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The Statue Debate 美國拆除雕像事件
最近的黑人權利抗議已經延燒到拆除雕像上，本週美國大小事，跟你細數美國近年的拆除雕像事件。進入文章前，先來看看相關的單字～
1. Confederate「南方邦聯（的）」：指美國南北戰爭時期代表南方的南方邦聯政府。
2. monument「紀念碑」
3. honor「表彰」
4. slavery「奴隸制」：slave指「奴隸」。
5. relic「遺跡」
6. take down「拆除」：相似的動詞片語還有tear down, poll down。
7. Founding Father「美國開國元勳」：指對美國建國有重大意義的偉大人物，具體來說，就是簽署美國獨立宣言和美國憲法的政府領導人以及參與美國革命的領袖。
8. contribution「貢獻」
Over the past few decades, there has been a growing movement in the U.S. to remove monuments to Confederate soldiers and politicians from public places. Those who support removal believe that statues honoring Confederate figures, who fought against their own country to preserve slavery, shouldn’t be allowed to stand. Those who are against removal say that historic relics, even those that are symbols of a dark period in the country’s history, should remain as a reminder to future generations.
過去幾十年來，美國掀起了拆除南方邦聯軍人及政治人物雕像的運動，拆除雕像的運動也越演越烈。支持拆除的民眾認為，南方邦聯為了保留蓄奴制度而跟自己國家對抗，因此表彰南方邦的雕像不應該保存。反對拆除雕像的人則認為，這些具歷史意義的遺跡即使代表某個黑暗歷史，也應該保留下來，讓後世作為警惕。
The pace of statue removal began to increase around 2009, and reached a peak in 2017, when a total of 36 were taken down. That year, the mayors of both New Orleans and Baltimore had all of the Confederate statues in their cities removed. And since the police killing of George Floyd in May, 2020, a new wave of removals has begun.
拆除雕像活動大約在2009年開始增加，並在2017年達到高峰，那一年有36座雕像遭到拆除，而紐奧良與巴爾的摩市長雙雙將自家城市裡的南方邦聯雕像全數拆除。2020年5月發生警察殺死佛洛依德事件之後，新一波的拆除雕像活動又開始了。
Some of these actions have been legal. A statue of Confederate president Jefferson Davis was removed from the Kentucky State Capitol on June 13, and a statue of slave-owning politician John C. Calhoun was taken away from a public square in Charleston, South Carolina on June 24.
有些拆除行動是合法的。如位於肯塔基州議會大廈的南方邦聯總統傑佛遜紀念雕像，便在6月13日拆除，又或是站立在南卡羅萊納州查爾斯頓市公共廣場上的蓄奴政客凱爾宏的雕像，也在6月24日拆除。
But in other cases, protestors have taken matters into their own hands. Protestors tore down a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee in front of a high school in Montgomery, Alabama on June 1, toppled a statue of Jefferson Davis in Richmond, Virginia on June 10, and removed two statues from the North Carolina Confederate Monument in Raleigh on June 19.
不過，其他可就是由抗議者自己動手解決了。6月1日，阿拉巴馬州蒙哥馬利市一所高中前的南方邦聯將軍李羅伯特雕像遭到抗議者拆毀；6月10日，維吉尼亞州里奇蒙市的傑佛遜總統雕像遭推倒；6月19日，北卡羅納州羅利市南方邦聯紀念碑的兩座雕像也遭拆毀。
But protestors haven’t stopped at the removal of Confederate statues. On June 14, a group of demonstrators pulled down a statue of Thomas Jefferson in front of a high school in Portland, Oregon. And several days later, in another part of Portland, a crowd gathered around a statue of George Washington, lit an American flag on his head, and then pulled it down with a rope.
不過，這些反對者沒有把拆除目標局限在南方邦聯雕像。6月14日，一群抗議者將奧勒岡州波特蘭一所中學前的湯瑪斯傑佛遜總統雕像拆毀。幾天之後，群眾聚集在波特蘭另一處的華盛頓總統雕像前，將一面美國國旗放在雕像頭上並點火，接著用繩子將雕像拉倒。
Why would anyone want to tear down statues of these two Founding Fathers? Despite their many contributions to America’s founding, they both owned hundreds of slaves during their lifetime, although Washington did free his slaves in his will. Should statues of historic figures like Washington and Jefferson remain because of their positive achievements, or should they be removed because they owned slaves? This is a debate with no easy answers.
為什麼會有人想毀壞這兩位開國元勳的雕像呢？雖然他們對建立美國有許多貢獻，但他們兩人在世時皆擁有數百名奴隸，儘管華盛頓在遺囑上寫了釋放他的奴隸。華盛頓和傑佛遜這類歷史人物的雕像該因為正面貢獻保留，還是該因為他們蓄奴而拆除？這項爭論恐怕沒有簡單的結論。
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