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：

我們已經在球場上見證了這種優(yōu)點/缺點兩分法的作用。同樣的自信，讓科比的出手總數達到24374次，名列NBA歷史得分榜第四，同樣的自信有時候又讓他難以執(zhí)教，甚至對菲爾·杰克遜來說也是如此。同樣的撕裂出現在最近一期《紐約客》雜志里對他的一篇特寫文章中科比本人的評論。這篇文章先是從邁阿密熱火隊集體身穿帽衫對特雷旺·馬丁表示支持，寫到了科比對待遇種族問題有關的事情上的個人態(tài)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."

“我不會因為我該有什么反應，不會因為我是非裔美國人，我就一定會做出什么反應。在我看來，這種爭論根本不合理。我們作為一個社會、作為一種文化想向前發(fā)展，但比方說，有事情發(fā)生在非洲裔美國人身上了，我們就該立刻為他辯護嗎？就這樣還想討論我們社會作為一個整體到底有了多少進步？好吧，那就不要因為他們是非洲裔美國人而立刻為某人辯護?！?/p>

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.

我們生活在這樣一個世界，人們的動力通常來自恐懼——尤其是未知的恐懼——人們也會抓住機會把自己打扮成受害者。但這種情況，并不適用于30多歲的科比。

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.

科比無所畏懼，他想說什么就說什么，想做什么就做什么，絲毫不考慮后果。他不把自己或其他人當作受害者。他不認為事情那么簡單地發(fā)生在別人什么，他認為人們自己的態(tài)度決定了他們身上會發(fā)生什么事。

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

這些都是令人敬佩的品性，但這些品性在馬丁的問題上卻給他帶來了麻煩。

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.

黑人群體的推特，也就是那些一開始就把特雷旺·馬丁事件推到媒體頭條的人，對科比的評論進行了猛烈攻擊。他們認為，科比的評論事實上是在和熱火隊劃清界限，或者批評熱火，并且由熱火延伸到了非洲裔美國人族群。

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：

當我在周日晚湖人與太陽的比賽前碰到科比時，他說自己被質疑的言論，并不是他對特雷旺·馬丁這個個案的看法，而是一種宏觀的態(tài)度?？票日f，那些因為他的言論而攻擊他的人和支持他的人之間的對立讓他非常驚訝，那些堅定的科比支持人，也就是反對群體思維的反政治正確的支持者?？票日f，這種情況造成的結果，會為追求共同目標的人們制造另一個障礙：平等問題。至于他對馬丁案件本身的看法，也就是齊默曼被判無罪，他周四那天也在推特上給予了回應：

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·馬丁是無辜的。這就是我的觀點，而且在我看來，這也是被事實所證明了的。體系并沒有奏效。#我的觀點 #用推特說出自己的看法。

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.

我在科比對《紐約客》雜志的那段評論中讀到的缺陷在于，身為黑人的事實可能會影響你形成正確的認知，或者阻礙人們做正確的事。

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.

盡管事情發(fā)展的結果最終證明，佛羅里達斯坦福警方最初的證據不足以支持齊默曼謀殺認定是正確的，但這個案件進入審判仍然非常重要——特雷旺·馬丁故事的法律部分就能正式進入社會討論，而不再局限于社交網絡上的傳播，能激起人們對種族固化思維危險的探討，能夠提出我們的國家到底更重視持有槍支的權利，還是更重視人的生命。如果這一切討論都來源于非洲裔美國人急于參與進來，那也無所謂。

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."

有些時候，非洲裔美國人的觀點僅僅意味著同情，而非積極倡導。值得深思的是，穿著帽衫在我大多數鄰居都是白人的社區(qū)里遛狗，會不會自動讓我成為犯罪嫌疑人，讓我成為“有正當理由的”故意殺人行為的受害者。奧巴馬總統(tǒng)說過“特雷旺·馬丁可能是35年前的我”這種話，他也提到了非洲裔美國人普遍會經歷的一種情形：當他們走在大街上時，他們會聽到別人鎖住車門的聲音；當他們走進電梯時，會看到其他女性會抓緊自己的錢包。“這些都是原因，我覺得某種程度上，如果一個白人青少年面對類似情形時，”奧巴馬說道，“從上到下，無論是結果還是事后的反響也許都會非常不同?！?/p>

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.

對很多非洲裔美國人來說，他們終于等到了對奧巴馬期待已久的時刻。這種時刻并不一定非要宣布政策或者施行法律，僅僅一個和他們有著同樣感受的手握大權的人的一點暗示便已足夠。這也是為什么使用推特的黑人會對科比那么失望，并且讓科比知道這種失望：看起來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國人觀點這種說法，但某些事件上確實存在非裔美國人的態(tài)度，而這也不該被簡單地當作受害者心態(tài)。沒有欲望成為受害者，你也有可能成為受害者。

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·馬丁是真正的受害者。往最小了說，他也是槍擊案受害者。但在這之上還有一個問題，他是謀殺案受害者嗎？是種族固化側寫的受害者？而且在最開始，只有非洲裔美國人關心案件的具體進展。一個建立在檢驗和平衡基礎上的體制需要有人站出來，或者至少提出疑問。有時候，被動地接受比過激反應更危險。

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."

科比并不介意被定義為黑人，他只是不想局限于這個定義。在《紐約客》那段被質疑的評論前，他這樣明確地對文章的作者表示：“我們其實面臨著更嚴重的問題，也就是身為一個非裔美國運動員，以及人們因此要把你局限的那個小盒子。想要走出那樣的局限總是很艱難的?！?/p>

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，包括別人都在懷疑，在意大利度過童年、回到美國后生活在城市郊區(qū)是否導致科比和黑人文化的脫節(jié)。但這種觀點又一次暗示，存在一種特別的黑人生活經歷?？票冗x擇了馬丁·路德·金博士鋪墊的那條道路，他淡化了差異。這一點在周四他發(fā)在Instagram上的一種引用金博士言論的圖片中表現得尤為明顯——“我有一個夢想，終有一天，我的四個孩子會生活在這樣一個國家，評判他們的不再是膚色，而是他們的人格?！薄€補充道：“如果不對運動本身進一步推進，我們就無法推進變化。#平等 #不考慮膚色 接納我們的文化歷史，我們已經經歷了很多變化，但還有更多的要做 #靠我們了?！?/p>

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.

這是一個理想主義的觀點，這意味著如果你不基于膚色而對他人區(qū)別對待，其他人也不會這么對待你。這來源于他對人們能力的信心，源于他對個人能克服一切障礙的信心。這次事件讓他明白，不相信有成為受害者的可能，也許是讓你本人成為受害者的最快途徑。