美国国家公共电台 NPR Maine Asylum-Seeker Fights For His Right To Poetry

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Next week, high school students from all over the country will meet in Washington, D.C., to recite poems. It's for a national competition called Poetry Out Loud. The state champion from Maine has been barred from the contest because of his immigration status. Maine Public Radio's Robbie Feinberg reports the student is fighting back.

ROBBIE FEINBERG, BYLINE¹: Last summer, Allan Monga arrived in Portland, Maine, alone and seeking asylum² from his home country of Zambia.

ALLAN MONGA: It was really hard for me 'cause I didn't really know anyone. And it was hard to trust anyone.

FEINBERG: He enrolled³ as a junior at Portland's Deering High School. There, a teacher introduced him to Poetry Out Loud. Monga started picking out poems and reciting them for teachers and friends. He says poetry gave him a way to express himself in this unfamiliar⁴ new home.

(SOUNDBITE OF POEM, "THE SONG OF THE SMOKE")

MONGA: (Reading) I am the smoke king. I am black.

FEINBERG: That's Monga performing W.E.B. Du Bois' 1907 poem "The Song Of The Smoke" at Maine state finals last month.

(SOUNDBITE OF POEM, "THE SONG OF THE SMOKE")

MONGA: (Reading) I will be black as blackness can. The blacker the mantel, the mightier⁵ the man.

When I recite that poem, I just feel like I'm in a position of authority and power. And everyone is listening.

FEINBERG: With that performance and two others, Monga won the state competition. But there was a hitch⁶. Poetry Out Loud's official rules say competitors must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents. And as an asylum seeker, Monga is still considered temporary. State organizers let him compete, but the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, who run the competition, say he's not eligible⁷ for the national finals. So Monga is fighting back. He's suing the NEA and the Poetry Foundation in federal court to be allowed to compete. Monga says it's important for him and other students with similar immigration status to be included.

MONGA: If you cannot have them partake in this competition because they don't have the proper legal status in the U.S., it's just, like, discrimination in some way.

FEINBERG: In a hearing Wednesday, Monga's lawyers argued that the NEA's rules violate federal civil rights laws. Bruce Smith, an attorney representing Monga, says the rules create a class of citizens who are being denied an educational opportunity that should be open to all residents.

BRUCE SMITH: I don't see how anybody can look at that and say that that's fair or reasonable. But not only that - it does, in our view, violate the Constitution.

FEINBERG: The NEA isn't commenting on the case. But in court, a lawyer representing the agency argued that Congress allows the NEA to decide how it uses its federal funds and who receives them. For now, Monga says he's still rehearsing as if he's headed to the national finals which start Monday. The court is expected to decide the case by tomorrow. For NPR News, I'm Robbie Feinberg in Portland, Maine.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

3 enrolled   

adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They have been studying hard from the moment they enrolled. 从入学时起，他们就一直努力学习。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He enrolled with an employment agency for a teaching position. 他在职业介绍所登了记以谋求一个教师的职位。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 unfamiliar   

adj.陌生的，不熟悉的

参考例句：

• I am unfamiliar with the place and the people here.我在这儿人地生疏。
• The man seemed unfamiliar to me.这人很面生。

5 mightier   

adj. 强有力的，强大的，巨大的 adv. 很，极其

参考例句：

• But it ever rises up again, stronger, firmer, mightier. 但是，这种组织总是重新产生，并且一次比一次更强大，更坚固，更有力。 来自英汉非文学 - 共产党宣言
• Do you believe that the pen is mightier than the sword? 你相信笔杆的威力大于武力吗？

6 hitch   

v.免费搭(车旅行)；系住；急提；n.故障；急拉

参考例句：

• They had an eighty-mile journey and decided to hitch hike.他们要走80英里的路程，最后决定搭便车。
• All the candidates are able to answer the questions without any hitch.所有报考者都能对答如流。

7 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。