肯尼迪于1963年在白宫发表关于民权的电视讲话

肯尼迪于1963年在白宫发表关于民权的电视讲话 英文版

Good evening, my fellow citizens.

This afternoon, following a series of threats and defiant statements, the presence of Alabama National Guardsmen was required on the University of Alabama to carry out the final and unequivocal order of the United States District Court of the Northern District of Alabama. That order called for the admission of two clearly qualified young Alabama residents who happened to have been born Negro. That they were admitted peacefully on the campus is due in good measure to the conduct of the students of the University of Alabama, who met their responsibilities in a constructive way.

I hope that every American, regardless of where he lives, will stop and examine his conscience about this and other related incidents. This Nation was founded by men of many nations and backgrounds. It was founded on the principle that all men are created equal, and that the rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.

Today, we are committed to a worldwide struggle to promote and protect the rights of all who wish to be free. And when Americans are sent to Vietnam or West Berlin, we do not ask for whites only. It ought to be possible, therefore, for American students of any color to attend any public institution they select without having to be backed up by troops.

It ought to be possible for American consumers of any color to receive equal service in places of public accommodation, such as hotels and restaurants and theaters and retail stores, without being forced to resort to demonstrations in the street, and it ought to be possible for American citizens of any color to register and to vote in a free election without interference or fear of reprisal.

It ought to be possible, in short, for every American to enjoy the privileges of being American without regard to his race or his color. In short, every American ought to have the right to be treated as he would wish to be treated, as one would wish his children to be treated. But this is not the case.

The Negro baby born in America today, regardless of the section of the State in which he is born, has about one-half as much chance of completing a high school as a white baby born in the same place on the same day, one-third as much chance of completing college, one-third as much chance of becoming a professional man, twice as much chance of becoming unemployed, about one-seventh as much chance of earning $10,000 a year, a life expectancy which is 7 years shorter, and the prospects of earning only half as much.

This is not a sectional issue. Difficulties over segregation and discrimination exist in every city, in every State of the Union, producing in many cities a rising tide of discontent that threatens the public safety. Nor is this a partisan issue. In a time of domestic crisis men of good will and generosity should be able to unite regardless of party or politics. This is not even a legal or legislative issue alone. It is better to settle these matters in the courts than on the streets, and new laws are needed at every level, but law alone cannot make men see right. We are confronted primarily with a moral issue. It is as old as the Scriptures and is as clear as the American Constitution.

The heart of the question is whether all Americans are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities, whether we are going to treat our fellow Americans as we want to be treated. If an American, because his skin is dark, cannot eat lunch in a restaurant open to the public, if he cannot send his children to the best public school available, if he cannot vote for the public officials who will represent him, if, in short, he cannot enjoy the full and free life which all of us want, then who among us would be content to have the color of his skin changed and stand in his place? Who among us would then be content with the counsels of patience and delay?

One hundred years of delay have passed since President Lincoln freed the slaves, yet their heirs, their grandsons, are not fully free. They are not yet freed from the bonds of injustice. They are not yet freed from social and economic oppression. And this Nation, for all its hopes and all its boasts, will not be fully free until all its citizens are free.

We preach freedom around the world, and we mean it, and we cherish our freedom here at home, but are we to say to the world, and much more importantly, to each other that this is the land of the free except for the Negroes; that we have no second-class citizens except Negroes; that we have no class or caste system, no ghettoes, no master race except with respect to Negroes?

Now the time has come for this Nation to fulfill its promise. The events in Birmingham and elsewhere have so increased the cries for equality that no city or State or legislative body can prudently choose to ignore them. The fires of frustration and discord are burning in every city, North and South, where legal remedies are not at hand. Redress is sought in the streets, in demonstrations, parades, and protests which create tensions and threaten violence and threaten lives.

We face, therefore, a moral crisis as a country and a people. It cannot be met by repressive police action. It cannot be left to increased demonstrations in the streets. It cannot be quieted by token moves or talk. It is a time to act in the Congress, in your State and local legislative body and, above all, in all of our daily lives.

It is not enough to pin the blame on others, to say this a problem of one section of the country or another, or deplore the facts that we face. A great change is at hand, and our task, our obligation, is to make that revolution, that change, peaceful and constructive for all.

Those who do nothing are inviting shame, as well as violence. Those who act boldly are recognizing right, as well as reality.

Next week I shall ask the Congress of the United States to act, to make a commitment it has not fully made in this century to the proposition that race has no place in American life or law. The Federal judiciary has upheld that proposition in a series of forthright cases. The Executive Branch has adopted that proposition in the conduct of its affairs, including the employment of Federal personnel, the use of Federal facilities, and the sale of federally financed housing.

But there are other necessary measures which only the Congress can provide, and they must be provided at this session. The old code of equity law under which we live commands for every wrong a remedy, but in too many communities, in too many parts of the country, wrongs are inflicted on Negro citizens and there are no remedies at law. Unless the Congress acts, their only remedy is the street.

I am, therefore, asking the Congress to enact legislation giving all Americans the right to be served in facilities which are open to the public—hotels, restaurants, theaters, retail stores, and similar establishments. This seems to me to be an elementary right. Its denial is an arbitrary indignity that no American in 1963 should have to endure, but many do.

I have recently met with scores of business leaders urging them to take voluntary action to end this discrimination, and I have been encouraged by their response, and in the last two weeks over 75 cities have seen progress made in desegregating these kinds of facilities. But many are unwilling to act alone, and for this reason, nationwide legislation is needed if we are to move this problem from the streets to the courts.

I'm also asking the Congress to authorize the Federal Government to participate more fully in lawsuits designed to end segregation in public education. We have succeeded in persuading many districts to desegregate voluntarily. Dozens have admitted Negroes without violence. Today, a Negro is attending a State-supported institution in every one of our 50 States, but the pace is very slow.

Too many Negro children entering segregated grade schools at the time of the Supreme Court's decision nine years ago will enter segregated high schools this fall, having suffered a loss which can never be restored. The lack of an adequate education denies the Negro a chance to get a decent job.

The orderly implementation of the Supreme Court decision, therefore, cannot be left solely to those who may not have the economic resources to carry the legal action or who may be subject to harassment.

Other features will be also requested, including greater protection for the right to vote. But legislation, I repeat, cannot solve this problem alone. It must be solved in the homes of every American in every community across our country.

In this respect I wanna pay tribute to those citizens North and South who've been working in their communities to make life better for all. They are acting not out of sense of legal duty but out of a sense of human decency. Like our soldiers and sailors in all parts of the world they are meeting freedom's challenge on the firing line, and I salute them for their honor and their courage.

My fellow Americans, this is a problem which faces us all—in every city of the North as well as the South. Today, there are Negroes unemployed, two or three times as many compared to whites, inadequate education, moving into the large cities, unable to find work, young people particularly out of work without hope, denied equal rights, denied the opportunity to eat at a restaurant or a lunch counter or go to a movie theater, denied the right to a decent education, denied almost today the right to attend a State university even though qualified.

It seems to me that these are matters which concern us all, not merely Presidents or Congressmen or Governors, but every citizen of the United States.

This is one country. It has become one country because all of us and all the people who came here had an equal chance to develop their talents. We cannot say to ten percent of the population that you can't have that right; that your children cannot have the chance to develop whatever talents they have; that the only way that they are going to get their rights is to go in the street and demonstrate. I think we owe them and we owe ourselves a better country than that.

Therefore, I'm asking for your help in making it easier for us to move ahead and to provide the kind of equality of treatment which we would want ourselves; to give a chance for every child to be educated to the limit of his talents.

As I've said before, not every child has an equal talent or an equal ability or equal motivation, but they should have the equal right to develop their talent and their ability and their motivation, to make something of themselves.

We have a right to expect that the Negro community will be responsible, will uphold the law, but they have a right to expect that the law will be fair, that the Constitution will be color blind, as Justice Harlan said at the turn of the century.

This is what we're talking about and this is a matter which concerns this country and what it stands for, and in meeting it I ask the support of all our citizens.

Thank you very much.

肯尼迪于1963年在白宫发表关于民权的电视讲话 中文版

今天下午，继一系列恐吓与挑衅性声明之后，阿拉巴马州国民卫队受命到阿拉巴马大学，执行美国阿拉巴马州北区地区法院不容置疑的终审裁定。该裁定要求允许两位恰好生为黑人，但显然合格的阿拉巴马州年轻居民入学。他们得以安然入学，很大程度上归功于阿拉巴马大学学生们的举动，这些学生以建设性的方式履行了自己的责任。

我希望每个美国人，无论身居何处，都静下心来就此事及其他相关事件扪心自问。美国是由具有不同背景的多民族人民建立起来的国家。其建国原则是人人生来平等，一人权利受威胁则人人权利被削弱。

今天，我们致力于促进和保护全球所有向往自由者之权利的斗争。当派遣美国人去越南或西柏林时，我们并不要求都是白种人。因此，任何肤色的美国学生都应当可以到其选择的任何公立学府就读，而无须部队做后盾。

任何肤色的美国消费者都应当在宾馆、餐厅、剧场和零售店等公共场所接受平等的服务，而不会被迫上街示威;任何肤色的美国公民都应当注册参加自由选举投票，而不会受到阻挠或害怕报复。

总而言之，每个美国人都应当享有身为美国人的特权，而不必顾及其种族或肤色。每个美国人都应当有权受到其所希望的待遇，受到任何人都希望自己子女所受到的待遇。但事实却并非如此。

今天出生在美国的黑人孩子，无论出生在美国何地，与同日同地出生的白人孩子相比，其完成中学学业的可能性约为1/2，完成大学学业的可能性为1/3，成为专业人士的可能性为1/3，失业的可能性为2倍，每年挣得10000美元的可能性约为1/7，预期寿命缩短7年，而预期收入则只有一半。

这不是地区性问题。种族隔离与歧视的难题存在于每座城市，存在于联邦的每个州，从而在许多城市引起日益高涨的不满情绪，这种不满情绪威胁着公共安全。这也不是党派性问题。在国内危机时期，善良慷慨的人应当能够不分党派或政治主张地团结起来。这甚至不仅是法律或立法性问题。这些问题在法庭解决要比在街上解决更好，而每一层次都需要制定新的法律，但仅有法律并不能让人们看到正义，我们面对的主要是道义性问题。这个问题像圣经一样古老，如《美国宪法》一般明确。

问题的核心是，所有美国人是否都应当享有平等的权力和平等的机会，我们是否能像我们希望他人对待我们一样去对待我们的美国同胞。如果一个美国人因肤色黝黑而不能在公共餐厅就餐，不能送子女到最好的公立学校就读，不能投票选举代表自己的公职人员，总而言之，不能享受我们大家都希望享受的全部自由生活，那么，我们当中有谁愿意改变自己的肤色，设身处地的体验一下?我们当中又有谁会满足于让你耐心等待的劝告?

林肯总统解放奴隶已经过去一百年，而他们的子孙后代尚未得到全面解放。他们尚未从不公正的枷锁中解放出来，他们尚未从社会和经济的压迫中解放出来。而这个国家，尽管有诸多希望和荣耀，却不会得到全面解放，直到其全体公民都得到解放。

我们在全世界宣扬自由，我们说到做到，我们珍惜我们在本国的自由。但是，我们如何对世界说，更重要的是我们如何对身边的人说：“这是自由的国度，但黑人除外;我们没有二等公民，但黑人除外;我们没有等级或阶级制度，没有种族隔离聚居区，没有优等民族，但黑人除外?”

现在是这个国家该履行其诺言的时候了。伯明翰等地的事件使要求平等的呼声如此高涨，令任何城市、州或立法机构都无法选择视而不见。失望和纷争之火在每座城市燃烧，在南北方没有法律补救措施的地方燃烧。人们上街示威、游行、抗议，以此来寻求补救之法，然而却制造着紧张情绪，预示着暴力，威胁着生命。

因此，作为一个国家，作为一国人民，我们面临着一场道义危机。这场危机不能靠警方的镇压行动来解决，不能将其留给街头上日益浩大的示威游行去解决，也不能靠象征性的举动或说教将其平息下去。已经到了该采取行动的时刻，要在国会采取行动，要在您所在的州和地方立法机构采取行动，尤其是要在我们日常生活的方方面面采取行动。

归咎于他人，或者说成是国家某一地区的问题，或者哀叹我们所面对的事实，这些都不足以解决问题。一场重大变革在即，而我们的任务、我们的义务是使这场革命、这场变革对于所有人都是和平的和具有建设性的。

无所作为者是在自取耻辱和鼓励暴力，而勇敢行动者是在承认正义和现实。

下周，我将要求美国国会采取行动，做出其在本世纪尚未完全做出的承诺，以兑现让种族歧视在美国的生活和法律中无立足之地的主张。联邦司法系统在处理其事务的过程中维护了这一主张，这些事务包括雇用联邦人员、使用联邦设施和出售联邦投资的房产。

但是，还有一些只有国会才能采取的必要措施，必须在本次会议上采取。我们生活所遵循的古老公平的法典要求有错必纠，但是，在我国很多地区，很多社团中，黑人公民正蒙受着不公正的待遇，却没有依法补救的措施。除非国会采取行动，否则他们唯一补救的方法就是走上街头。

因此，我要求国会立法，赋予所有美国人在宾馆、餐厅、剧场、零售店以及类似公共场所享受服务的权利。这在我看来是一项基本权利。对这项基本权利的剥夺是恣意损害公民尊严的行为，是1963年的美国人不应当被迫容忍的行为，但有许多人却在容忍。

我最近会见了许多工商界领导人，敦促他们采取主动措施来终止这种歧视。我为他们的响应感到鼓舞。过去两周中，我在75座城市看到这类场所在取消种族隔离方面取得了进展。但是，有许多人不愿单独采取行动。因此，如果我们要将此问题从街头转移到法庭，就需要有全国性的立法。

我还要求国会授权联邦政府更全面地干预旨在终止公共教育界种族隔离制度的诉讼案。我们已经成功地说服许多区主动废除种族隔离制度，有数十所学校平和地接收了黑人学生。今天，我们50个州中的每个州都有一名黑人学生到州立学府就读，但这样的进展速度非常缓慢。

在9年前最高法院裁决时，有很多黑人儿童进入种族隔离的小学，他们将在今年秋季进入种族隔离的中学，因此蒙受了永远无法弥补的损失。黑人由于缺乏足够的教育而失去了获得体面工作的机会。

因此，不能把有序执行最高法院裁决的任务，完全留给可能没有财力进行法律诉讼的人，或者可能受到困扰的人。

我还将要求采取其他重要举措，包括加大对投票权的保护力度。但是，我再说一遍，只靠立法不能解决这一问题。必须在我国每个社区的每个美国人的家里解决这一问题。

在这方面，我要赞美一直在其社区致力于改善所有人生活的南方和北方的公民们。他们的行为不是出于法律义务感，而是出于人的道义感。像我们在世界各地的陆海军战士一样，他们在火线上迎接着对自由的挑战，我为他们的荣誉和勇气向他们致敬。

同胞们，这是我们全体人民面临的问题，是南方和北方每座城市的美国人面临的问题。今天，有两到三倍于白人的黑人失业，黑人得不到适当的教育，黑人移居大城市后找不到工作，特别是年轻黑人无望地失业，黑人被剥夺了平等的权利，黑人被剥夺了在餐厅或小吃店就餐或者去影剧院的机会，黑人被剥夺了接受体面教育的权利，而就在今天，还有黑人即使具备资格也险些被剥夺了到州立大学就读的权利。

在我看来，这些问题关系到我们所有人，不仅仅关系到总统、参议员或州长，而是关系到每个美国公民。

这是一个国家。它之所以成为一个国家，是因为我们大家以及来到这里的每一个人都拥有开发其天赋的平等机会。我们不能对10%的人口说你们不能有这种权利，不能说你们的子女不能有开发其任何天赋的机会，不能说他们争取其权利的唯一方法是上街示威。我认为我们欠他们，也欠我们自己一个比这更好的国家。

所以，我请你们帮助我们取得进展，来提供我们自己想要的那种平等待遇;协助我们为每个儿童提供机会，接受教育，充分开发其天赋。

我曾经说过，并非每个儿童都具有同等的天赋、能力或能动性，但他们应当拥有开发其天赋、能力和能动性的平等权利，以便能凭己之力有所成就。

我们有权利期望黑人社区负起责任并维护法律;但他们也有权利期望法律公平，期望《宪法》对不同肤色一视同仁，正如哈兰大法官在世纪之交时所说。

这就是我们所谈的问题，而这问题关系到这个国家及其主张。为解决这一问题，我请求我们的全体公民予以支持。

非常感谢你们。