
so sometimes I just wouldn't say anything,
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所以有些時候我安靜不說話，
02:16
appeasing ignorance with my silence,
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以沈默來掩飾我的無知，
卻沒意識到沈默暗示著默許。
02:19
unaware that validation doesn't need words
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02:21
to endorse its existence.
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當克里斯汀因同性戀傾向被毆打，
02:23
When Christian was beat up for being gay,
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02:25
I put my hands in my pocket
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我將手插口袋，
02:26
and walked with my head
down as if I didn't even notice.
down as if I didn't even notice.
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低頭走過，視而不見。
02:29
I couldn't use my locker for weeks
because the bolt on the lock
because the bolt on the lock
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連置物櫃的鎖閂都在提醒我，
02:31
reminded me of the one I had put on my lips
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讓我想起我是如何雙唇緊閉地
02:33
when the homeless man on the corner
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應對轉角的流浪漢。
02:35
looked at me with eyes up merely searching
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那仰望的視線不過是
02:37
for an affirmation that he was worth seeing.
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想確認自己是否值得被看一眼。
02:39
I was more concerned with
touching the screen on my Apple
touching the screen on my Apple
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而我只專心滑我手上的蘋果，
02:41
than actually feeding him one.
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而沒想過要餵他一顆。
02:43
When the woman at the fundraising gala
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當慈善會的女人說
02:45
said "I'm so proud of you.
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「我真是替你感到驕傲。
02:46
It must be so hard teaching
those poor, unintelligent kids,"
those poor, unintelligent kids,"
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教導窮苦、不聰明的學生很辛苦吧」的時候，
02:49
I bit my lip, because apparently
we needed her money
we needed her money
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我緊閉雙唇，因為很顯然我們需要她的錢
02:51
more than my students needed their dignity.
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勝過於我的學生需要尊嚴。
02:53
We spend so much time
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我們花這麼多時間
02:55
listening to the things people are saying
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傾聽人們說的話，
02:59
that we rarely pay attention to the things they don't.
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卻鮮少注意他們所沒說的事。
03:03
Silence is the residue of fear.
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沈默是恐懼的殘渣。
03:06
It is feeling your flaws
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是感受到自己的缺點
03:07
gut-wrench guillotine your tongue.
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狠狠地將你的舌頭斬斷；
03:09
It is the air retreating from your chest
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是從胸腔吐出的空氣，
03:11
because it doesn't feel safe in your lungs.
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因為在肺裡覺得不安全。
03:13
Silence is Rwandan genocide. Silence is Katrina.
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沈默有如盧安達大屠殺；有如卡崔娜。
03:16
It is what you hear when there
aren't enough body bags left.
aren't enough body bags left.
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是屍體袋不夠時會聽到的聲音；
03:19
It is the sound after the noose is already tied.
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是上吊繩綁好時的聲音；
03:22
It is charring. It is chains. It is privilege. It is pain.
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是焦炭；是鎖鍊；是特權；是痛楚。
03:25
There is no time to pick your battles
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沒有時間挑選自己的戰役，
03:27
when your battles have already picked you.
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因為戰役已活生生擺在眼前。
03:29
I will not let silence wrap itself around my indecision.
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我不會讓優柔寡斷助長沉默，
03:32
I will tell Christian that he is a lion,
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我會告訴克里斯汀他是雄獅，
03:34
a sanctuary of bravery and brilliance.
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是勇敢與輝煌的聖地。
03:36
I will ask that homeless man what his name is
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我會問那流浪漢的名字，
03:38
and how his day was, because sometimes
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問他那天過得如何，因為有時候
03:40
all people want to be is human.
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大家想要的只是被當作人一樣對待。
03:42
I will tell that woman that my students can talk about
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我會告訴那位女士，我的學生可以
03:45
transcendentalism like their last name was Thoreau,
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像梭羅那樣談論超驗主義。
03:47
and just because you watched
one episode of "The Wire"
one episode of "The Wire"
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就因為妳看了一集《火線重案組》
03:49
doesn't mean you know anything about my kids.
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不代表妳就了解我的學生。
03:51
So this year,
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所以今年
03:53
instead of giving something up,
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我非但不會放棄某物，
03:55
I will live every day as if there were a microphone
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我要像舌頭底下
有麥克風一樣地過每一天，
有麥克風一樣地過每一天，
03:58
tucked under my tongue,
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04:00
a stage on the underside of my inhibition.
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在我壓抑的腳下有個舞台。
04:04
Because who has to have a soapbox
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誰還需要講台？
04:06
when all you've ever needed is your voice?
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你的勇敢發聲就足矣。
04:10
Thank you.
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謝謝。
04:12
(Applause)
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（掌聲）
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Clint Smith - Poet, educatorClint Smith's work blends art and activism.
Why you should listen
Clint Smith is a writer, teacher and doctoral candidate at Harvard University studying education, incarceration and inequality. Previously, he taught high school English in Prince George’s County, Maryland where, in 2013, he was named the Christine D. Sarbanes Teacher of the Year by the Maryland Humanities Council.
Clint is a 2014 National Poetry Slam champion, an Individual World Poetry Slam Finalist, and author of the poetry collection Counting Descent. He has received fellowships from the National Science Foundation, Cave Canem and the Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The Guardian, Boston Review, American Poetry Review, Harvard Educational Review and elsewhere. He was born and raised in New Orleans, LA.
Clint Smith | Speaker | TED.com