美国国家公共电台 NPR I Saw His Humanity: 'Reveal' Host On Protecting Right-Wing Protester

 

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

Yesterday there was supposed to be a rally of right-wing activists¹ in Berkeley, Calif., but that mostly fizzled out. Still, thousands of peaceful left-wing demonstrators turned out singing songs and chanting. And about 150 anti-fascists, or antifa, or black bloc² protesters were also there, marching in formation with covered faces. And then a couple of right-wing demonstrators did show up.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING³)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Stop. Stop. Stop.

MCEVERS: That's when Al Letson, host of the investigative radio program and podcast Reveal, saw one right-wing guy fall to the ground and some left-wing antifa protestors start beating him. I talked to Al Letson earlier today, and he said he jumped on top of the guy to protect him.

AL LETSON: At some point, when I turned to my left, I saw this gentleman. And either he tripped or somebody tripped him and he landed on the ground. When he landed on the ground, about five of the people that had been chasing them surrounded them and started kicking him. And I saw somebody take a flag pole and really bring it down really hard on him.

And when I glanced to my left, I saw, you know, a mass of people just coming off the lawn towards this guy. And I don't know, I just - I thought they were going to kill him. And I just didn't want anybody to die. And I just put my body down on top of his in the hopes that they would not hit me.

MCEVERS: Yeah. I mean, we have to say this, right? Like, some of the people who organized this rally that was supposed to happen that didn't happen are part of the alt-right. This is a philosophy that promotes white nationalism, white rights. And you yourself, you're African-American. Like, what - was any of that going through your mind? Or you were you just like, this guy doesn't need to be beaten up and it doesn't matter what side you're on?

LETSON: Yeah, none of it went into my mind at all. What came to me was that he was a human being. And I didn't want to see anybody die. And, you know, I've been thinking a lot about the events in Charlottesville. And I remember seeing the pictures of a young man being brutally⁴ beaten by these guys with poles. And when I saw that, I thought, why didn't anybody step in? And, you know, in retrospect⁵, it doesn't matter if he doesn't see my humanity. What matters to me is that I see his. What he thinks about me and all of that, like, my humanity is not dependent upon that.

MCEVERS: You're also a reporter. You were there as a journalist. You had your recording equipment with you. You know, and we're always told that reporters aren't supposed to become part of the story. You know, what do you think about that?

LETSON: I don't want to be a part of the story at all. And I believe in all those journalistic ethics⁶ and all of that. But I also think that before that, I'm a human being. You know, I mean, this sounds really high-minded and maybe a little nutty, but I am a huge NPR nerd. And many years ago, I was listening to Terry Gross and Father Greg Boyle was on there.

And he gave this quote that has just stuck with me ever since. He said, I want to live like the truth is true and go where love has not been found. And it's how I want to govern myself in the world. So when I get into this situation where the decision is, do you be a journalist or do you be a human, I'm going to put the journalism⁷ to the side and do the thing that feels right for me.

MCEVERS: How has this, if it has, changed how you think about these leftist protesters, these antifa protesters? I mean, these were the people inflicting⁸ violence on this person.

LETSON: Yeah, it hasn't really changed the way I think about them at all. I think that the problem that happens when we have the antifa or people on the left engaging in violence is that it shifts the narrative⁹, right? Like, suddenly we are equating¹⁰ people that are fighting Nazis¹¹ with Nazis. And the two things don't equate¹², right? And we've seen what they can do when they're in power.

So we see and know exactly what that is. It's a false equivalency to say that the people fighting back against that are the exact same. But I also see how the violence that is coming from the antifa movement can be spun¹³ to make it seem like the two are equivalent.

So, you know, we're living in tricky¹⁴ times when there's a lot of nuance¹⁵ that needs to be walked through. And America is not good at nuance. So I think for me, it didn't change the way I thought about them. But it does mean that as a reporter and as a producer, as a journalist that I'm thinking even more about what that nuance means and how to communicate it to the audience.

MCEVERS: Al Letson hosts Reveal. It's a podcast and a radio show from the Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX. Thank you very much.

LETSON: Thank you.

1 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 bloc   

n.集团；联盟

参考例句：

• A solid bloc of union members support the decision.工会会员团结起来支持该决定。
• There have been growing tensions within the trading bloc.贸易同盟国的关系越来越紧张。

3 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

4 brutally   

adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地

参考例句：

• The uprising was brutally put down.起义被残酷地镇压下去了。
• A pro-democracy uprising was brutally suppressed.一场争取民主的起义被残酷镇压了。

5 retrospect   

n.回顾，追溯；v.回顾，回想，追溯

参考例句：

• One's school life seems happier in retrospect than in reality.学校生活回忆起来显得比实际上要快乐。
• In retrospect,it's easy to see why we were wrong.回顾过去就很容易明白我们的错处了。

6 ethics   

n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准

参考例句：

• The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that.他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
• Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict.个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。

7 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

8 inflicting   

把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He was charged with maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm. 他被控蓄意严重伤害他人身体。
• It's impossible to do research without inflicting some pain on animals. 搞研究不让动物遭点罪是不可能的。

9 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

10 equating   

v.认为某事物（与另一事物）相等或相仿( equate的现在分词 )；相当于；等于；把（一事物） 和（另一事物）等同看待

参考例句：

• [ Ray ] I definitely started equating crossword puzzles with songwriting. 我已经干脆开始把字谜游戏等同于歌曲写作了。 来自电影对白
• But they have a hard time equating plural marriage with those evils. 但是他们很难把这种多妻婚姻与上面说的那些坏事联系起来。 来自互联网

11 Nazis   

n.（德国的）纳粹党员( Nazi的名词复数 )；纳粹主义

参考例句：

• The Nazis worked them over with gun butts. 纳粹分子用枪托毒打他们。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Nazis were responsible for the mass murder of Jews during World War Ⅱ. 纳粹必须为第二次世界大战中对犹太人的大屠杀负责。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 equate   

v.同等看待，使相等

参考例句：

• You can't equate passing examination and being intelligent.你不能把考试及格看成是聪明。
• You cannot equate his poems with his plays.你不可以把他的诗歌和他的剧本相提并论。

13 spun   

v.纺，杜撰，急转身

参考例句：

• His grandmother spun him a yarn at the fire.他奶奶在火炉边给他讲故事。
• Her skilful fingers spun the wool out to a fine thread.她那灵巧的手指把羊毛纺成了细毛线。

14 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

15 nuance   

n.(意义、意见、颜色)细微差别

参考例句：

• These users will easily learn each nuance of the applications they use.这些用户会很快了解他们所使用程序的每一细微差别。
• I wish I hadn't become so conscious of every little nuance.我希望我不要变得这样去思索一切琐碎之事。