科比、特雷旺与推特

J.A. Adande

Were used to seeing that strength/ weakness dichotomy manifest itself on the court， where the same confidence that led Bryant to 24，374 shots and fourth on the NBAs all-time scoring list makes him difficult to coach at times， even for Phil Jackson. A similar split can be seen in the comments he made in a recent The New Yorker profile， in which the narrative went from the Miami Heats hoodiewearing show of support for Trayvon Martin①to Bryants personal policy on race-related stories：

我们已经在球场上见证了这种优点/缺点两分法的作用。同样的自信，让科比的出手总数达到24374次，名列NBA历史得分榜第四，同样的自信有时候又让他难以执教，甚至对菲尔·杰克逊来说也是如此。同样的撕裂出现在最近一期《纽约客》杂志里对他的一篇特写文章中科比本人的评论。这篇文章先是从迈阿密热火队集体身穿帽衫对特雷旺·马丁表示支持，写到了科比对待遇种族问题有关的事情上的个人态度：

"I wont react to something just because Im supposed to， because Im an African-American. That argument doesnt make any sense to me. So we want to advance as a society and a culture， but， say， if something happens to an African-American， we immediately come to his defense？ Yet you want to talk about how far weve progressed as a society？ Well， then dont jump to somebodys defense just because theyre African-American."

“我不会因为我该有什么反应，不会因为我是非裔美国人，我就一定会做出什么反应。在我看来，这种争论根本不合理。我们作为一个社会、作为一种文化想向前发展，但比方说，有事情发生在非洲裔美国人身上了，我们就该立刻为他辩护吗？就这样还想讨论我们社会作为一个整体到底有了多少进步？好吧，那就不要因为他们是非洲裔美国人而立刻为某人辩护。”

We live in a world in which people are often motivated by fear -- especially the fear of the unknown -- and embrace the opportunity to play the role of victim. But those things dont apply to Kobe Bryant in his 30s.

我们生活在这样一个世界，人们的动力通常来自恐惧——尤其是未知的恐惧——人们也会抓住机会把自己打扮成受害者。但这种情况，并不适用于30多岁的科比。

Kobe is fearless， doing and saying what he wants without regard to consequence. He doesnt think of himself or others as victims. He doesnt feel things just happen to people. He thinks people determine what happens to them.

科比无所畏惧，他想说什么就说什么，想做什么就做什么，丝毫不考虑后果。他不把自己或其他人当作受害者。他不认为事情那么简单地发生在别人什么，他认为人们自己的态度决定了他们身上会发生什么事。

Those are admirable traits， but they got him in trouble in this case.

这些都是令人敬佩的品性，但这些品性在马丁的问题上却给他带来了麻烦。

Black Twitter， the same social-media subset that drove the Trayvon Martin story to prominence in the first place， pounced on Bryants comments. The perception was that Bryant provided distance and criticism of the Heat -- and， by extension， the African-American community -- with his words.

黑人群体的推特，也就是那些一开始就把特雷旺·马丁事件推到媒体头条的人，对科比的评论进行了猛烈攻击。他们认为，科比的评论事实上是在和热火队划清界限，或者批评热火，并且由热火延伸到了非洲裔美国人族群。

When I ran into Bryant before the Los Angeles Lakers game against the Phoenix Suns Sunday night， he said that the quote in question does not reflect his thoughts on the Martin case specifically， but in a general sense. Bryant was dismayed that a rift was created between people attacking him for what he said and people defending him -- staunch Kobe supporters， the anti-PC② crowd rallying against groupthink -- for saying it. All that does， he said， is create another obstacle when everyone is after the same goal： equality. As for his opinion on the Martin case， which eventually resulted in a not-guilty verdict once George Zimmerman was brought to trial， he echoed the tweet he sent out on Thursday that read：

当我在周日晚湖人与太阳的比赛前碰到科比时，他说自己被质疑的言论，并不是他对特雷旺·马丁这个个案的看法，而是一种宏观的态度。科比说，那些因为他的言论而攻击他的人和支持他的人之间的对立让他非常惊讶，那些坚定的科比支持人，也就是反对群体思维的反政治正确的支持者。科比说，这种情况造成的结果，会为追求共同目标的人们制造另一个障碍：平等问题。至于他对马丁案件本身的看法，也就是齐默曼被判无罪，他周四那天也在推特上给予了回应：

Travon Martin was wronged THATS my opinion and thats what I believe the FACTS showed. The system did not work #myopinion#tweetURthoughts

特雷旺·马丁是无辜的。这就是我的观点，而且在我看来，这也是被事实所证明了的。体系并没有奏效。#我的观点 #用推特说出自己的看法。

The flaw I find in Bryants comments to The New Yorker is the notion that blackness could shroud perspective or preclude people from doing the right thing.

我在科比对《纽约客》杂志的那段评论中读到的缺陷在于，身为黑人的事实可能会影响你形成正确的认知，或者阻碍人们做正确的事。

Even though it turned out that the Sanford， Fla.， police department was correct in its initial determination that it did not have enough evidence to get a murder conviction against Zimmerman， it was still important for people to call for a trial -- for the legal side of Trayvon Martins story to be written as an extensive essay rather than a brief Facebook post， to have a conversation about the dangers of racial profiling， to ask whether our country values the right to own and use a gun over the right to live. If all of that came from African-Americans rushing in， so be it.

尽管事情发展的结果最终证明，佛罗里达斯坦福警方最初的证据不足以支持齐默曼谋杀认定是正确的，但这个案件进入审判仍然非常重要——特雷旺·马丁故事的法律部分就能正式进入社会讨论，而不再局限于社交网络上的传播，能激起人们对种族固化思维危险的探讨，能够提出我们的国家到底更重视持有枪支的权利，还是更重视人的生命。如果这一切讨论都来源于非洲裔美国人急于参与进来，那也无所谓。

Sometimes， the African-American perspective simply means sympathy， not advocacy. Its wondering if wearing a hoodie while walking my dog through my mostly white neighborhood automatically makes me a crime suspect and a candidate for "justifiable" homicide. Its president Barack Obama saying"Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago" and bringing up the common African-American experiences of hearing car doors lock while walking down the street or seeing women clutch their purses while stepping on an elevator. "That all contributes， I think， to a sense that if a white male teen was involved in the same kind of scenario，" Obama said， "that， from top to bottom， both the outcome and the aftermath might have been different."

有些时候，非洲裔美国人的观点仅仅意味着同情，而非积极倡导。值得深思的是，穿着帽衫在我大多数邻居都是白人的社区里遛狗，会不会自动让我成为犯罪嫌疑人，让我成为“有正当理由的”故意杀人行为的受害者。奥巴马总统说过“特雷旺·马丁可能是35年前的我”这种话，他也提到了非洲裔美国人普遍会经历的一种情形：当他们走在大街上时，他们会听到别人锁住车门的声音；当他们走进电梯时，会看到其他女性会抓紧自己的钱包。“这些都是原因，我觉得某种程度上，如果一个白人青少年面对类似情形时，”奥巴马说道，“从上到下，无论是结果还是事后的反响也许都会非常不同。”

For many African-Americans， it was the moment they had been waiting for from Obama. It didnt have to be a policy statement or a law enacted， simply an indication from someone in such a powerful position that he feels the same way. Thats why Black Twitter felt so disappointed in Bryant and let him know about it： He didnt seem to come from a place of understanding.

对很多非洲裔美国人来说，他们终于等到了对奥巴马期待已久的时刻。这种时刻并不一定非要宣布政策或者施行法律，仅仅一个和他们有着同样感受的手握大权的人的一点暗示便已足够。这也是为什么使用推特的黑人会对科比那么失望，并且让科比知道这种失望：看起来他并不理解他人的感受。

Theres no such thing as the AfricanAmerican perspective， but theres certainly an African-American perspective， and it shouldnt be dismissed as merely a victims mentality. You dont need a desire to be a victim to become one.

根本不存在什么非洲裔美国人观点这种说法，但某些事件上确实存在非裔美国人的态度，而这也不该被简单地当作受害者心态。没有欲望成为受害者，你也有可能成为受害者。

Trayvon Martin was a real victim. At the very least， he was a gunshot victim， but there were questions beyond that -- murder victim？ Victim of racial profiling？ -- and， at first， it seemed that African-Americans were the only ones donning the Sherlock Holmes hats. A system predicated on checks and balances requires someone to speak out， or at least question. Sometimes， passive acceptance can be more dangerous than overreaction.

特雷旺·马丁是真正的受害者。往最小了说，他也是枪击案受害者。但在这之上还有一个问题，他是谋杀案受害者吗？是种族固化侧写的受害者？而且在最开始，只有非洲裔美国人关心案件的具体进展。一个建立在检验和平衡基础上的体制需要有人站出来，或者至少提出疑问。有时候，被动地接受比过激反应更危险。

Kobe doesnt mind being defined as black； he just doesnt want to be restricted by that definition. He made that clear in his comments right before The New Yorker passage in question， when he told the writer： "There is a bigger issue in terms of being an AfricanAmerican athlete and the box people try to put you in because of it. And its always a struggle to step outside of that."

科比并不介意被定义为黑人，他只是不想局限于这个定义。在《纽约客》那段被质疑的评论前，他这样明确地对文章的作者表示：“我们其实面临着更严重的问题，也就是身为一个非裔美国运动员，以及人们因此要把你局限的那个小盒子。想要走出那样的局限总是很艰难的。”

Theres speculation in the article， and elsewhere， that spending his childhood in Italy and in the American suburbs led to a disconnect between Bryant and black culture. But that， again， implies that there is a singular black experience with which to connect. Bryant chooses to focus on the path laid down by Martin Luther

King Jr. and downplay differences. That was never more evident than in his Instagram post from Thursday that quoted King -- "I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin， but by the content of their character" -- and added "WE cant further the movement if WE dont further the movement ourselves. #equality #colorblind embrace our cultures history and how far weve come while continuing to take it further #itsonus."

那篇文章，包括别人都在怀疑，在意大利度过童年、回到美国后生活在城市郊区是否导致科比和黑人文化的脱节。但这种观点又一次暗示，存在一种特别的黑人生活经历。科比选择了马丁·路德·金博士铺垫的那条道路，他淡化了差异。这一点在周四他发在Instagram上的一种引用金博士言论的图片中表现得尤为明显——“我有一个梦想，终有一天，我的四个孩子会生活在这样一个国家，评判他们的不再是肤色，而是他们的人格。”——他还补充道：“如果不对运动本身进一步推进，我们就无法推进变化。#平等 #不考虑肤色 接纳我们的文化历史，我们已经经历了很多变化，但还有更多的要做 #靠我们了。”

Its an idealistic view， one that assumes that if you dont discriminate based on skin color that no one else will， either. Its shaped by his confidence in the power of one and the ability for individuals to overcome all. What he learned is that failing to believe in the possibility of being a victim can be the quickest path to victimhood yourself.

这是一个理想主义的观点，这意味着如果你不基于肤色而对他人区别对待，其他人也不会这么对待你。这来源于他对人们能力的信心，源于他对个人能克服一切障碍的信心。这次事件让他明白，不相信有成为受害者的可能，也许是让你本人成为受害者的最快途径。