纽约奴隶埋葬地成为慰灵地

纽约奴隶埋葬地成为慰灵地

On a quiet Lower Manhattan street, a stream of water symbolizing 1 the Atlantic Ocean flows alongside a narrow boat-like structure,an echo of the ships as they made their way to the New World heavy laden 2 with human cargo 3. Nearby, Juanita Jones, an elderly African American fixes her gaze on grassy 4 mounds 6.

下曼哈顿的一条安静街道上, 象征着大西洋的一条小河在一条小船样子的建筑旁流淌, 这是模仿曾通往新世界的途中满载非洲奴隶货物的小船。在这附近，胡安妮塔·琼斯,这位年事已高的非裔美国人将自己的目光锁定在了长满草的土冢上。

They are the main visible reminder 7 of the vast 17th and 18th century Negro Burial Ground-now the African Burial Ground National Monument.

这显而易见提醒着人们，曾是17及18世纪黑人埋葬地的此地现在已经成为非裔黑奴公墓国家纪念馆。

“Most of these were young people but they didn't live to be so old. They died very young. You looking down here you see babies, newborns, and young people dying. It's very bad.”

“这里大多数都是年轻人,但他们却没活到那么老。他们很早就已经死去。你在这里会看到婴儿,新生儿及死去的年轻人。非常令人伤心。”

Like Ms.Jones, Mary Palmer is an African American, born in Harlem further north in Manhattan. She has just emerged from within the slave ship structure.

像琼斯女士一样,非裔美国人的玛丽·帕尔默出生在曼哈顿北部的哈莱姆。她刚刚走出奴隶船建筑的那种压抑感。

“When I walked through I felt my heart starts jumping because I'm feeling the souls coming up to me. Like your cousin or somebody you never saw before comes up to you. And then they say Oh hi. They touch you… you feel it. So that's what it felt like. Somebody who was part of my family might have been they touched me inside and shook me a little bit. I had to lean back and hold on. It's very heart-wrenching 8, kind of scary.”

“当我走过的时候感觉自己的心跳加速,因为我感受到了那些亡魂向我涌来。就像你的表兄或是你从未见过的人出现之你面前的感觉。而且他们只是过来打个招呼。他们会摸你…而你能感觉到。就是这样的感觉。那些曾是我家人的人过来摸我，摇了摇我。我不得不向后倾斜,坚持下去。令人撕心裂肺的感觉，而且有点可怕。”

Michael Jiwa and his family are visiting New York from Nigeria.

来自尼日利亚的迈克尔·吉瓦和他的家人正在游览纽约。

He has a sense that some of the people buried may be his ancestors, and feels his visit has offered him a bit of closure.

他有感觉那些埋葬的人可能有些是他的祖先,而此次参观给了他一点点慰藉。

“It's a good thing to come and see where your ancestors are buried. Even if you don't see them alive, at least you know where they are buried. And that gives you a kind of joy at least. You always want to know where you came from, where you originated from. If you don't know your origin, people see you as an outcast, like nobody.”

“过来看看埋葬你祖先的地方是一件好事。即使你不曾见过活生生的他们,但至少你知道他们埋葬在哪里。而这至少能让你感到欣慰。你总是想知道你来自哪里,想要追本溯源。如果你不知道自己的起源,人们会认为你是一个弃儿,就像无足轻重的人一样。”

Meanwhile, Billy Williams, of the Bronx, Manhattan's neighboring borough 9 to the north, stands by the mounds, shaking his head.

与此同时,曼哈顿的北部布朗克斯区的比利·威廉姆斯正站在土冢旁连连摇头。

“I have never been much into genealogy 10 but I do know that I have some African ancestry 11, and I wonder if I was just standing 12 on a few. It's horrific. It's sad. To look at a piece of cement that says kids are buried underneath 13 that is heart wrenching to anyone. It's beyond my verbal description what I feel. I am going to make it a point to bring my grandchildren down here so they can see this important part of our history.”

“我从未了解过自己的宗谱,但我知道我有非洲血统,而且我想知道是否有所联系。这很可怕。令人悲痛欲绝。看着孩子们埋在下面的这一块块水泥，着实令每个人感到心碎。已经无法用言语描述我的感觉。我下定决心要将我的孙子带来,这样他们可以了解我们历史的这一段重要组成部分。”

For Shirley Moultrie, the clean elegant feel of the monument misrepresents the actual history of African slavery in New York, when cruelty and misery 14 were part of everyday life.

而对于雪莉·穆尔特蕾而言, 纪念碑的整洁优雅歪曲着曾在纽约非洲奴隶制的真正历史,那段非常时期残忍及痛苦曾是日常生活的一部分。

“They make it seem like Everything is okay. They're just buried here. They chained us, they beat us until we said Massuh. Until we didn't even know our name! We was almost like animals. Whatever they say do, we did. Because we was scared of the whip. We was taught sometime to hate ourselves. I think it's very sad.”

“他们让一切看起来像正常的一样。他们只是被埋在这里。他们曾拿锁链锁住我们,鞭打我们,直到我们大喊大叫。直到我们甚至忘记自己的名字!我们几乎像动物一样。不管他们说什么做什么,我们都要照做。因为我们害怕鞭子的抽打。我们被教导有时候憎恨自己。我认为这非常难过。”

Moultrie said for African Americans, the past continues in the present, both in the racist 15 ways they are often treated, and in their own attitudes towards others.

穆尔特蕾表示对非裔美国人而言,过去的境况延续到了现在, 他们不仅在种族歧视方面区别对待,而且对别人的态度也是一样。

“I think sometimes the blacks do have the hatred 16 for others because of this. It's the way the white man tells us something and we might say yes sir,no sir because we don't know any better. Now I don't feel it as much, but I am standoffish from them to a certain degree-whites, Caucasians, whatever you want to call them. But we have to get beyond that.”

“我想有时候黑人就是因为这点对别人心怀恨意。白人以他们的方式告诉我们,我们可能会说,是的,先生；哦，不,先生,因为我们不知道何种更好。现在我已经没有这样的感觉,但我从某种程度仍能感受他们的冷淡，白种人,无论你怎么称呼他们。但我们必须跨越这道坎。”

As visitors to this place have learned, and as recent headlines have made clear, “getting beyond” the past can be a long, difficult and painful ordeal 17.

参观这个地方的游客们了解到的信息及最近的头条新闻已经明确表示,这种“跨越”过去会是一段漫长,困难及痛苦的折磨。

The creators of the African Burial Mound 5 Monument hope this site can a place to begin to discover, remember, and ultimately to heal that legacy 18.

非裔黑奴公墓国家纪念馆的创造者们希望这个地点能开始发现,铭记并且最终治愈那段历史的伤痛。