他人を尊敬出来ないなら出ていけ　米空軍士官学校の校長

今日はすごく素敵な動画を見つけたのでご紹介したいと思います。

日本語訳がついているので先ずは見てください。

背景

2017年9月末、米コロラド州にある米空軍士官学校予備校で、黒人学生の寮のメッセージボードに人種差別的な罵倒が書かれているのが見つかりました。

この出来事を受け、士官学校の校長ジェイ・シルベリア中将が全校生徒と教職員を集め、厳しい口調で “尊厳と敬意をもって互いを扱えないなら出ていけ” と訴えました。

彼のスピーチは大きな反響を呼び、SNSやニュースサイトで拡散されました。

背景とその後の調査

当初は黒人学生が標的になった人種差別事件と報じられましたが、士官学校が調査を行った結果、書き込みを行ったのは被害を訴えた学生の一人だったことが判明しました。

この学生は責任を認め、学校を去りました。

シルベリア中将は調査結果がどうであれ「侮辱的な言葉は許されない」と述べ、人権と多様性を尊重する文化の必要性を改めて強調しました

校長のスピーチのポイント

シルベリア中将は5,500人の学生や教職員に向かって次のように訴えました。

終始に渡り凄い強い口調で話をされていたシルベリア中将です。

スピーチの影響と今日の意義

シルベリア中将の言葉はニュースやSNSで拡散され、視聴回数は100万回を超えました。

後に事件が被害を訴えた学生による自作自演だったと判明しても、彼のメッセージは高く評価され、差別や偏見に立ち向かう象徴的なスピーチとして語り継がれています。

米空軍士官学校は事件後も「尊厳と敬意の文化を築く」という方針を掲げ、持続的な取り組みを続けています。

ジェンダー・多様性への配慮

記事の中では、校長の言葉が「男性も女性も尊重せよ」と述べるに留まっている点に対し、ジェンダー・ニュートラルな表現が十分ではないと感じたと述べています。

実際のスピーチでは「多様な背景、性別、人種が私たちの強みだ」とも強調されており、翻訳では「男性や女性に限らず、すべての性別」と補うことで包括性を高められます。

校長の言葉 (英語全文)

校長の言葉を全文書き出してみました。

Ladies and Gentlemen

You may have heard that some people on the prep school wrote some racial slurs on some message boards. If you haven’t heard that, I wanted you to hear it from me.

If you are outraged by those words, then you are in the right place.

That kind of behaviour has no place at the prep school. It has no place at USAFA. And it has no place in the United States Air Force.

You should be outraged not only as an airman but as a human being. And I’ll tell you that the appropriate response for horrible language and horrible ideas, the appropriate response is a better idea. So that’s why I’m here. That’s why all these people are up here on the staff tower so let me have everybody who’s up here, please pull forward to the rails. Also, there are so many people here (that) they’re lining the outsides along the windows. These are members of the faculty, coaching staff, AOCs, AMTs, from the airfield, from my staff, from my headquarters, all aspects of the 10th Air Base Wing, all aspects that make up USAFA and the United States Air Force Academy.

Leadership is here. You heard from Brigadier General Goodwin. Brigadier General Armacost is here. Colonel Block from the Athletic Department is here. Mr. Knowlton is in Washington DC right now. That’s why they are here. That’s why we’re all here because we have a better idea.

Some of you may think that that happened down in the prep school and doesn’t apply to us. I would be naive and we would all be naive to think that everything is perfect here. We would be naive to think that we shouldn’t discuss this topic.

We would also be tone-deaf not to think about the backdrop of what’s going on in our country. Things like Charlottesville, and Ferguson, the protest in the NFL. That’s why we have a better idea.

One of those ideas, the Dean brought people together to discuss Charlottesville because what we should have is a civil discourse and talk about these issues. That’s a better idea.

We received outstanding feedback from that session at Charlottesville. But I also have a better idea. And it’s about our diversity. And it’s the power of diversity. The power of the four-thousand of you and all of the people that are on the staff tower and lining the glass. The power of us as a diverse group. The power that we come from all walks of life, that we come from all parts of this country, that we come from all races, (that) we come from all backgrounds, gender, all makeup, all upbringing, the power of that diversity comes together and makes us that much more powerful. That’s a much better idea than small thinking and horrible ideas.

We have an opportunity here. 5,500 people in this room to think about what we are as an institution. This is our institution and no one can take away our values. No one can write on a board and question our values. No one can take that away from us. So just in case you are unclear on where I stand on this topic, I’m gonna leave you with my most important thought today.

If you can’t treat someone with dignity and respect, then you need to get out.
If you can’t treat someone from another gender whether that’s a man or woman with dignity and respect, then you need to get out.
If you demean someone in any way, then you need to get out.
And if you can’t treat someone from another race or a different colour skin with dignity and respect, then you need to get out.

Reach for your phones. I’m serious. Reach for your phones.
Okay, you don’t need to reach for your phones so I’m gonna give you an opportunity to reach for your phones.
Grab your phones. I want you to videotape this so that you have it. So that you can use it. So that we all have the moral courage together, all of us on the staff tower lining the glass, all of us in this room.

This is our institution and if you need it and you need my words then you keep these words. And you use them and you remember them, and you share them, and you talk about them.

If you can’t treat someone with dignity and respect, then get out.

さいごに

差別的な言葉や行為が許されないのは、士官学校だけでなく社会全体に共通する価値観です。

シルベリア中将が語った「尊厳と敬意を持って他者に接し、そうでない者は出ていけ」という力強いメッセージは、私たち一人ひとりが日常で意識すべき指針として受け止めたいものです。

事件の真相はどうあれ、互いを尊重し合う文化を築くための道義的な勇気を持ち続けることが、今もなお求められています。

「道義的な勇気が持てるように」

勇気でなく、当たり前のモラルをみんなが共有しているそんな社会はユートピアなんですかね。。。

ふとそう思ってしまいました。