亲爱的妈妈、爸爸、长辈们 (Canadian Version — Simplified Chinese Translation)

这是为声援美国和加拿大黑人社群所发起的“黑人的命也是命”维权运动而集体创编并翻译成多种语言的中文简体译版公开信。这封信的原文，相关网链和多种语言译文是由上百名义工合作完成的。义工们希望借此跟他们尊重的长辈们恳谈一件非常重要的议题。

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亲爱的妈妈、爸爸、长辈们：

我有事想跟您谈。黑人在很多重要的方面是我生活的一部分 — 他们是我的朋友、同学、伙伴、和家人。而今天，我为他们担忧害怕。

2016年7月，一名黑人叫Alton Sterling在街上售卖光碟时惨遭警察击毙。仅一天后，警察击毙另外一名黑人叫Philando Castile. 因为坏的车尾灯, 他被警察阻拦下来检查。当时他的女友和4岁女儿都在车里.

在2016年，美国警察已经杀死了五百多人。这其中有25%是黑人，尽管黑人只占美国总人口的13%。在加拿大，黑人也被当作负面样板，受到警察的暴力对待和冲击的目标，过高比例地被送去监狱。加拿大警察最近索取以下黑人的生命 Andrew Loku, Jermaine Carby, Abdi Hirsi, 和Jean-Pierre Bony等其他。不可思议的是，这些开枪杀人的警员却没有一个受到应有的处分。

这些都是我身边的很多黑人朋友天天要面对的现实；实在是太可怕了。

虽然我们听到黑人所面临的危机，我们的直觉反应往往觉得我们与他们是不同的。我们对他们的处境视而不见，缺乏同情。在媒体报道和晚餐桌上，我们听到太多有关黑人的负面新闻，所以当黑人被警察枪杀，理所当然地认为是他们咎由自取。

我有些看法想跟你分享。我觉得你会有和我相似的看法。

身为亚裔，我们在这个国家也经常遭受歧视。有时他人负面评价我们因为我们的不同口音，或者以“亚洲人不是做领导的料”为由阻碍我们升职；我们当中有些人，还会被骂为“恐怖分子”。很多长辈不能做自己专业的工作, 因为被认为他们在自己国家教育的程度还不够。我们当中有些人在贫困中挣扎。有些人被断定为恐怖分子，从而觉得不受欢迎.

但是，警察不会在相同程度上因为我们的存在而经常抢杀我们的孩子和父母，但是他们却这么对待黑人和土著。雇主，房东和机构对待我们也好过黑人和土著。

为什么黑人朋友会经历不同。大家都知道，欧洲统治美洲大陆时，从印地安土著手中强占土地，获取资源许多黑人从非洲被贩卖到这里作奴隶。几百年来，奴隶主和当权者为了一己之利,不断剥削压榨黑人的社区、家庭和人身权益。奴隶制度废除后，他们仍然被看作低人一等，仅仅得到远远不够的社会支援去重建生活和家庭。至今，他们在投票和拥屋方面依然面临重重障碍，还持续面临暴力威胁与恐吓。

黑人所主导的维权运动在为黑人争取平等权益的同时，亦为所有在加拿大的少数族裔带来在社会上更平等的待遇。黑人民权运动参与者们在长期的斗争中被殴打、关押、甚至失去生命，才换来了我们亚裔今天享有的权益。同为少数族裔，我们欠他们太多了。我们理应与他们携手合作来抵抗不平等待遇而不该矛头相向. 就像你们许多人，很多黑人通过移民或者难民方式来加拿大为了给他们自己和家人更好生活和安全. 我们的挣扎虽然不一样，但是是相通的.

正因如此，我支持Black Lives Matter “黑人的命也是命”维权运动。在某种程度上, 这代表着如果我听到身边的人, 即使是自己家人，说出或做出贬低黑人人格的话或事，我一定会仗义执言。我带着关爱的心情跟你谈这一切，因为我不想让这件事使我们疏远

希望您和我一起去体会那些因为警方的暴力执法而痛失亲人的父母、兄弟姐妹、伴侣及子女的愤怒和悲痛。希望您体会我的愤怒与悲哀，并且支持我去发言，去抗议。我请求您把这封信分享给您的朋友，并鼓励他们设身处地地去体会、去发言。我知道要大声讲出来是需要很大的勇气。不管怎样, 当同伴的生命每天都处于危险的时候，我们不能违背自己的良心保持沉默，特别是被这个应该保护我们的制度。

您长途跋涉来到这个对你并不总是友善的国家，努力工作，努力生活，作为您的孩子，我感到骄傲和万分感激。您从来就不希望我经历与您同样的苦难与挣扎。相反，您忍受了一个有歧视的加拿大给我一个更好的生活.

我们生活在同一个地方，唯一能让我们感到安心的前提是我们的亲友、邻舍也能拥有相同的安全感。我们在寻找一个所有在加拿大的人都不会恐惧警察暴力和种族歧视的地方. 这是我向往的未来，希望你的期待与我一样.

满带着爱和希望,

您的孩子

This is the simplified Chinese version of the open ​letters​ created by Letters for Black Lives, an ongoing project for people in ​the US and Canada​ to create and translate resources on anti-Blackness for their communities in solidarity with #BlackLivesMatter ​and other movements for Black liberation​. The letters were written and translated collaboratively by hundreds of people who want to have honest and respectful conversations with their ​families and communities​ about an issue important to them.

Mom, Dad, Uncle, Auntie, Grandfather, Grandmother:

There’s something I’ve wanted to talk with you about. Black people are a part of my life in important ways: they are my friends, my classmates, my partners, and my family. Today, I’m scared for them.

Last week in the United States, police killed a Black man named Alton Sterling while he was selling CDs in front of a store. The next day, police killed another Black man, Philando Castile, after being pulled over for a broken tail light while his girlfriend and four-year-old daughter were in the car.

This year, of the more than 500 people already killed by U.S. police, 25% were Black, even though Black people make up 13% of the population. In Canada, Black people are also negatively stereotyped, targeted and treated violently by the police, and overrepresented in prisons. Canadian police recently claimed the lives of Andrew Loku, Jermaine Carby, Abdi Hirsi and Jean-Pierre Bony, among many others — all Black people. Overwhelmingly, police do not face any consequences for ending these lives.

This is a terrifying reality that many of my Black friends live with every day.

Even as we hear about the dangers that Black people face, our instinct is sometimes to point at the ways we’re different from them. We shield ourselves from their reality instead of empathizing. We hear so many negative stereotypes about Black people in the news, media, and at our own dinner tables, so when a police officer shoots a Black person, we think it’s the victim’s fault.

I want to share with you how I’ve come to see things. I think you might see things similarly.

We face discrimination for being Asian in this country. Sometimes people judge us negatively because of our different accents, or deny us opportunities because they don’t think of us as “leadership material.” Many of our elders have not been able to practice their chosen professions because their education from home was seen as inadequate. Some of us struggle with poverty. Some of us are told we’re terrorists, and made to feel unwelcome.

But the police don’t regularly gun down our children and parents for simply existing to the same extent that they do with Black and Indigenous peoples. Employers, landlords and institutions also often treat us better than Black and Indigenous peoples.

There are reasons why our Black friends experience things differently. As you may already know, Europeans colonized this continent, stole land and resources from Indigenous peoples, and forcibly brought Black people from Africa as slaves. For centuries, their descendants, communities, families, and bodies were ripped apart for profit. Even after slavery, they continued to be treated as less than human and were given very little support to rebuild their lives. Black people fought for the right to vote or own homes, and faced constant threats of violence, which continue to this day.

In fighting for their own rights, Black activists have led the movement for equality not just for themselves, but for us as well. They have been beaten, jailed, and even killed, fighting for many of the rights that Asians in Canada enjoy today. We owe them so much in return. We are all fighting against the same unfair system that prefers we compete against each other. Many Black people come to Canada as immigrants or refugees looking for a better life and safety for themselves and their families, just like many of you have. Our struggles, while not all the same, are interconnected.

For all of these reasons, I support Black Lives Matter and other movements for Black liberation. Part of that means speaking up when I see people in my community — or my own family — say or do things that diminish the humanity of Black people. I am telling you out of love, because I don’t want this issue to divide us.

I hope you join me in empathizing with the anger and grief of the parents, siblings, partners and children who have lost their loved ones to police violence. I hope you empathize with my anger and grief, and support me if I choose to be vocal or protest. I ask that you share this letter with your friends, and encourage them to be empathetic and vocal too. I know that it can feel scary to speak up. However, we cannot in good conscience stay silent while fellow human lives are endangered every day, especially by the very system that supposedly protects us.

As your child, I am proud and eternally grateful for your long, hard journey and that you’ve worked hard and lived in a place that has not always been kind to you. You’ve never wished your struggles upon me. Instead, you’ve suffered through a prejudiced Canada to give me a better life than the one you had.

We are all in this together, and we cannot feel safe until ALL of our friends, loved ones, and neighbours are safe. We seek a place where everyone in Canada can live without fear of police violence, racism and discrimination. This is the future that I want — I hope you do too.

With love and hope,

Your children