星期三, 9月 26, 2018

奴隸的人性-虛偽的美國奴隸制度(#5/28)

《從28篇經典演說學思考》第五篇。這篇演說的主人翁-佛雷德里克道格拉斯,他從未謀面的父親是白人,但母親是黑奴,譠他永遠無法擺脫宿命。從六歲開始,成為一位翻不了身的黑奴。但是長大之後成功逃脫,並在詹姆斯牧師協助之下學會演說技巧,進而成為林肯總統的貴人。他在四年間成功招幕十九萬名奴隸,組織兩大黑人軍團。後來擔任美國外交使節、美國駐海軍地總領事。

The Hypocrisy of American Slavery  Jul. 4, 1852
Frederick Douglass 

The manhood of the slave is conceded. It is admitted in the fact that Southern statute books are covered with enactments, forbidding, under server fines and penalties, the teaching of the slave to read and write. When you can point to any such laws in reference to the beasts of the field, then I may  consent to argue the manhood of the slave.
    When The dogs in your streets, when the fowls of the air, when the cattle on your hills, when the fish of the sea, and the reptiles that crawl, shall be unable to distinguish the slave for a brute, then I will argue with you that the slave is a man !
    For the present it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. Is it not astonishing that, while we are plowing, planting, and reaping, using all kinds of mechanical tools, erecting houses, constructing bridges, building ships, working in metals of brass, iron, copper, silver, and gold; that while we are reading, writing, and ciphering, acting as clerks, merchants, and secretaries, having among us lawyers, doctors, ministers, poets, authors, editors, orators, and teachers: that we are engaged in all the enterprises common to other men —-digging gold in California, capturing the whale in he Pacific, feeding sheep and cattle on the hillside, living, moving, acting, thinking, planning, living in families as husbands, wives, and children, and above all, confessing and worshiping the christian God, and looking hopefully for life and immortality beyond the grave —we are called upon to prove that we are men?


延伸閱讀
28篇經典演說學思考-李家同



沒有留言:

對話-伊斯蘭與寛容的未來

改革伊斯蘭教己漸漸成為廿一世紀政治意識形態最重要的議題。本書對話坦誠、睿智且富有感情,尤其在涉及的思想與道德議題有最佳闡述。 這本書載錄 美國新無神論者 山姆 - 哈里斯 (Sam Harris) ,以及前 伊斯蘭極端份子 德 - 納瓦茲 Maajud Nawaz)...