总统之后，出现了后种族时代的说法。这样的图景是美好的，但从未实现。种族问题依然是造成我们社会分裂的一股强力。现在，不管有些人持怎样的说法，我的阅历告诉我种族间的关系比10年、20年或30年前都要融洽。你可以从数据中看到这一点，不同政治背景的年轻美国人所持的态度也可以证实这一点。
But we're not where we need to be. All of us have more work to do. After all, if every economic issue is framed as a struggle between a hardworking white middle class and undeserving minorities, then workers of all shades will be left fighting for scraps while the wealthy withdraw further into their private enclaves. If we decline to invest in the children of immigrants, just because they don't look like us, we diminish the prospects of our own children -- because those brown kids will represent a larger share of America's workforce. And our economy doesn't have to be a zero-sum game. Last year, incomes rose for all races, all age groups, for men and for women.
但是我们现在所实现的仍不够，我们还应付出更多努力。如果把每个经济问题都视为努力工作的白人中产阶级和不付出劳动的少数群体之间的斗争，那么各个阶层工人的努力都只是徒劳，富裕阶层却得以进一步坚守他们的既得利益。如果我们单凭移民群体的孩子和我们相貌不同便不愿意投资在他们身上，那么我们将同时损害我们自己孩子的前途。因为那些棕色皮肤的孩子将逐渐成为美国劳动力中越来越重要的一部分。经济并不一定是一场零和博弈，这一点已经被证实了。去年，不同种族、年龄和性别群体的收入都实现了增长。
Going forward, we must uphold laws against discrimination -- in hiring, in housing, in education and the criminal justice system. That's what our
Constitution and highest ideals require.
所以如果我们想要严肃地对待种族问题，我们就应该支持反歧视的相关法律。这些法律包括雇佣、住房、教育和司法体系方面的反歧视。这是我们宪法的要求，也是我们最高理想的要求。
But laws alone won't be enough. Hearts must change. If our democracy is to work in this increasingly diverse nation, each one of us must try to heed the advice of one of the great characters in American fiction, Atticus Finch, who said \of view...until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.\
但是仅仅依靠法律是不够的。我们必须转变观念，当然这种转变不会在一朝一夕间实现。社会观念的转变一般通过几代人的努力才能完成。但是我们的民主制度将继续在这个多元的国家中发挥作用。而我们每一个人都应该从一部美国小说中的主角身上吸取教训，这一角色是阿提克斯·芬奇（译者注：阿提克斯·芬奇为作家哈珀·李的小说《杀死一只知更鸟》中塑造的正直律师的典范形象），他曾说“除非你站在另一个人的角度考虑问题，除非你爬进他的身体并来回走动，否则你是不会真正了解这个人的。”
For blacks and other minorities, it means tying our own struggles for justice to the challenges that a lot of people in this country face -- the refugee, the immigrant, the rural poor, the transgender American, and also the middle-aged white man who from the outside may seem like he's got all the advantages, but who's seen his world upended by economic, cultural, and technological change.
对于黑人和其他少数群体来说，应该将我们为正义而进行的奋斗同其他群体正面临的挑战联系在一起。这些群体不仅包括难民、移民、城市里的贫穷家庭和跨性别美国人，
还包括中年白人，因为他们也许看起来具有优势，但他们同时也正面临经济、文化和技术方面的变革。我们应该关注他们，倾听他们的想法。
For white Americans, it means acknowledging that the effects of slavery and Jim Crow didn't suddenly vanish in the '60s; that when minority groups voice discontent, they're not just engaging in reverse racism or practicing political correctness; that when they wage peaceful protest, they're not demanding special treatment, but the equal treatment our Founders promised.
对于美国白人来说，这意味着我们要明白奴隶制的影响和吉姆·克劳法（译者注：吉姆·克劳法为1876年至1965年间美国南部及边境各州对有色人种实行的种族隔离制度的法律）并不是在60年代凭空消失的，我们要明白少数群体发出不满时，他们不是为了反对种族主义或倡导政治正确。当他们发起和平示威时，他们不是在要求特殊对待，他们只是在要求国父们承诺的平等对待。
For native-born Americans, it means reminding ourselves that the stereotypes about immigrants today were said, almost word for word, about the Irish, Italians, and Poles. America wasn't weakened by the presence of these newcomers; they embraced this nation's creed, and it was strengthened.
对于本土美国人来说，这意味着我们要认识到自己今天对于移民的种种偏见，如针对爱尔兰人、意大利人和波兰人的偏见，将摧毁美国最本质的精神。正如我们所见，美国并没有因为这些移民而走向衰落；这些移民忠于美国倡导的宗旨，他们的到来使美国变得更强。
So regardless of the station we occupy; we have to try harder; to start with the premise that each of our fellow citizens loves this country just as much as
we do; that they value hard work and family like we do; that their children are just as curious and hopeful and worthy of love as our own.
因此无论我们持什么立场，我们都应该更加努力。我们都应该以这样的认知为出发点：每一个公民都同我们一样热爱着这个国家，同我们一样努力工作、一样重视家庭；他们的孩子也像我们的孩子一样，充满好奇、前途无量并且值得爱护。
None of this is easy. For too many of us, it's become safer to retreat into our own bubbles, whether in our neighborhoods or college campuses or places of worship or our social media feeds, surrounded by people who look like us and share the same political outlook and never challenge our assumptions. The rise of naked partisanship, increasing economic and regional stratification, the splintering of our media into a channel for every taste -- all this makes this great sorting seem natural, even inevitable. And increasingly, we become so secure in our bubbles that we accept only information, whether true or not, that fits our opinions, instead of basing our opinions on the evidence that's out there.
要做到这一点并非易事。对于我们中的太多人来说，躲进我们自己的圈子是更安全，这些圈子包括我们的邻里、大学校园、教堂或是社交网络，在安全地带我们周围尽是和我们相像、有相同政治立场和从不挑战我们观点的人。赤裸裸的党争、经济和地域方面不断攀升的自满情绪、迎合不同人群造成的媒体间的分裂，这些都使区别对待的做法看起来是自然的，甚至是不可避免的。于是我们在自己的安全地带越来越感到安心，于是我们开始只接受迎合我们的观点，无论这些观点是对是错，而不是接受那些基于现有证据的说法。
This trend represents a third threat to our democracy. Politics is a battle of ideas; in the course of a healthy debate, we'll prioritize different goals, and the different means of reaching them. But without some common baseline of facts; without a willingness to admit new information, and concede that your opponent is making a fair point, and that science and reason matter, we'll keep talking past each other, making common ground and compromise impossible.
这一趋势构成了对我们民主体制的第三道威胁。但是政治就是一场有关理念的战斗。我们的民主体制设计便是基于此。在针对医疗方面的争论中，我们为不同目标划分了优先次序并制定了实现它们的不同方案。但是如果没有对底线的坚守和接受新信息的意愿，如果我们不承认我们对手的观点也许是公正的，不承认科学和理性的重要性，那么我们便不能实现真正的沟通，不能相互妥协并建立共同立场。
Isn't that part of what makes politics so dispiriting? How can elected officials rage about deficits when we propose to spend money on preschool for kids, but not when we're cutting taxes for corporations? How do we excuse ethical lapses in our own party, but pounce when the other party does the same thing? It's not just dishonest, this selective sorting of the facts; it's self-defeating. Because as my mother used to tell me, reality has a way of catching up with you.
不正是这些因素使人们对政治感到失望的吗？如果政客没有对削减企业税感到不满的话，那我们提议增加对学龄前儿童的支出时，他们凭什么感到愤怒呢？在抨击其他政党腐败的同时，我们怎么能宽宥党内腐败呢？这些行为不只是不诚实，更是对事实的区别对待，是自我毁灭的行径。因为，就像我母亲曾经告诉我的，现实总能让你自食其果。