Anand Giridharadas: A tale of two Americas. And the mini-mart where they collided
Anand Giridharadas: 两个美国的故事,他们在小店相撞
Anand Giridharadas writes about people and cultures caught amid the great forces of our time. Full bio
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said the pale, tattooed man.
那个脸色苍白,带有纹身的男人问道。
on America since World War II.
第十天。
the night before, pledges to
or bring justice to our enemies."
或者用正义感召我们的敌人。“
by tire shops and strip joints
有车胎商店和脱衣舞厅。
works the register.
收款处工作,
was a big man, an Air Force officer.
魁梧的男人,曾是一个空军军官,
fresh start in America.
to save up for I.T. classes
that tattooed man enters the mart.
那个纹身的男人走进了杂货店。
touch the money.
true American vigilante,
美国民间复仇者,
stinging his face.
在咬噬他的脸。
birdshot pellets puncture his head.
弹珠粒射入了他的头里。
to keep in the brains
begging his God to live.
祈求他的上帝让他活着。
kicked him out.
解雇了他。
60,000 dollars in medical debt,
而且有6万美元的医疗债务,
for an ambulance.
what he could do to repay his God
怎样去回报他的上帝,
to give a second chance
给另一个我们认为
deserved no chance at all.
seeking my way in the world.
研究生,在这个世上寻找我的道路。
against my parents,
so damn hard to get out of.
in Mumbai stretched to six years.
却延长到了六年。
amid a magical story:
置身于一个神奇的故事中:
of the so-called Third World.
and realized something:
America was fracturing
and a republic of fears.
和一个忧患的共和国。
incredible tale of two lives
的令人不可思议的故事
collided in that Dallas mini-mart.
残酷地相撞,
a book about them,
of America's fracturing
grew no easier.
更艰难了。
the hospital discharged him.
so they bounced him.
拒绝了他。
begged him, "Come home."
a dream to see about.
of white people than the Olive Garden?
还有比橄榄花园更好的地方吗?
美国连锁意大利餐馆,以中产阶级白人为顾客。
he refused alcohol,
would slash his pay.
American pragmatist,
to starve, would he?"
Raisuddin was that Olive Garden's
成为橄榄花园餐厅
database administration.
at a blue chip tech company in Dallas.
公司找到一份6位数字的工作。
to work for Raisuddin,
error of the fortunate:
not the exception.
the fortune of being born American
很多幸运的生而为美国人的人们
made second chances like his impossible.
不可能取得像他一样的第二次机会。
childhood horror stories
addiction, crime.
the man who shot him
he had coveted from afar,
another, equally real, America
in that stingier America.
成长在一个单亲家庭。
was always the spark of parties,
派对上的闪光,
drugs or fights he'd had the night before.
用过什么药物或者打过架。
the three gateways
short of aborting him.
would be at school,
on his fellow classmates.
would be at his grandparents',
会在他的祖父母那里
a drug-addled and absent father.
没有父亲,滥用毒品。
he found himself on death row,
he had shot not one mini-mart clerk,
不是射杀了一个杂货店的收银员,
the first institution
were virtuous and caring:
helped him question himself.
教他反思。
of introspection and betterment.
that had defined his life.
the Holocaust survivor
《大屠杀幸存者》
10 years after his crimes,
was fighting to save his life.
在努力拯救他的生命。
eight years after that shooting,
a pilgrimage to Mecca.
he felt immense gratitude,
as he lay dying in 2001,
面对上帝许下的诺言,
humanity all his days.
relaying the bricks of a life.
that his method of payment
in the cycle of vengeance
in the name of Islam
and its governor Rick Perry
州长里克·佩里
shot in the face do.
在脸上遭到枪击的人一样。
not only by faith.
从上帝而来的启示,
he had come to believe that Stroman
他已经开始相信斯托曼
couldn't just be lethally injected away.
一针致死注射能带走的。
to write my book "The True American."
“真正的美国人“ 一书。
to be as merciful to a native son
要像对外来的移民一样仁慈。
but two Americas collided.
still strives,
can build on today,
lowered expectations,
own narrow kind.
being a newcomer,
other wounded country,
of a native white man.
an urgent parable about America.
形成了一个关于美国的比喻。
generalized decline
where prospects were dimming for everyone.
在那儿每个人都前景黯淡。
and the least successful country
最失败的国家。
of children go hungry.
for large groups,
the world's best hospitals.
that sucks the life from one side,
worryingly perfect.
a sobbing Raisuddin
在哭诉之后,Raisuddin
by the state he so loved.
thought he could still save Stroman,
在思考他能救下斯托曼,
for the second time ever.
that I am praying for God,
eldest daughter, Amber,
he told her,
a second chance.
a neon shrine to second chances.
崭新闪亮的第二次机会。
to the children of other lands,
给了从其他国土来的孩子,
to the children of its own.
anybody to become an American.
every American to become a somebody.
foreigners gained American citizenship.
gained a place in the middle class?
挤上了中产阶级的班车?
and it's even more striking:
令人吃惊。
has shrunk by 20 percent,
缩小了百分之二十,
tumbling out of it.
tells me the problem is grimmer
告诉我
from the unifying center of American life.
and into a global matrix
of down and out
潦倒的体系
that you are the 99 percent.
in the military,
not the hour,
with a criminal record --
记录的美国人之一-
describe you,
a fresh society after slavery,
在奴隶之后建立一个新的社会,
defeat fascism,
my generation, I believe,
or tax-cut away.
或者减少税收能解决的问题。
building slicker apps,
或建立更完美的软件而解决,
artisanal coffee roasting service.
手工咖啡烘焙服务能解决的。
each of us in the flourishing America
在美国的蓬勃发展中
and Appalachia,
和阿巴拉契亚地区,
in that other country,
问问我们自己能做什么。
a more merciful country?
of that America, not only our own.
不只是对我们自己的。
can cover that America's stories,
能够讲述美国的故事,
bureaus in its midst.
and San Francisco.
make there, live there, pray there.
of a generation.
to dare together.
冒险。
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Anand Giridharadas - WriterAnand Giridharadas writes about people and cultures caught amid the great forces of our time.
Why you should listen
Anand Giridharadas is a writer. He is a New York Times columnist, writing the biweekly "Letter from America." He is the author, most recently, of The True American: Murder and Mercy in Texas, about a Muslim immigrant’s campaign to spare from Death Row the white supremacist who tried to kill him. In 2011 he published India Calling: An Intimate Portrait of a Nation's Remaking, about returning to the India his parents left.
Giridharadas's datelines include Italy, India, China, Dubai, Norway, Japan, Haiti, Brazil, Colombia, Nigeria, Uruguay and the United States. He is an on-air contributor for NBC News and appears regularly on "Morning Joe." He has given talks on the main stage of TED and at Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, Yale, Princeton, the University of Michigan, the Aspen Institute, Summit at Sea, the Sydney Opera House, the United Nations, the Asia Society, PopTech and Google. He is a Henry Crown fellow of the Aspen Institute.
Giridharadas lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife, Priya Parker, and their son, Orion.
Anand Giridharadas | Speaker | TED.com