美国国家公共电台 NPR--The first office for missing and murdered Black women and girls set for Minnesota

The first office for missing and murdered Black women and girls set for Minnesota

Transcript¹

ST. PAUL – A little more than a month before her late sister's birthday, Lakeisha Lee lays down a pot of purple flowers in front of a monument honoring Brittany Clardy.

Just over a decade ago, when she was 18, Clardy went missing.

Lee and her family notified the police almost immediately when Clardy didn't answer their calls or messages on social media. Lee says officers initially² brushed them off.

"We knew something was wrong right away," Lee says. "After they asked us her age and asked us about her demographics, they said, 'Well, she just turned 18, she probably ran away with her boyfriend.' We knew her. We're the experts on our family."

Two weeks later, Clardy was found murdered in the trunk of her car. Lee says she still wonders if she could've been saved if officers had launched an investigation³ sooner.

Over the past couple of years, Lee has led Minnesota's task force dedicated⁴ to understanding why African American women and girls go missing and helping⁵ families.

Illinois and Wisconsin have followed Minnesota in implementing⁶ task forces to look into disparities around violence against Black women and girls.

But this year, Minnesota enacted⁷ a law creating the nation's first Office of Missing and Murdered African American Women and Girls.

Crisis requires the new office, advocates say

Much like offices around the country designed to find Indigenous⁸ women and girls, Minnesota's office will investigate cold cases and reopen cases where Black women or girls were declared to have died by suicide or drug overdose if the situation was suspicious. It will also assist police agencies and community groups in active cases and serve as a new point of contact for those reluctant to speak with police.

State Rep. Ruth Richardson, a Democrat⁹, carried the bill creating the new office, saying it could help cut down on disparities in the state. A Minnesota task force last year reported that while African American women and girls comprise 7% of the population, they represented 40% of domestic violence victims. They're also nearly 3 times more likely than their white peers to be murdered in the state.

"This is a real, true crisis," Richardson says. "One of the reasons this is so important is because when we see this data that our cases are not getting solved, or cases are not getting resources, it actually puts a target on the back of Black women and girls."

Members of the task force and other advocates say law enforcement often ignores calls for assistance when Black women go missing and families have to organize their own search efforts.

"The help just isn't there," says Verna Cornelia Price. Price runs a mentorship program for girls in Minneapolis called Girls Taking Action. On several occasions, girls in the program have gone missing and have later called Price and her peers for help escaping violent situations.

"The police, they're just telling us that our girl is a prostitute, or she's a runaway," Price said. "So we've had to just kind of step in there and navigate¹⁰ for ourselves how to keep our girls safe."

Police say more resources welcome

Minnesota police departments vary in the way they handle cases in which Black women and girls are reported missing. The state also lacks a centralized agency focused on tracking these cases or serving as a resource to those who report them, according to the Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association.

Jeff Potts, the group's executive director, says his organization didn't speak in favor or against the bill, but he says having a central office that can cull¹¹ missing people reports from around the state, and be a point of contact for concerned families, will be an asset.

"I think the benefit is to have a centralized office to refer people to and to coordinate¹² with," Potts says. "That just hasn't been available in the past."

Suwana Kirkland, vice¹³ chair for the National Association of Black Police Officers and head of a community corrections unit in a county outside of the Twin Cities, says the new law guarantees additional state funding designated for solving these cases.

"I've been in law enforcement for 19 years as an officer," Kirkland says. "And as a leader, I have seen an increase in incidents of violence within our communities of for Black women and girls, and a decrease in resources and services and dedicated efforts and support to help solve these crimes."

Lakeisha Lee, whose sister Brittany Clardy was murdered, says the office could spur new hope for families of missing and murdered Black girls in Minnesota.

"We can work towards a community intervention¹⁴ model that really serves all families for generations so that the office doesn't have to be a forever office," Lee says. "We can end this epidemic¹⁵."

And one day, fewer Minnesota families will have to celebrate the birthdays of sisters, mothers or friends without them, Lee says.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

3 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

4 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

5 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

6 implementing   

v.实现( implement的现在分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• -- Implementing a comprehensive drug control strategy. ――实行综合治理的禁毒战略。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• He was in no hurry about implementing his unshakable principle. 他并不急于实行他那不可动摇的原则。 来自辞典例句

7 enacted   

制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• legislation enacted by parliament 由议会通过的法律
• Outside in the little lobby another scene was begin enacted. 外面的小休息室里又是另一番景象。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

8 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

9 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

10 navigate   

v.航行，飞行；导航，领航

参考例句：

• He was the first man to navigate the Atlantic by air.他是第一个飞越大西洋的人。
• Such boats can navigate on the Nile.这种船可以在尼罗河上航行。

11 cull   

v.拣选；剔除；n.拣出的东西；剔除

参考例句：

• It is usually good practice to cull the poorest prior to field planting.通常在实践上的好方法是在出圃栽植前挑出最弱的苗木。
• Laura was passing around photographs she'd culled from the albums at home.劳拉正在分发她从家里相册中挑选出的相片。

12 coordinate   

adj.同等的，协调的；n.同等者；vt.协作，协调

参考例句：

• You must coordinate what you said with what you did.你必须使你的言行一致。
• Maybe we can coordinate the relation of them.或许我们可以调和他们之间的关系。

13 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

14 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

15 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。