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Countries like Germany and South Africa and, of course, Rwanda,

像德国和南非，当然还有卢旺达，

have found it necessary to build memorials to reflect on the atrocities¹ of their past, in order to heal their national psyche².

我们发现有必要建立一个纪念馆，来折射他们过去的暴行，以便从心理上获得全国性的治愈。

We have yet to do this in the United States.

我们在美国也要这样做。

So I sent a cold email to [email protected]: "Dear Bryan," it said,

所以我发出了一个邮件到 [email protected]: 邮件上说：“亲爱的Bryan，

"I think your building project is maybe the most important project we could do in America and could change the way we think about racial injustice³.

我以为你的建筑项目也许是我们在美国能做到的最好的，而且它能改变我们所认为的种族不平等。

By any chance, do you know who will design it?"

顺便问一句，你知道谁去设计这个建筑呢？”

Surprisingly, shockingly, Bryan got right back to me, and invited me down to meet with his team and talk to them.

令人吃惊的是，Bryan马上回了我的邮件，并且邀请我去跟他的团队见面和谈话。

Needless to say, I canceled all my meetings and I jumped on a plane to Montgomery, Alabama.

不用说，我取消了自己所有的会议，直飞阿拉巴马的蒙哥马利。

When I got there, Bryan and his team picked me up, and we walked around the city.

当我到达那里以后，Bryan和他的团队接我去参观了城市。

And they took the time to point out the many markers that have been placed all over the city to the history of the Confederacy,

他们花了一番时间指出在全市所置放的很多关于南部联邦历史的标记，

and the very few that mark the history of slavery.

没有几个标记是关于奴隶的。

And then he walked me to a hill. It overlooked the whole city.

然后他带我走上一个山坡。可以俯瞰整个城市。

He pointed⁴ out the river and the train tracks where the largest domestic slave-trading port in America had once prospered⁵.

他指给我看一条河和某些火车道，曾经是美国国内最大的奴隶交易港口，一度非常繁荣。

And then to the Capitol rotunda⁶, where George Wallace had stood on its steps and proclaimed, "Segregation⁷ forever."

然后我们到了国会圆顶大厦，乔治·华莱士曾经站在它的阶梯上宣称“永远隔离”。

And then to the very hill below us.

然后我们到了丘陵下面。

He said, "Here we will build a new memorial that will change the identity of this city and of this nation."

他说，“我们会建立一个新的纪念馆，这将改变这座城市和这个国家的面目。”