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奥巴马费城演讲- A MORE PERFECT UNION
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"A More Perfect Union"
by Barack Obama
Constitution Center
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
18 March, 2008
"We the people, in order to form. a more perfect union."
Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America's improbable experiment in democracy. Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny and persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787.
The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. It was stained by this nation's original sin of slavery, a question that divided the colonies and brought the convention to a stalemate until the founders chose to allow the slave trade to continue for at least twenty more years, and to leave any final resolution to future generations.
Of course, the answer to the slavery question was already embedded within our Constitution - a Constitution that had at its very core the ideal of equal citizenship under the law; a Constitution that promised its people liberty, and justice, and a union that could be and should be perfected over time.
And yet words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage, or provide men and women of every color and creed their full rights and obligations as citizens of the United States. What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part - through protests and struggles, on the streets and in the courts, through a civil war and civil disobedience and always at great risk - to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time.
This was one of the tasks we set forth at the beginning of this presidential campaign - to continue the long march of those who came before us, a march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America. I chose to run for president at this moment in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together - unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction - towards a better future for our children and our grandchildren.
And this belief comes from my unyielding faith in the decency and generosity of the American people. But it also comes from my own American story.
I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Patton's Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas. I've gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the world's poorest nations. I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slave owners - an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters. I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible.
It's a story that hasn't made me the most conventional of candidates. But it is a story that has seared into my genetic makeup the idea that this nation is more than the sum of its parts - that out of many, we are truly one.
Throughout the first year of this campaign, against all predictions to the contrary, we saw how hungry the American people were for this message of unity. Despite the temptation to view my candidacy through a purely racial lens, we won commanding victories in states with some of the whitest populations in the country. In South Carolina, where the Confederate Flag still flies, we built a powerful coalition of African Americans and white Americans.
This is not to say that race has not been an issue in the campaign. At various stages in the campaign, some commentators have deemed me either "too black" or "not black enough." We saw racial tensions bubble to the surface during the week before the South Carolina primary. The press has scoured every single exit poll for the latest evidence of racial polarization, not just in terms of white and black, but black and brown as well.
And yet, it has only been in the last couple of weeks that the discussion of race in this campaign has taken a particularly divisive turn.
On one end of the spectrum, we've heard the implication that my candidacy is somehow an exercise in affirmative action; that it's based solely on the desire of wild- and wide-eyed liberals to purchase racial reconciliation on the cheap. On the other end, we've heard my former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation, and that rightly offend white and black alike.
I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy and in some cases pain. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely - just as I'm sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.
But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren't simply controversial. They weren't simply a religious leader's efforts to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country - a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam.
As such, Reverend Wright's comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems - two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating climate change - problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all.
Given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. Why associate myself with Reverend Wright in the first place? They may ask. Why not join another church? And I confess that if all that I knew of Reverend Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television sets and YouTube, or if Trinity United Church of Christ conformed to the caricatures being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way.
But the truth is, that isn't all that I know of the man.
The man I met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another, to care for the sick and lift up the poor. He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine, and who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing God's work here on Earth - by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS.
In my first book, Dreams From My Father, I described the experience of my first service at Trinity and it goes as follows:
"People began to shout, to rise from their seats and clap and cry out, a forceful wind carrying the reverend's voice up into the rafters.... And in that single note - hope! - I heard something else; at the foot of that cross, inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lion's den, Ezekiel's field of dry bones. Those stories - of survival, and freedom, and hope - became our stories, my story; the blood that had spilled was our blood, the tears our tears; until this black church, on this bright day, seemed once more a vessel carrying the story of a people into future generations and into a larger world. Our trials and triumphs became at once unique and universal, black and more than black; in chronicling our journey, the stories and songs gave us a meaning to reclaim memories that we didn't need to feel shame about, memories that all people might study and cherish and with which we could start to rebuild."
That has been my experience at Trinity. Like other predominantly black churches across the country, Trinity embodies the black community in its entirety - the doctor and the welfare mom, the model student and the former gang-banger. Like other black churches, Trinity's services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. They are full of dancing and clapping, and screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear. The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and biases that make up the black experience in America.
And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Reverend Wright. As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children. Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect. He contains within him the contradictions - the good and the bad - of the community that he has served diligently for so many years.
I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can disown my white grandmother - a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed her by on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.
These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love.
Some will see this as an attempt to justify or excuse comments that are simply inexcusable. I can assure you it is not. I suppose the politically safe thing would be to move on from this episode and just hope that it fades into the woodwork. We can dismiss Reverend Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias.
But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. We would be making the same mistake that Reverend Wright made in his offending sermons about America - to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality.
The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we've never really worked through - a part of our union that we have not yet made perfect. And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American. (掌声) Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this point. As William Faulkner once wrote, "The past isn't dead and buried. In fact, it isn't even past." We do not need to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country. But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist between the African-American community and the larger American community today can be traced directly to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow. Segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven't fixed them, fifty years after Brown vs. Board of Education, (掌声) and the inferior education they provided, then and now, helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between today's black and white students.
Legalized discrimination - where blacks were prevented, often through violence, from owning property, or loans were not granted to African-American business owners, or black homeowners could not access FHA mortgages, or blacks were excluded from unions, or the police force, or the fire departments - meant that black families could not amass any meaningful wealth to bequeath to future generations. That history helps explain the wealth and income gap between blacks and whites, and the concentrated pockets of poverty that persists in so many of today's urban and rural communities.
A lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide for one's family, contributed to the erosion of black families - a problem that welfare policies for many years may have worsened. And the lack of basic services in so many urban black neighborhoods - parks for kids to play in, police walking the beat, regular garbage pick-up and building code enforcement - all helped create a cycle of violence, blight and neglect that continue to haunt us.
This is the reality in which Reverend Wright and other African-Americans of his generation grew up. They came of age in the late fifties and early sixties, a time when segregation was still the law of the land and opportunity was systematically constricted.
What's remarkable is not how many failed in the face of discrimination, but how many men and women overcame the odds; how many were able to make a way out of no way for those like me who would come after them.
But for all those who scratched and clawed their way to get a piece of the American Dream, there were many who didn't make it - those who were ultimately defeated, in one way or another, by discrimination. That legacy of defeat was passed on to future generations - those young men and increasingly young women who we see standing on street corners or languishing in our prisons, without hope or prospects for the future. Even for those blacks who did make it, questions of race, and racism, continue to define their world view in fundamental ways. For the men and women of Reverend Wright's generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years. That anger may not get expressed in public, in front of white co-workers or white friends. But it does find voice in the barbershop or the beauty-shop around the kitchen table. At times, that anger is exploited by politicians, to gin up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politician's own failings. And occasionally it finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the pews.
The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Reverend Wright's sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour of American life occurs on Sunday morning. (掌声) That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity within our American community in our own condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change. But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.
In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don't feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is the immigrant experience - as far as they're concerned, no one's handed them anything, they've built it from scratch. They've worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pensions dumped after a lifetime of labor. They are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; and in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense. So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed; when they're told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time.
Like the anger within the black community, these resentments aren't always expressed in polite company. (笑声) But they have helped shape the political landscape for at least a generation. Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition. Politicians routinely exploited fears of crime for their own electoral ends. Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.（掌声）
Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze - a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many. And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns - this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding.
This is where we are right now. It's a racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years. Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been so naïve as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy （掌声） - particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own.（笑声）But I have asserted a firm conviction - a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people - that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice - we have no choice if we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union.
For the African-American community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past. It means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of American life. But it also means binding our particular grievances - for better health care, and better schools, and better jobs - to the larger aspirations of all Americans -- the white woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, the white man who's been laid off, the immigrant trying to feed his family. And it means also taking full responsibility for own lives - by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism;（掌声） they must always believe that they can write their own destiny.
Ironically, this quintessentially American - and yes, conservative - notion of self-help found frequent expression in Reverend Wright's sermons. But what my former pastor too often failed to understand is that embarking on a program of self-help also requires a belief that society can change.
The profound mistake of Reverend Wright's sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society. It's that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if this country - a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition of white and black; Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old -- is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past.（掌声） But what we know -- what we have seen - is that America can change. That is true genius of this nation. What we have already achieved gives us hope - the audacity to hope - for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.
In the white community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination - and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past - that these things are real and must be addressed. Not just with words, but with deeds - by investing in our schools and our communities; by enforcing our civil rights laws and ensuring fairness in our criminal justice system; by providing this generation with ladders of opportunity that were unavailable for previous generations. It requires all Americans to realize that your dreams do not have to come at the expense of my dreams; that investing in the health, welfare, and education of black and brown and white children will ultimately help all of America prosper.（掌声）
In the end, then, what is called for is nothing more, and nothing less, than what all the world's great religions demand - that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Let us be our brother's keeper, Scripture tells us. Let us be our sister's keeper. Let us find that common stake we all have in one another, and let our politics reflect that spirit as well.
For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle - as we did in the OJ trial - or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news. We can play Reverend Wright's sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she's playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies. We can do that. But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we'll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one.（掌声）And nothing will change.（掌声）
That is one option.
Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, "Not this time."
This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children.（掌声）
This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can't learn; that those kids who don't look like us are somebody else's problem.（掌声） The children of America are not "those kids", they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy. Not this time.
This time we want to talk about how the lines in the Emergency Room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care; who don't have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together.
This time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women of every race, and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from every religion, every region, every walk of life. This time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn't look like you might take your job; it's that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit. （掌声）
This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag. We want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that never should have been authorized and never should have been waged,（掌声, 呼声） and we want to talk about how we'll show our patriotism by caring for them, and their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned.（掌声）
I would not be running for President if I didn't believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country. This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected. And today, whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next generation - the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made history in this election.（掌声）
There is one story in particularly that I'd like to leave you with today - a story I told when I had the great honor of speaking on Dr. King's birthday at his home church, Ebenezer Baptist, in Atlanta.
There is a young, twenty-three year old woman - a white woman, named Ashley Baia who organized for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina. She had been working to organize a mostly African-American community since the beginning of this campaign, and one day she was at a round-table discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there. And Ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer. And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care. They had to file for bankruptcy, and that's when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom. She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches. Because that was the cheapest way to eat. That's the mind of a nine-year old. She did this for a year until her mom got better. Ashley told everyone at the round table that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents too.
Now, Ashley might have made a different choice. Perhaps somebody told her along the way that the source of her mother's problems were blacks who were on welfare and too lazy to work, or Hispanics who were coming into the country illegally. But she didn't. She sought out allies in her fight against injustice.
Anyway, Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they are supporting the campaign. They all have different stories and reasons. Many bring up a specific issue. And finally they come to this elderly black man who's been sitting there quietly the entire time. And Ashley asks him why he's there. And he does not bring up a specific issue. He does not say health care or the economy. He does not say education or the war. He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama. He simply says to everyone in the room, "I am here because of Ashley."（掌声）
"I'm here because of Ashley."
And by itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black man is not enough. It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children. But it is where we start. It is where our union grows stronger. And as so many generations have come to realize over the course of the two-hundred and twenty one years since a band of patriots signed that document right here in Philadelphia, that is where the perfection begins.
Thank you very much.
（掌声）
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je2030 发布于2008-04-09 13:38:01
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一个消弭种族怒气的演讲
胡祖庶
3月中旬，几乎在同一时间内，全世界各广播媒体播出了发生在中国和美国的种族矛盾轩然大波。一是武的，一是文的。武的比文的较多地吸引世人的眼球，文的比武的较快地消弭怒者的戾气。后者应主要归功于奥巴马3月18日发表的一个演讲。
不同凡响的演讲能产生不同凡响的效果。举一个历史事例。40年前，美国黑人民权运动领袖马丁-路德·金于4月4日在田纳西州美姆菲斯市遇刺身亡。当时参加美国总统竞选的罗伯特·肯尼迪参议员听到这消息感到犹如晴天霹雳。这位前总统的胞弟即刻把一个正要对大部分黑人选民发表的竞选演说变为宣布遇刺消息和哀悼金牧师的致辞。该致辞十分杰出感人，感动和抚慰了许多黑人，在一定程度缓解了当时遇刺事件在几十个城市所引发的暴乱。罗伯特·肯尼迪本人却在两个月之后的加州初选胜选庆祝中不幸同样遇刺身亡。但他1968年4月4日的演讲已彪炳青史，成为促进种族和解的一个重要文献。
美国今年总统大选，民主党冒出了一个才华出众、极具魅力的黑人竞选者奥巴马。在他已有七、八成出线把握成为民主党候选人之际，选营之间突然掀起了一股有关种族矛盾的风潮。对黑人抱有潜意识偏见的菲拉罗女士，这位民主党1984年的副总统候选人3月6日在一次访谈中称奥巴马由于是一个黑人，不然不可能在此次竞选领先，言下之意是奥巴马得益于美国给予黑人特别照顾的政策，占了政治便宜。她的言论遭到舆论批评后她不得不辞去担任希拉里竞选顾问之职。希拉里也公开与她的言论划清界限。接着，3月13日美国ABC电视台《美国你早》节目播出奥巴马皈依的芝加哥圣三位一体联合基督教会牧师赖特Wright以前布道的一些仇恨白人和反美的激情演讲片段。15日和之后几天美国所有传媒和因特网You Tube视频等铺天盖地予以连续性转播。全国顿时一片哗然。奥巴马长期跟随的牧师原来是这样一个怀有“白人有欠于我”极端情绪的种族主义者。这不能不引起选民们的疑虑：奥巴马是不是一个自命超越种族主义却善于伪装的伪君子？奥巴马的竞选宣传一下子陷入至今为止最严重的危机。
笔者3月14、15日在电视上看到西 藏的暴乱和赖特牧师的狂言乱语时，感触颇深。两个事件的本质都跟种族矛盾有关系。西 藏问题长期未能得到圆满解决，这是所有中国人的忧虑。今年奥运年这个问题又突出地摆在那里，是否能寻求到一个好的解决办法又是一次对中国国家领导人智慧的考验。人在德国，看到奥巴马的牧师那种抑扬顿挫、表情十足的演讲，不由不联想到在纪录片里看到希特勒演讲时的情景。赖特的话耸人听闻，他歇斯底里地宣称：艾滋病病毒是美国政府居心叵测，有意释放出来杀害有色人种的；美国政府支持针对巴勒斯坦和南非黑人施行国家恐怖主义，因此 911事件活该，是美国咎由自取；“政府给他们毒品，建更大的监狱，通过重惩多次前科惯犯法律，它还想让我们唱‘上帝保佑美国’。不不不，上帝诅咒美国，那是《圣经》中杀无辜者的报应。”；“奥巴马知道，生活在被富裕白人控制的国家和文化中，对黑人意味着什么……而希拉里永远不会知道。”，等等。希特勒不也是因为知道德国民众对一战战胜国强加给德国的巨额战争赔偿重担深感不满而煽动和操纵这种怨恨情结来达到他不可告人的目的吗？一个美国黑人牧师为何能这样肆无忌惮地煽动他的教众来仇视白人？奥巴马若要消除人们对他的怀疑，挽狂澜于既倒，他是否有必要与他的牧师一刀两断，坚决严厉地谴责他的牧师？
从“提携措施”Affirmative Action说起
任何实行市场经济制度的国家都自然地会出现弱势群体。从最广大的意义来说，这个弱势群体便是社会的低收入阶级，即挣扎在生存线上的贫穷群体；从民族的竞争层面上来说，弱势群体便是由于历史、文化、经济或社会的原因而呈现竞争技能落后的民族。一个贫穷家庭的孩子想上大学，如果没有国家提供的奖学金或助学贷款，他便无法跨过入学必须缴学费的门槛。一个不具有现代经济文化传统的民族如果没有创业资金和政策上的扶助，这个民族便无法在市场经济竞争机制所制做出的大蛋糕分到足够大的一块。所以，对待弱势群体，是采取社会达尔文主义者的态度，即实行如兽类的生存竞争原则一样——人人自由竞争、优胜劣汰，还是扶他们一把，对他们施行“提携措施”，即在政治、经济、教育或行政等各方面给以扶助和特别关照，对任何国家都是一个难以做出的抉择。
差不多所有文明国家或多或少对其弱势群体都执行着“提携措施”计划。马来西亚对占人口多数的马来族及其他少数土著民族在经济、政治、教育等方面所执行的“提携措施”计划是铺盖面最广的一例。它的“提携措施”还有一个结合联邦自治的特点：在对待远离马来亚半岛而处于加里曼丹岛北部的沙巴州和沙捞越州这两个人口较少但土著民族较多的联邦州的政策上，马中央政府以必须办理通行证办法限制半岛居民向该两州移民的数量，维系了该两州对中央政府的向心力。中国也是一个执行较多“提携措施”计划的国家，特别体现在对少数民族的政策上，如允许他们多生多育、对他们上大学降低入学考分要求、选拔干部他们获得优先录用等。美国的“提携措施”是20世纪60年代美国民权运动为少数族裔美国人和妇女争取到更多平等权利的衍生结果。譬如，在教育方面，它给少数族裔尤其是亚洲族裔美国人带来了上大学的好处，但却后来造成许多大学族裔比例大大失调的现象。现在很多美国大学已中止了“提携措施”计划，一些州也准备通过选民投票废除“提携措施”。
“提携措施”尽管提高了许多弱势群体的竞争能力和地位，但针对它的争议也很大。这里仅举出反对“提携措施”的其中三个论点。一是，坚持“人生下来是平等的”观点的人认为给予某一历史上受歧视的族群特别关照等于反向歧视了不该为历史罪行负责的另一个或其他族群；他们认为一切应该按“自由竞争，优胜劣汰” 的原则办事。二是，另一些从贫富观点分析的人认为“提携措施”虽然能缓和族群矛盾，但却扩大了贫富矛盾；他们认为，从“提携措施”获得社会地位提升的那些人一般都晋入他们族群和整个社会的统治阶级，这些人享有特权后就不会真正为他们广大的同胞办事。三是，有些人担心，得到“提携措施”扶助起来的获益者容易视“提携措施”为想当然的、天经地义的“人权”，这样他们就不会有回报社会的念头，而很容易滥用他们的“人权”了。
在一个政治体制不健全的情况下，“提携措施”如果运用得不当确实会产生与上述论点有关的不良效果。马来西亚和中国的政治体制都具有一党独大的特色。所不同的是，马来西亚实行的是君主民主立宪理论的一党独大，中国实行的则是马克思政治理论的一党独大。两国一党独大的政治体制都不具有有效的抗衡和监督机制，因此也就无可避免地染上腐败的顽疾。“提携措施”作为患有腐败顽疾“躯体”的产物也就不能不带有腐败的特征。马来西亚国民阵线党便是由于它许多经“提携措施”培养出来的官员都很腐败而令选民不满，所以在今年3月8日的议会选举中失去占议会三分之二多数席位的地位。中国不少通过“提携措施”培养出来的少数民族干部已和许多堕落的汉族国家干部完全一样，只懂得利用他们的手中权力当官老爷享受一切特权，不真正为他们的民族同胞解忧解愁；这不仅起不到团结少数民族同胞的作用，而且还引起许多汉人的不满。这次西 藏发生暴乱后，很多网民的激烈评论便反映出汉民的这种心理：国家拿出那么多钱去搞西 藏建设，给藏民许多政策上的特殊关照，而藏民不仅知恩不报，还要闹事，简直岂有此理。
在美国社会生存，一般要靠个人拼搏才能成为一个成功者。但有了“提携措施”，少数族裔便获得了更多成功的机会。目前，美国社会除了总统和副总统级的职位之外，其它各级政府部门和各行各业都基本已出现过各个族裔的代表。在现今21世纪的美国，“提携措施”似乎有愈加被削弱的趋势。一些保守派人物正不遗余力地进行反“提携措施”宣传并准备把废除“提携措施”提到选民投票议程上。赖特牧师为何敢肆无忌惮地使用偏激的语言布道，除了他固有的挥之不去的“白人有欠于我”情结的原因外，从奥巴马3月18日有关种族问题的演讲中，我们知道跟“提携措施”也不无关系。
奥巴马的《（塑造）一个更完美的合众国》演讲
面对他的牧师赖特所造成的选情危机，既然赖特本人没有勇气出来向公众解释道歉，那么奥巴马就得自己想办法化解了。他可以选择的一种最妥当和最安全的处理办法就是效法一般政客，郑重发表声明，与赖特一刀两断，同时强烈谴责他那些偏激的种族言论，以此平息众怒。奥巴马的一些竞选顾问也建议他应该如此做。但奥巴马已意识到，虽然他希望能超越种族主义来与对手辩论应该采取什么政策措施才能最好地治理国家，但与种族有关的指桑骂槐的阴言阴语却如阴影一样一直不断伴随着他的竞选。在他去年2月宣布参加竞选总统之后，舆论界就有人评论由于他不够黑，因此难以得到黑人的支持（希拉里当时在黑人中的支持率远远超过他）；又有人认为由于他太黑，因此难以得到白人的支持。他被公认口才好，希拉里却说马丁-路德·金也是口才很好的一个人，但最后美国的民权措施之得以贯彻落实还是要靠约翰逊总统提出通过的民权法案，言下之意是你黑人口才再好顶什么用。他在有黑人相对较多的南卡罗来纳州以高票赢得初选后，前总统克林顿就说以前杰克逊（金牧师之后的黑人民权运动领袖）也在该州赢过初选，没什么了不起的，而不解释他自己为何也曾在该州赢过两次初选。上面提到的菲拉罗女士的言论更是别有用心地把奥巴马至今所取得的成绩归功于“提携措施”。至于那些敌视他的网民评语，更是一派赤裸裸的种族歧视主义脏语。奥巴马觉得，与其被迫不得不断拖着种族阴影的尾巴走，不如把阴影照亮，让人看清楚它是什么东西。于是，他利用16日和17日两天时间写了一篇深入探讨美国种族问题的演讲。
3月18日，他在下一个初选州、美国宪法诞生地的费城美国宪法中心发表此项演讲。演讲长达40分钟，美国许多电视台都予以现场转播。演讲结束后好评如潮，当天因特网演讲稿和演讲录象视频的点击率高达2、3百万次，网民回贴多达几十万个。次日欧美各大报的社评几乎无一不大加赞赏。对该演讲最常用的形容词是“深刻、动人、有胆识、充满智慧、开诚布公、不落政客俗套、具有历史意义”等。当然也不乏有一些支持对手阵营的专栏作家所发出的酸言酸语和冷嘲热讽。但美国许多学者已认为即使奥巴马当不上总统，他3月18日的演讲将作为有关美国种族问题的重要文献载入史册。一些大学教授已准备将该演讲作为有关课程的讨论基础。许多牧师神父受到他演讲的启发，在复活节布道时也谈及种族问题。美国著名电视主持人Barbara Walters和她的同事说奥巴马所谈到的都是她们蹑手蹑脚绕过不敢轻碰的话题，现在经他这一谈开，她们觉得终于可以打开天窗说亮话了。最有意思的是，今年一月由于竞选成绩不佳而退出竞选的拉丁裔竞选人理查森，这位曾在克林顿总统任期当过美国驻联合国代表和白宫内阁能源部部长的新墨西哥州州长一直是希拉里和奥巴马极力拉拢、想获得他表态支持的重点对象。理查森与克林顿夫妇的交情深厚，比尔·克林顿今年2月3日还特地到他的府邸与他一起观看美国超级碗足球赛呢。在竞选前期的几次电视辩论中，人们都看到他似乎有意无意地帮希拉里说话，因此估计他支持希拉里的可能性较大。3月18日他听了奥巴马的演讲后，他说他很感动，也很受启发，称奥巴马是“一生难得一遇”的政治家，因此3月21日终于站出来公开表态支持奥巴马的竞选，同时也宣称他决不会中断和克林顿夫妇的友情。希拉里阵营的人却对他十分不满，把他比作背叛耶稣的犹大。其实原来克林顿内阁的许多人都已在当奥巴马的顾问，而且理查森是一州之长，不是克林顿门徒，要求他必须支持希拉里反映出希拉里阵营许多与美国民主思想格格不入的封建作风。就像执政者用人必须在“任人唯贤”还是“任人唯亲”两者之间做出抉择一样，举荐者举荐竞选人也必须在“举人唯贤”还是“举人唯亲”两者之间作出艰难的抉择。前有肯尼迪和克里的榜样，今有理查森的这一示范，估计那些鉴于与克林顿夫妇私交不错而有所顾忌的民主党重量级人物都会纷纷出来表态了。
奥巴马如何交代他与他牧师的关系是人们最想知道的内容。在演讲中他首先描述了问题的历史背景，指出美国宪法的起草人虽然没有一开始就着手解决美国人的原罪问题，即保有奴隶和歧视奴隶的问题。但他说这些起草宪法的前辈在他们所通过的宪法有关自由、公正、人人平等的条文中已提供了解决问题的答案。奴隶的原罪问题其实是留给后代解决的，让后代通过在法庭与在街头的抗议斗争，通过内战和非暴力反抗把合众国建立得更完美。他讲述了有关背景后便直面赖特牧师的问题：
“在最近几个星期里，在这次竞选有关种族的讨论出现了一个严重两极分化的转变。
“我们听到分歧意见一端的弦外之音是，我的参选可以说成是‘提携措施’的一个练习，是无非基于天真幼稚而容易轻信的开明人士想廉价地购得种族之间的和解而已。我们听到分歧意见的另一端是我原来的牧师杰利麦耶·赖特所使用的煽动性语言来表达他的意见；这些意见不仅可能加大种族裂痕，它们还贬低了我们国家所具有的伟大和宽宏，也同样伤害了白人和黑人的感情。我已经明确地发表声明谴责赖特牧师这些具有争议的言论。然而，有些人仍然难以释怀，疑虑重重。我以前知不知道他有时是美国内政和外交政策的猛烈抨击者？当然知道。我以前坐在教堂里的时候有没有听过他发表有可能被认为具有争议的意见？有。我以前有没有强烈反对过他的政治见解？当然有——就如我相信你们许多人之中也必定听过你们牧师、神父或犹太教拉比发表的、而你们强烈不同意的的见解。但这些引起最近一场风暴的言论不单纯争议性大，也不单纯是一个宗教导师想说出他所感受到的不公正，而是它们表达了一种极其扭曲了的见解——这种见解认为白人种族歧视主义是经常在某地发生的事，把美国的种种毛病加以扩大，大过我们所知的美国的种种优点，它还认为中东的冲突渊于我们忠实坚强的盟友如以色列所采取的行动，而不是产生自极端伊斯兰派那些乖谬反常和仇恨性的意识形态。
……
“但真相是，那不是我所了解的这个人的全部。我二十多年前认识的这个人是引导我皈依基督信仰的人，一个和我谈起我们有义务互爱，有义务照顾病人和帮助穷人的人。他是在美国海军陆战队服过兵役的人。他曾在我国一些最优秀的大学和神学院学习过和讲过学。而且他在主持教堂工作的三十多年时间里，通过在我们这个地球上做了上帝份内的工作来让教堂服务于社区——如给无家可归的人提供住宿，照顾需要照顾的人，给老弱病残幼提供日间服务，提供奖学金和监狱祷告服务，而且还给爱滋病病人伸出援助之手。
……
“这都是我在圣三位一体教堂所经历过的事。像遍布于我国的其他以黑人信徒为主的教堂一样，圣三位一体教堂方方面面地体现了黑人的社会团体——有医生和领取福利的母亲，有模范学生和曾加入过流氓团伙的人。像其他黑人教堂一样，圣三位一体教堂的礼拜仪式充满喧嚣的笑声和间或的粗俗幽默。这种有舞蹈有掌声，有喊有叫的礼拜仪式令陌生的耳朵也许感到刺耳。但这个教堂就是这样方方面面地包容着美国黑人的经验：慈善和残忍、突出的智力和惊人的无知、苟且偷生和功成名就、婚姻典礼发出的男愿女愿声和生活逆境产生的牢骚偏执语。
“这也许可以用来解释我与赖特牧师的关系。不管他是多么不完美的人，对我来说，他宛若我家的一个成员。他加强了我的信仰，主持了我的婚礼，给我的孩子施了洗礼。我与他的谈话中，从来没听过他用贬损的语言谈及其他族裔，也没看过他用有别于礼貌和尊重的态度来对待与他交往的白人。他就是这样一个集善与恶矛盾于一身的人，犹如他多年所服务的社区一样。
“我无法不认他，就如我无法不认我黑人社区的同胞一样。我无法不认他，就如我无法不认我的白人外婆一样——一位抚养我长大，为我一再做出牺牲的妇女；一位爱我犹如她热爱世界的任何其他事物一样的妇女；她也是有一次向我透露她在街上看见黑人走过时感到害怕，而且不止一次说出那些让我感到心痛扫兴的歧视种族或族群的陈词滥调的妇女。
这些人都是构成我的一部分。他们也是构成美国这个我热爱的国家的一部分。
……
“至于那些已实现了“美国梦”的黑人，即便他们已功成名就，种族问题和种族歧视主义依然强烈地主导着他们的思想观点。对与赖特牧师同一代的男女黑人来说，有关屈辱、彷徨和恐惧的记忆，还有在他们那些年代有过的愤怒和痛苦并没有消失。这种愤怒不一定在公众场合或在白人同事或朋友面前表现出来。但在理发店里，在茶几饭桌上你可以听得到。有时候，这种愤怒被政客们就不同种族归属针对性地加以利用来拉拢选票或者弥补他们的不足。
“偶尔我们也可在星期日上午的教堂里，在讲道坛和在教众席上听到这种愤怒。有那么多人听了赖特牧师某些布道中的愤怒而大感惊讶这个事实应使我们想到一句再明白不过的话：在美国人的生活中，两族最隔离的时刻便是在星期日上午。这种愤怒于事无补；它过多地转移了人们解决实际问题的注意力；它也妨碍了我们应正视我们对之所以出现这种情况所应负的共犯责任，它同时也阻扰了非洲裔美国人去寻求建立一个他们所需的联盟来促进真正的变革。但那愤怒是真实的，是强有力的。而仅寄希望于它会自行消失，或者对它作出谴责而不去了解它产生的根源，这只会促使不同种族之间的误解所造成的鸿沟愈加扩大。
……
“赖特牧师布道中所犯的严重错误不是因为他谈到了我们社会中的种族歧视，而是他把我们的社会看成是静止不变的，宛若从未获得任何进步，宛若这个国家 ——一个使它的一个成员能够参加竞选全国的最高职位并且建立了一个白人和黑人、拉丁裔人和亚洲裔人、富人和穷人、年轻人和老年人的联盟，永远无法摆脱它的悲惨过去。但我们知道，而且我们已看到，美国是有变革之能力的。这就是我们这个国家的强有力的特征。我们所已经奋斗取得的成绩让我们抱有明天我们也能够和必须奋斗取得成绩的希望——无惧于一切的希望。”
以上仅摘译了奥巴马演讲中有关他牧师的主要部分。他对“提携措施”在白人中所产生的反应的描述也很有意思：
“事实上，在白人社团中的一部分人中也存在着相似的愤怒。大部分属劳动和中产阶级的美国白人并不觉得由于他们是白人而享有什么特权。他们的人生经历和移民的人生经历没有两样——就他们而论，没人给过他们任何好处，他们一切也得靠白手起家。他们一生劳累，多次看到他们的饭碗输出到国外或者他们一生劳动所积攒的养老金化为乌有。他们担心他们的未来，感觉到他们的好梦难圆；在一个工资停滞不前和全球化竞争的时代，机遇已被看成是一个一损一益、相互抵消的零和游戏——一个人的好梦则是另一个人的噩梦。因此，当他们被告知要让他们的孩子坐大巴到隔壁城镇上学（美国所采取的消除种族隔离的一个措施），当他们听到一个非洲裔美国人得益于一个不是他们犯下的历史罪行而获得一个好职位或一个好大学的位子时，当他们被指责他们对城市邻里的犯罪活动所感到的害怕乃是一种偏见时，他们的忿很情绪也就随着时光的转移愈积愈深。
“就如局限在黑人社团内的愤怒一样，白人的忿恨情绪也不是经常在有学识教养的人中表达出来。这些忿恨情绪也影响了超过一代人的美国政治形势。针对慷慨福利措施和‘提携措施’产生的愤怒促成了‘里根联盟’。政客们就是经常利用人们对犯罪活动的恐惧感来争取选票的。……
“就像黑人的愤怒多是于事无补、纵风止燎一样，白人的忿恨情绪也分散了人们对造成中产阶级经济困境的真正祸犯的注意力。这个祸犯就是一个充斥内幕交易的流行企业文化、善做手脚的企业会计方法、追求短期高利润的贪婪，还有一个被说客和特殊利益集团控制的华盛顿政治中心以及只照顾少数人不照顾多数人利益的经济政策。然而，不承认美国白人的忿恨情绪有其合情合理的忧虑的理由而寄希望于这种情绪会自行消失，或者把它说成是受人误导的或属种族歧视主义的，这也只会扩大不同种族之间的裂痕，堵塞相互之间谅解的通道。这就是我们现在所处的境地。一个我们多年来陷入的种族僵局。”
奥巴马就是这样不怕直面种族矛盾这个极为敏感和风险性很大的话题，向选民诚恳地表明了他的观点。这篇演讲犹如一剂定心丸，使他原有的支持者恢复了信心；它同时也大大缓解了美国许多人对赖特牧师言论的恼怒。
然而，奥巴马最终能不能使大多数美国人克服对黑人的种族偏见尚不得而知。人应该已认识到：虽说龙生龙，凤生凤，鸡生鸡，狗生狗，但人来到这个世界是无法选择他的性别、种族和阶级归属的。人生下来是女婴还是男婴，是黑皮肤、白皮肤、黄皮肤是还是褐皮肤，是无产娃娃、中产娃娃还是资产娃娃，一切全由父母的基因和地位决定。基因犹如种子，在什么样的土壤就长成什么样子。好的土壤，庄稼长得好；好的社会制度，“龙、凤、鸡、狗”就能相处得好，性别、种族和阶级之间的关系就能和谐。美国社会仍存在着性别歧视、种族矛盾和巨大的贫富悬殊，足见美国社会制度还不很健全。美国人民对变革的企求在今年的总统大选中特别明显地表现出来。奥巴马的“Change we can believe in 变革是我们相信会发生的”竞选口号在选民中竟有如此强烈的响应便是印证。然而，有曰：小水容不下大鱼，小肚行不了大船，狭胸纳不入宽仁。美国人最终会不会让奥巴马入主白宫，就看“狭胸横芥草”和“广腹竖船篙”两者的比例，孰高孰低了。
【胡祖庶 2008年4月2日于德国法兰克福】
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