Civil Rights Address -- John Fitzgerald Kennedy

delivered 11 June 1963, White House, Washington, D.C.

1963 年 6 月 11 日在华盛顿特区白宫交付

[AUTHENTICITY CERTIFIED: Text version below transcribed directly from audio.]

[真实性认证：以下文本版本直接从音频转录。]

T his afternoon, following a series of threats and defiant statements, the presence of Alabama National Guardsmen was required on the University of Alabama to carry out the final and unequivocal order of the United States District Court of the Northern District of Alabama.

今天下午，在一系列威胁和挑衅性言论之后，阿拉巴马州国民警卫队被要求出现在阿拉巴马大学，以执行阿拉巴马州北区美国地方法院的最终明确命令。

That order called for the admission of two clearly qualified young Alabama residents who happened to have been born Negro.

该命令要求接纳两名明确合格的阿拉巴马州年轻居民，他们恰好是黑人出生的。

That they were admitted peacefully on the campus is due in good measure to the conduct of the students of the University of Alabama, who met their responsibilities in a constructive way.

他们能够和平地进入校园，很大程度上要归功于阿拉巴马大学学生的行为，他们以建设性的方式履行了自己的责任。

I hope that every American, regardless of where he lives, will stop and examine his conscience about this and other related incidents.

我希望每个美国人，无论身在何处，都停下来，对这起事件以及其他相关事件进行良心审视。

This Nation was founded by men of many nations and backgrounds.

这个国家是由许多国家和背景的人们创立的。

It was founded on the principle that all men are created equal, and that the rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.

它的基础是人人生而平等，当一个人的权利受到威胁时，每个人的权利都会减少。

Today, we are committed to a worldwide struggle to promote and protect the rights of all who wish to be free.

今天，我们致力于在全世界范围内进行斗争，以促进和保护所有希望获得自由的人的权利。

And when Americans are sent to Vietnam or West Berlin, we do not ask for whites only.

当美国人被派往越南或西柏林时，我们不仅仅要求白人。

It ought to be possible, therefore, for American students of any color to attend any public institution they select without having to be backed up by troops.

因此，任何肤色的美国学生都应该可以就读他们选择的任何公共机构，而无需军队的支持。

It ought to to be possible for American consumers of any color to receive equal service in places of public accommodation, such as hotels and restaurants and theaters and retail stores, without being forced to resort to demonstrations in the street, and it ought to be possible for American citizens of any color to register and to vote in a free election without interference or fear of reprisal.

任何肤色的美国消费者都应该能够在酒店、餐馆、剧院和零售店等公共场所获得平等的服务，而不必被迫诉诸街头示威，任何肤色的美国公民都应该能够在自由选举中登记和投票，而不必担心遭到报复。

It ought to to be possible, in short, for every American to enjoy the privileges of being American without regard to his race or his color.

简而言之，每个美国人都应该有可能享受作为美国人的特权，无论他的种族或肤色如何。

In short, every American ought to have the right to be treated as he would wish to be treated, as one would wish his children to be treated.

简而言之，每个美国人都应该有权得到他希望得到的待遇，就像一个人希望他的孩子受到待遇一样。

But this is not the case.

但事实并非如此。

The Negro baby born in America today, regardless of the section of the State in which he is born, has about one-half as much chance of completing a high school as a white baby born in the same place on the same day, one-third as much chance of completing college, one-third as much chance of becoming a professional man, twice as much chance of becoming unemployed, about one-seventh as much chance of earning $10,000 a year, a life expectancy which is 7 years shorter, and the prospects of earning only half as much.

今天在美国出生的黑人婴儿，无论出生在该州的哪个地区，完成高中学业的机会大约是同一天出生在同一地点的白人婴儿的二分之一，完成大学学业的机会是白人婴儿的三分之一，成为职业人士的机会是白人婴儿的三分之一，失业的机会是白人婴儿的两倍，年收入 10,000 美元的机会大约是白人婴儿的七分之一，预期寿命要短 7 年，而未来的就业前景是白人婴儿。收入只有一半。

This is not a sectional issue.

这不是一个部门问题。

Difficulties over segregation and discrimination exist in every city, in every State of the Union, producing in many cities a rising tide of discontent that threatens the public safety.

每个城市、每个州都存在种族隔离和歧视问题，许多城市的不满情绪不断高涨，威胁到公共安全。

Nor is this a partisan issue.

这也不是党派问题。

In a time of domestic crisis men of good will and generosity should be able to unite regardless of party or politics.

在国内危机时期，无论党派或政治立场如何，善意和慷慨的人们都应该能够团结起来。

This is not even a legal or legislative issue alone.

这甚至不仅仅是一个法律或立法问题。

It is better to settle these matters in the courts than on the streets, and new laws are needed at every level, but law alone cannot make men see right.

在法庭上解决这些问题比在街头解决要好，各个层面都需要新的法律，但单靠法律并不能让人们看到正义。

We are confronted primarily with a moral issue.

我们面临的主要是道德问题。

It is as old as the Scriptures and is as clear as the American Constitution.

它与圣经一样古老，与美国宪法一样清晰。

The heart of the question is whether all Americans are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities, whether we are going to treat our fellow Americans as we want to be treated.

问题的核心是，是否所有美国人都享有平等的权利和平等的机会，我们是否会按照自己希望的方式对待我们的美国同胞。

If an American, because his skin is dark, cannot eat lunch in a restaurant open to the public, if he cannot send his children to the best public school available, if he cannot vote for the public officials who will represent him, if, in short, he cannot enjoy the full and free life which all of us want, then who among us would be content to have the color of his skin changed and stand in his place?

如果一个美国人因为肤色黑而不能在向公众开放的餐厅吃午餐，如果他不能送孩子去最好的公立学校，如果他不能投票选出代表他的公职人员，如果简而言之，如果他不能享受我们所有人都想要的充实而自由的生活，那么我们当中谁会满足于改变他的肤色并站在他的位置呢？

Who among us would then be content with the counsels of patience and delay?

那么我们当中谁会满足于耐心和拖延的劝告呢？

One hundred years of delay have passed since President Lincoln freed the slaves, yet their heirs, their grandsons, are not fully free.

自从林肯总统解放奴隶以来，已经过去了一百年了，但他们的继承人、他们的孙子还没有完全自由。

They are not yet freed from the bonds of injustice.

他们还没有摆脱不公正的束缚。

They are not yet freed from social and economic oppression.

他们尚未摆脱社会和经济压迫。

And this Nation, for all its hopes and all its boasts, will not be fully free until all its citizens are free.

尽管这个国家充满希望和夸耀，但在其所有公民获得自由之前，它不会完全自由。

We preach freedom around the world, and we mean it, and we cherish our freedom here at home, but are we to say to the world, and much more importantly, to each other that this is the land of the free except for the Negroes; that we have no second-class citizens except Negroes; that we have no class or caste system, no ghettoes, no master race except with respect to Negroes?

我们在世界各地宣扬自由，我们是认真的，我们珍惜我们在国内的自由，但我们是否要向世界，更重要的是向彼此说，这是除黑人之外的自由之地？除了黑人之外，我们没有二等公民；我们没有阶级或种姓制度，没有贫民窟，除了黑人之外没有优等种族？

Now the time has come for this Nation to fulfill its promise.

现在是这个国家兑现其承诺的时候了。

The events in Birmingham and elsewhere have so increased the cries for equality that no city or State or legislative body can prudently choose to ignore them.

伯明翰和其他地方发生的事件激起了人们对平等的呼声，以至于任何城市、州或立法机构都不能谨慎地选择忽视它们。

The fires of frustration and discord are burning in every city, North and South, where legal remedies are not at hand.

无论是北方还是南方的每个城市，沮丧和不和的火焰都在燃烧，而法律补救措施却遥遥无期。

Redress is sought in the streets, in demonstrations, parades, and protests which create tensions and threaten violence and threaten lives.

人们在街头、示威、游行和抗议中寻求补救，这些活动造成了紧张局势、暴力威胁和生命威胁。

We face, therefore, a moral crisis as a country and a people.

因此，我们作为一个国家和一个民族面临着道德危机。

It cannot be met by repressive police action.

警察的镇压行动无法解决这一问题。

It cannot be left to increased demonstrations in the streets.

不能让街头示威活动不断增加。

It cannot be quieted by token moves or talk.

它不能通过象征性的举动或谈话来安静下来。

It is a time to act in the Congress, in your State and local legislative body and, above all, in all of our daily lives.

现在是在国会、州和地方立法机构，尤其是在我们日常生活中采取行动的时候了。

It is not enough to pin the blame on others, to say this a problem of one section of the country or another, or deplore the facts that we face.

将责任归咎于他人、说这是国家某个地区或另一个地区的问题、或者对我们面临的事实感到遗憾是不够的。

A great change is at hand, and our task, our obligation, is to make that revolution, that change, peaceful and constructive for all.

一场伟大的变革即将到来，我们的任务、我们的义务就是让这场革命、这场变革对所有人来说是和平的、建设性的。

Those who do nothing are inviting shame, as well as violence.

那些无所作为的人会招致耻辱和暴力。

Those who act boldly are recognizing right, as well as reality.

那些大胆行动的人既认识到了正确，也认识到了现实。

Next week I shall ask the Congress of the United States to act, to make a commitment it has not fully made in this century to the proposition that race has no place in American life or law.

下周，我将要求美国国会采取行动，做出本世纪尚未完全做出的承诺，即种族在美国生活或法律中没有地位。

The Federal judiciary has upheld that proposition in a series of forthright cases.

联邦司法机构在一系列直率案件中支持了这一主张。

The Executive Branch has adopted that proposition in the conduct of its affairs, including the employment of Federal personnel, the use of Federal facilities, and the sale of federally financed housing.

行政部门在处理其事务时采纳了这一提议，包括雇用联邦人员、使用联邦设施以及出售联邦资助的住房。

But there are other necessary measures which only the Congress can provide, and they must be provided at this session.

但还有其他必要措施只有国会才能提供，而且必须在本届会议上提供。

The old code of equity law under which we live commands for every wrong a remedy, but in too many communities, in too many parts of the country, wrongs are inflicted on Negro citizens and there are no remedies at law.

我们赖以生存的旧衡平法要求对每一个错误都采取补救措施，但在太多的社区、在这个国家太多的地方，黑人公民受到了错误的对待，而且法律上没有补救措施。

Unless the Congress acts, their only remedy is the street.

除非国会采取行动，否则他们唯一的补救办法就是走上街头。

I am, therefore, asking the Congress to enact legislation giving all Americans the right to be served in facilities which are open to the public -- hotels, restaurants, theaters, retail stores, and similar establishments.

因此，我要求国会颁布立法，赋予所有美国人在向公众开放的设施（酒店、餐馆、剧院、零售店和类似场所）中享受服务的权利。

This seems to me to be an elementary right.

在我看来，这是一项基本权利。

Its denial is an arbitrary indignity that no American in 1963 should have to endure, but many do.

否认它是一种任意的侮辱，1963 年的任何美国人都不应该忍受这种侮辱，但许多人却不得不忍受。

I have recently met with scores of business leaders urging them to take voluntary action to end this discrimination, and I have been encouraged by their response, and in the last two weeks over 75 cities have seen progress made in desegregating these kinds of facilities.

我最近会见了许多商界领袖，敦促他们采取自愿行动结束这种歧视，他们的回应令我深受鼓舞，在过去两周内，超过 75 个城市在废除此类设施中的种族隔离方面取得了进展。

But many are unwilling to act alone, and for this reason, nationwide legislation is needed if we are to move this problem from the streets to the courts.

但许多人不愿意单独行动，因此，如果我们要将这个问题从街头转移到法庭，就需要全国范围内的立法。

I'm also asking the Congress to authorize the Federal Government to participate more fully in lawsuits designed to end segregation in public education.

我还要求国会授权联邦政府更充分地参与旨在结束公共教育中种族隔离的诉讼。

We have succeeded in persuading many districts to desegregate voluntarily.

我们已经成功说服许多地区自愿废除种族隔离。

Dozens have admitted Negroes without violence.

数十人在没有暴力的情况下接纳了黑人。

Today, a Negro is attending a State-supported institution in every one of our 50 States, but the pace is very slow.

如今，我们 50 个州中每一个州都有一名黑人在国家支持的机构就读，但步伐非常缓慢。

Too many Negro children entering segregated grade schools at the time of the Supreme Court's decision nine years ago will enter segregated high schools this fall, having suffered a loss which can never be restored.

九年前最高法院作出裁决时，太多进入种族隔离小学的黑人儿童今年秋天将进入种族隔离高中，他们遭受了永远无法挽回的损失。

The lack of an adequate education denies the Negro a chance to get a decent job.

缺乏足够的教育使黑人失去了获得体面工作的机会。

The orderly implementation of the Supreme Court decision, therefore, cannot be left solely to those who may not have the economic resources to carry the legal action or who may be subject to harassment.

因此，最高法院裁决的有序执行不能仅仅留给那些可能没有经济资源采取法律行动或可能受到骚扰的人。

Other features will be also requested, including greater protection for the right to vote.

还需要其他功能，包括对投票权的更大保护。

But legislation, I repeat, cannot solve this problem alone.

但我再说一遍，立法并不能单独解决这个问题。

It must be solved in the homes of every American in every community across our country.

这个问题必须在我们国家每个社区的每个美国人的家里得到解决。

In this respect I wanna pay tribute to those citizens North and South who've been working in their communities to make life better for all.

在这方面，我想向那些一直在社区中努力改善所有人生活的南北公民致敬。

They are acting not out of sense of legal duty but out of a sense of human decency.

他们的行为不是出于法律义务感，而是出于人类尊严感。

Like our soldiers and sailors in all parts of the world they are meeting freedom's challenge on the firing line, and I salute them for their honor and their courage.

就像我们在世界各地的士兵和水手一样，他们正在前线迎接自由的挑战，我向他们的荣誉和勇气致敬。

My fellow Americans, this is a problem which faces us all -- in every city of the North as well as the South.

我的美国同胞们，这是我们所有人——无论是北方还是南方的每个城市——都面临的一个问题。

Today, there are Negroes unemployed, two or three times as many compared to whites, inadequate education, moving into the large cities, unable to find work, young people particularly out of work without hope, denied equal rights, denied the opportunity to eat at a restaurant or a lunch counter or go to a movie theater, denied the right to a decent education, denied almost today the right to attend a State university even though qualified.

今天，黑人失业，人数是白人的两到三倍，教育不足，搬到大城市，找不到工作，年轻人特别是失业而没有希望，被剥夺了平等权利，被剥夺了在餐馆、午餐柜台吃饭或去电影院的机会，被剥夺了接受体面教育的权利，几乎在今天也被剥夺了就读州立大学的权利，尽管他们有资格。

It seems to me that these are matters which concern us all, not merely Presidents or Congressmen or Governors, but every citizen of the United States.

在我看来，这些问题关系到我们所有人，不仅仅是总统、国会议员或州长，而是美国每一位公民。

This is one country.

这是一个国家。

It has become one country because all of us and all the people who came here had an equal chance to develop their talents.

它已成为一个国家，因为我们所有人和所有来到这里的人都有平等的机会发展自己的才能。

We cannot say to ten percent of the population that you can't have that right; that your children cannot have the chance to develop whatever talents they have; that the only way that they are going to get their rights is to go in the street and demonstrate.

我们不能对百分之十的人说你没有这个权利；您的孩子无法有机会发展他们所拥有的任何才能；他们获得权利的唯一途径就是走上街头示威。

I think we owe them and we owe ourselves a better country than that.

我认为我们欠他们，我们欠自己一个比这更好的国家。

Therefore, I'm asking for your help in making it easier for us to move ahead and to provide the kind of equality of treatment which we would want ourselves; to give a chance for every child to be educated to the limit of his talents.

因此，我请求您的帮助，使我们能够更轻松地前进，并提供我们自己希望的平等待遇；为每个孩子提供充分发挥其才能的教育机会。

As I've said before, not every child has an equal talent or an equal ability or equal motivation, but they should have the equal right to develop their talent and their ability and their motivation, to make something of themselves.

正如我之前所说，并不是每个孩子都拥有平等的天赋、平等的能力或平等的动机，但他们应该有平等的权利来发展自己的天赋、能力和动机，成就自己的事业。

We have a right to expect that the Negro community will be responsible, will uphold the law, but they have a right to expect that the law will be fair, that the Constitution will be color blind, as Justice Harlan said at the turn of the century.

正如哈伦大法官在世纪之交所说的那样，我们有权期望黑人社区将负责，将维护法律，但他们也有权期望法律将是公平的，宪法将是色盲的。

This is what we're talking about and this is a matter which concerns this country and what it stands for, and in meeting it I ask the support of all our citizens.

这就是我们正在讨论的问题，这是一个关系到这个国家及其代表的问题，在满足这个问题时，我请求我们所有公民的支持。

Book/CDs by Michael E.

Michael E. 的书籍/CD

Eidenmuller, Published by McGraw-Hill (2008) Audio Source : The Miller Center for Public Affairs -- Scripps Library and Multimedia Archive Audio Note : AI digital audio filtering added Page Updated : 12/19/25 U.S. Copyright Status : Text and Audio = Property of A merican R hetoric.com.

Eidenmuller，由 McGraw-Hill 出版 (2008) 音频来源：米勒公共事务中心 - 斯克里普斯图书馆和多媒体档案馆 音频注释：添加了 AI 数字音频过滤 页面更新日期：25 年 12 月 19 日美国版权状态：文本和音频 = American R hetoric.com 的财产。

� Copyright 2001-Present.

� 版权所有 2001 年至今。

American Rhetoric.

美国修辞学。

HTML transcription by Michael E.

HTML 转录由 Michael E.

Eidenmuller.

艾登米勒。