三、贫富分化日益严重
III. Income Inequality Continued to Rise文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/6783.html
文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/6783.html
美国贫困率维持高位，贫富差距持续扩大，近半家庭生活拮据，低收入者缺乏医疗保险，无家可归者人数居高不下。文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/6783.html
文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/6783.html
Poverty rate in the United States remained high. Income inequality continued to rise. Almost half of American households lived under financial strain. Low-income populations lacked health insurance. The number of homeless people stayed high.文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/6783.html
文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/6783.html
沦为贫富分化最严重的西方国家。美国人口普查的数据显示，2017年美国有约4200万贫困人口，约占总人口的13.4%。超过500万全年从事全职工作的美国人年收入低于贫困线。布鲁金斯学会发布的报告显示，残疾人通常更难找到稳定的工作，也更难挣到高于贫困线的工资。残疾人的贫困率为25.7%。（注15）文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/6783.html
文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/6783.html
The United States had the highest rate of income inequality among Western countries. The U.S. Census estimated that 13.4 percent of Americans, about 42 million, lived below the poverty line in 2017. More than 5 million Americans who work full-time jobs year-round earned less than the poverty line. According to a report by the Brookings Institution, the disabled generally had a harder time finding steady work and earning above-poverty wages. About 25.7 percent of the disabled lived in poverty (www.usatoday.com, October 10, 2018 and November 19, 2018).文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/6783.html
文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/6783.html
联合国极端贫困与人权问题特别报告员菲利普·奥尔斯顿2018年5月发布报告指出，美国已经沦为贫富分化最严重的西方国家，1850万美国人生活在极端贫困中，青年贫困率居经合组织成员国之首。2016年，1%的最富有人群拥有全国38.6%的财富，而普通民众的财富总量和收入水平在过去25年总体呈下降趋势。奥尔斯顿进一步指出，美国政府近年来推行系列刺激经济增长措施，但发展成果仅惠及富人，普通民众并未获益。“美国政府以牺牲社会福利为代价，对大公司和富有阶层实施前所未有的大规模减税计划，该策略似乎是为扩大不平等而量身定制。”（注16）
In May 2018, Philip G. Alston, the United Nation’s special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, published a report saying the United States had the highest rate of income inequality among Western countries. According to the report, 18.5 million Americans lived in extreme poverty. The country had the highest youth poverty rate in countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). In 2016, the top one percent of the richest population in the United States owned 38.6 percent of total wealth. In relation to both wealth and income the share of the common people had fallen in most of the past 25 years. Alston further pointed out that the U.S. government’s series of economic stimulus measures in recent years only benefited the rich, not the common people. “The U.S. government’s policies provide unprecedentedly high tax breaks to the very wealthy and the largest corporations and pay for these partly by reducing welfare benefits for the poor. The tax reform will worsen inequality.” (www.washingtonpost.com, June 25, 2018)
近半美国家庭生活拮据。2018年7月17日，美国参议员伯尼·桑德斯在《今日美国报》网站发表署名文章指出，43%的美国家庭入不敷出，只能借债支付住房、食品、儿童护理、医疗、交通和通讯费用。美国城市研究所调查发现，近40%的青壮年表示收入难以满足食品、卫生保健、住房和公用事业等基本需求。（注17）
Almost half of American households lived in financial difficulties. On July 17, 2018, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders wrote in an article published on the USA Today website, saying 43 percent of U.S. households lived paycheck to paycheck and can’t afford to pay for their housing, food, child care, health care, transportation and their cell phone without going into debt. The Urban Institute’s survey found that nearly 40 percent of non-elderly adults reported difficulty meeting basic needs such as food, health care, housing, and utilities (www.usatoday.com, July 17, 2018 and October 1, 2018).
低收入病患缺乏医疗保险。联合国极端贫困与人权问题特别报告员菲利普·奥尔斯顿2018年5月发布报告指出，美国社会保障制度存在缺陷，四分之一全职工作者和四分之三兼职工作者没有带薪病假，44%的成年人无力支付或需要变卖财产和借债才能支付急救医疗费用。（注18）盖洛普咨询公司2018年11月进行的年度调查显示，46%的受访者担心没有足够的钱来支付医疗费用。（注19）城市研究所的分析显示，得克萨斯州65岁以下居民中高达19%没有保险，人数多达470万。（注20）
Low-income populations lacked health insurance. In May 2018, Philip G. Alston, the United Nation’s special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, published a report saying almost a quarter of full-time workers, and three quarters of part-time workers, received no paid sick leave. About 44 per cent of adults either could not cover an emergency expense or would need to sell something or borrow money to do it (www.washingtonpost.com, June 25, 2018). Gallup’s annual poll, conducted in November 2018, found 46 percent of U.S. adults worry about not having enough money to pay for their healthcare (news.gallup.com, December 10, 2018). According to a new Urban Institute analysis, Texas had 19 percent of uninsured residents under age 65, totaling 4.7 million (abcnews.go.com, December 17, 2018).
无家可归者人数居高不下。美国住房和城市发展部的数据显示，超过50万美国人没有固定居所。许多无家可归者急需医疗救助并患有精神疾病。（注21）加利福尼亚州2018年4月发布的审计报告指出，2017年加利福尼亚州无家可归者人数达到134278人，比2016年增加16136人，居全国之首。（注22）在俄亥俄州的辛辛那提，无家可归者在市中心附近安营扎寨。当地法官罗伯特·鲁曼却宣称无家可归者营地是一种公害，并禁止在市中心及周边地区建立这种营地。（注23）
The number of homeless people stayed high. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, more than half a million Americans lacked permanent shelters. Many homeless individuals were in dire need of medical attention and suffered from mental illnesses (www.usatoday.com, October 1, 2018). According to an audit report issued by the State of California in April 2018, the state had the largest number of homeless population in the nation, reaching 134,278 in 2017, an increase of 16,136 people over 2016 (www.auditor.ca.gov). In Cincinnati of Ohio, homeless people set up camps near the heart of the city. But a local judge named Robert Ruehlman declared homeless camps a public nuisance and banned them in the affected part of downtown. He later expanded the ban to include most of the city and all of surrounding Hamilton County (www.usatoday.com, August 14, 2018).
吸毒致死和自杀人数持续攀升。美国疾病控制与预防中心2018年发布的报告显示，2014年以来，美国因吸毒致死人数年均增加16%，2017年超过7万人。自杀是美国的第十大死因。1999年以来，美国的自杀率上升了33%，2017年自杀人数超过4.7万。（注24）
Drug overdose deaths and suicides continued to rise. A report issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said drug overdose deaths among U.S. residents exceeded 70,000 in 2017. The rate had increased on average by 16 percent per year since 2014. Suicide was the 10th leading cause of death in the U.S. Since 1999, the suicide rate had climbed 33 percent. In 2017, more than 47,000 Americans killed themselves (nytimes.com, August 15, 2018).
四、种族歧视变本加厉
IV. Worsening Racial Discrimination
美国长期存在系统性种族歧视，少数种族选举权遭到限制，执法司法领域种族歧视未见改善，仇恨犯罪猖獗，少数种族处于极度不利地位。
Systematic racial discrimination has long existed in the United States. Ethnic minorities faced restrictions in exercising their voting rights. The law enforcement and judicial departments made no progress in reducing racial discrimination. Hate crimes were common. Minorities were at an extremely disadvantageous position.
系统性种族歧视遭到联合国批评。联合国消除种族歧视委员会第九十三届会议报告，以及联合国当代形式种族歧视问题特别报告员根据联合国大会决议撰写的报告指出，美国社会长期存在白人至上、煽动种族歧视和仇恨言论等现象。美国政府未能明确拒绝和遏制有关种族主义暴力事件和示威，包括总统在内的政府高官宣扬仇外的民族民粹主义言论，利用纸质媒体和社交媒体发表种族主义和仇外言论。（注25）
Systematic racial discrimination was criticized by the United Nations. According to the report of the ninety-third session of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the report of the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance prepared pursuant to a UN General Assembly resolution, the phenomena of promoting white supremacy and inciting racial discrimination and hatred have long existed in American society. The United States failed to unequivocally reject and contain racist violent events and demonstrations. High-level politicians and public officials, including the President, propagated nationalist and populist remarks, and published racist and xenophobic statements on print and social media (UN documents A/73/18, A/73/312, A/73/305).
少数种族选民的选举权被剥夺。美国公民自由联合会网站2018年10月12日报道，北达科他州制定限制性法律，要求选民在投票时出示当前居住地址的证明文件。由于许多居住在郊区保留地的印第安人没有街道地址，这项法律剥夺了数千名印第安人的选举权。《天主教国家纪事报》网站5月22日报道，2010年以来，美国有23个州通过了某种形式的选民压制法，其中有17个州针对的是印第安人等土著居民。英国路透社网站11月28日报道，佐治亚州在中期选举中实施“完全匹配”政策，大量选民的投票权处于待定状态，其中70%是非洲裔，而非洲裔仅占该地区总人口的三分之一。英国《经济学人》网站8月11日评论称，美国南方一些州制定法律，对非洲裔选民行使选举权实施严苛限制，“仿佛使美国倒退到不允许黑人投票的20世纪初”。
Minority voters were disenfranchised. According to a report of the American Civil Liberties Union on October 12, 2018, North Dakota’s restrictive voter ID law required voters to bring to the polls an ID that displays a current residential street address. As many of Native Americans live on reservations in rural areas and don’t have street addresses, the law disenfranchised thousands of Native Americans. Twenty-three states since 2010 have passed some type of voter suppression law, while 17 have voter suppression laws that target Native Americans and other indigenous people, according to an online report of the National Catholic Reporter. The Reuters website reported on November 28, 2018 that during the mid-term elections, due to an “exact match” policy adopted in Georgia, 70 percent of the voters whose registrations were pending before the election were black. African-Americans account for about one-third of the state’s population. On August 11, 2018, the Economist commented on its website that in the south of the United States, some states adopted laws to impose rigid requirements on African-American voters. “They seem to push America back towards the early 20th century, when blacks were systematically prevented from voting.”
非洲裔因肤色而成为警方枪击的无辜受害者。英国广播公司网站2018年11月12日报道，芝加哥郊区一家酒吧的26岁非洲裔保安杰梅尔·罗伯逊制服了一名持枪斗殴嫌犯，但赶到的警察却开枪射杀了正在控制嫌犯的罗伯逊。目击者称，当时大家都在喊“他是一个保安”，但警察看到持枪的是非洲裔男子，还是向他开了枪。11月22日感恩节当晚，亚拉巴马州一家购物中心内发生枪击案，21岁的非洲裔男子小伊曼蒂克·菲茨杰拉德·布拉德福德在帮助其他顾客脱离险境时，却被警方视为枪手而击毙。目击者称，他当时并未对任何人构成威胁。律师本·克朗普说：“布拉德福德无辜丧命令人震惊，再次证明非洲裔男性仅因肤色就被视作威胁而遭枪杀。”（注26）
African-Americans became innocent victims of police shooting because of their skin color. According to a BBC report on November 12, 2018, Jemel Roberson, a 26-year-old African-American security guard, was holding down a suspected armed attacker at a bar in suburban Chicago, but police shot and killed him upon arrival. A witness recounted that everybody was screaming out “he was a security guard,” but police still did their job and saw a black man with a gun and opened fire on him.
On the Thanksgiving night of November 22, after a gunfire happened at an Alabama mall, Emantic “EJ” Fitzgerald Bradford Jr., a 21-year-old black who was helping other shoppers to safety, was mistaken for the gunman and shot three times from behind by police. Witnesses said he posed no threat to anyone at that time. Fitzgerald’s “senseless death is the latest egregious example of a black man killed because he was perceived to be a threat due to the color of his skin,” the newspaper quoted Ben Crump, the lawyer for Fitzgerald’s family, as saying. (www.usatoday.com, December 4, 2018).
星巴克事件凸显非洲裔面临广泛歧视。2018年4月12日，两名非洲裔男子进入费城中心城区一家星巴克咖啡店使用洗手间，遭到店员拒绝并被要求离开。在二人拒绝离开后店员报警，警察赶到现场逮捕了他们。这一种族歧视行径引起了广泛抗议。费城警察局长起初辩称警察的做法“绝对没有任何错误”，后迫于压力才不得不作出道歉。舆论认为，这一事件让很多费城人目睹和重温了“种族定性的历史创伤”。（注27）英国《卫报》网站5月28日发表评论文章指出，星巴克事件显示出有色人种尤其是非洲裔美国人每天面临的歧视。（注28）
The Starbucks incident highlighted common discrimination against African Americans. On April 12, 2018, two African Americans entered a Starbucks in downtown Philadelphia and asked to use the restroom. But they were refused by store employees, and wouldn’t leave when asked by the employees to do so. Police came and arrested them on the spot. This discriminatory act sparked protests. Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross at first defended that the police officers “didn’t do anything wrong”, but later apologized due to pressure. Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said that the arrest caused many Philadelphians to witness and relive “the trauma of racial profiling” (www.usatoday.com, April 15, 2018; abcnews.go.com, April 19, 2018). Many say the Starbucks incident exposed discrimination that people of color and black people in particular face every day, said a report by the Guardian (www.theguardian.com, May 28, 2018).
少数族裔遭受司法歧视。《纽约时报》网站2018年6月7日报道，截至2017年，在舆论广泛关注的15起警察枪杀非洲裔案件中，只有一名警察被判入狱。美国死刑信息中心12月14日发布的全国死刑与种族统计数据显示，1976年以来的跨种族犯罪被执行死刑的案件中，有290名非洲裔因杀害白人而被执行死刑；相比之下，在白人是凶手而非洲裔是受害者的案件中，被执行死刑的白人仅有20人。（注29）《华盛顿邮报》网站7月29日报道，根据对近10年美国大城市杀人案的统计数据，杀死白人的犯罪嫌疑人被捕的可能性为63%，而杀死非洲裔的犯罪嫌疑人被捕的可能性仅为47%。
Minorities suffered judicial discrimination. As of late 2017, in 15 high-profile cases involving deaths of black people, only one officer faces prison time, according to the website of The New York Times on June 7, 2018. According to the national statistics on the death penalty and race released by the U.S. Death Penalty Information Center on December 14, 2018, among the persons executed for interracial murders in the United States since 1976, the number of black defendants executed for the murder of white victims reached 290. In contrast, only 20 white defendants were executed for murdering black victims (deathpenaltyinfo.org, December 14, 2018). According to the Washington Post’s analysis on July 29 of homicide arrest data, in the past decade, police arrested someone in 63 percent of the killings of white victims while they did so in just 47 percent of those with black victims.
涉种族歧视的仇恨犯罪再创新高。《洛杉矶时报》网站2018年11月13日报道，联邦调查局发布的报告显示，2017年美国的仇恨犯罪创2001年以来的最大年度涨幅，上升超过17%。在7175起仇恨犯罪案件中，约60%的犯罪涉种族歧视，近50%的受害者是非洲裔。《纽约时报》网站9月20日报道，白人退伍军人詹姆斯·哈里斯·杰克逊因憎恨跨种族婚恋，策划杀死几名与白人妇女在一起的非洲裔男子。作为预先演练，他于2017年3月用短剑残忍杀害一名66岁的非洲裔男子。
Racial discrimination-related hate crimes reached a record high. Hate crimes rose in the United States by more than 17 percent in 2017, the biggest annual increase in reported hate crimes since 2001. Around 60 percent of the 7, 175 hate crimes were related to racial discrimination and nearly half of the victims were African Americans, according to a report of the Los Angeles Times on November 13, 2018.
James Harris Jackson, a white Army veteran, planned to murder several black men in the company of white women because of his hatred of interracial dating. As a “practice” for a larger racial terror attack, he cruelly killed a 66-year-old black with a short sword in March 2017, The New York Times reported on September 20, 2018.
反犹太主义酿成惨剧。2018年10月27日，46岁的白人男子罗伯特·鲍尔斯携带步枪、手枪等武器，闯入位于宾夕法尼亚州匹兹堡市的犹太人教堂，高喊反犹太主义极端口号，向正在教堂内礼拜的教徒进行了20分钟的扫射，致11人死亡、6人受伤。这是美国历史上犹太人社区遭受的最为致命的攻击。（注30）美国有线电视新闻网12月12日报道，反犹太人的宣传册在整个匹兹堡市传播，纽约州立大学多个地点还出现了纳粹主题的海报。一名21岁的男子因涉嫌在托莱多市的犹太人教堂密谋杀害礼拜者而被捕。联邦调查局发布的报告显示，2017年反犹太人犯罪增加37%，达938起。（注31）
Anti-Semitism Prevails. Robert Bowers, a 46-year-old white, stormed into the Tree of Life Congregation Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with a rifle and handguns, shouting anti-Semitic slogans. He opened fire on worshipers in a 20-minute attack, killing 11 people and injuring six others. The attack was believed to be the deadliest on the Jewish community in U.S. history (edition.cnn.com, November 27, 2018; www.usatoday.com, October 29, 2018). Anti-Semitic pamphlets were spread throughout Pittsburgh. Nazi-themed posters were found in various locations around the State University of New York. A 21-year-old man was arrested for allegedly plotting to kill worshipers in a Jewish synagogue in Toledo, a CNN report said on December 12. There were 938 hate crimes against Jewish people in 2017, a 37 percent increase in anti-Jewish crimes, according to an FBI report (www.latimes.com, November 13, 2018).
非洲裔经济状况堪忧。美国经济政策研究所网站2018年2月26日发表的评论文章指出，非洲裔家庭财富中位值是白人的十分之一。非洲裔的失业率长期维持在白人的2倍左右，贫困率是白人的2.5倍。（注32）消除无家可归问题联盟网站6月6日报道，非洲裔占美国总人口的13%，占无家可归者总数的比例却超过40%。（注33）
The economic condition of African Americans is worrisome. The Economic Policy Institute reported on its website on February 26, 2018 that the median white family had almost 10 times as much wealth as the median black family. It also pointed out that the black unemployment rate has been roughly twice the white unemployment rate for a long time and African Americans were 2.5 times as likely to be in poverty as whites (www.epi.org, February 26, 2018). African Americans represent 13 percent of the general population, but more than 40 percent of the homeless population is African Americans, the National Alliance to End Homelessness reported (endhomelessness.org, June 6. 2018).
种族歧视导致种族健康差异。《赫芬顿邮报》网站2018年2月5日报道，非洲裔患癌症、中风、心脏病等十大致死疾病的死亡率明显高于白人。有充分的证据表明，由于个体和制度层面的歧视导致了这种健康上的种族差异。美国经济政策研究所网站2月26日报道，非洲裔婴儿死亡率是白人的2.3倍，非洲裔的人均预期寿命比白人低约3.5岁。
Racial discrimination causes health disparities. When looking at the 10 leading causes of death in the United States, including cancer, stroke and heart disease, mortality rates among black Americans were higher than among white Americans. Compelling evidence suggests both individual- and institutional-level discrimination causes this disparity, the Huffington Post reported on February 5, 2018. The infant mortality rate of black infants was 2.3 times higher than white infants. An African American born today on average, still expect to live about 3.5 fewer years than a white person born on the same day, according a report from the Economic Policy Institute on February 26, 2018.
金融领域种族歧视严重。《洛杉矶时报》网站2018年5月27日报道，联邦消费者金融保护局的数据显示，在所有贷款类型中，非洲裔申请人被拒绝的比例是非拉美裔白人的2倍以上。非洲裔和拉美裔还被收取更高的贷款利率，他们通常要承担比平均利率高出1.5个百分点的年利率。
Serious racial discrimination exists in the financial sector. Black applicants were rejected at more than double the rate of non-Hispanic white applicants on all types of loans, data with the federal Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection showed. Black and Hispanic applicants were charged interest rates more often at least 1.5 percentage points above the “average prime offer rate” for loans of a similar type, Los Angeles Times reported on May 27, 2018.
