“一个巨大盲点”：纽约亚裔为何感觉被忽视

NEW YORK — When Mayor Bill de Blasio proposed earlier this month to change the way students are admitted to the city’s most elite public high schools, he was surrounded by dozens of enthusiastic students, union leaders and elected officials, amid signs proclaiming “All Kids Deserve a Chance.”

纽约——本月早些时候，当市长白思豪(Bill de Blasio)提出改变该市顶尖公立高中的入学方式时，他身边围绕着数十名热情的学生、工会领袖和民选官员，以及“所有孩子机会均等”的标语。

Noticeably absent were representatives from one group that would be heavily affected by the change: Asian-Americans, whose children dominate those schools.

引人注目的是，一个深受该变化影响的群体却没有代表在场——亚裔美国人，他们的子女在这些学校占据多数。

“This cliché of, ‘If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu’ really felt like it rang true,” said U.S. Rep. Grace Meng, D-Queens and graduate of one of the schools, Stuyvesant High School, who was not invited to the event. “I don’t think with any other community if there was such a large impact or sweeping change, they would not have been consulted or brought into the discussions.”

“‘不是坐在餐桌边，就是在菜单上’这种陈词滥调听上去还真是那么回事，”来自皇后区的国会众议员孟昭文说。她毕业于其中一所知名学校史岱文森高中(Stuyvesant High School)，那次活动没有邀请她参加。“我想在其他社区，若是有如此大的影响或者这么大的变化，他们不会不被征求意见或者获邀参与讨论的。”

Asian-American community leaders say that in New York, far from being the “model minority” — a term many view as disparaging and inaccurate — they are the overlooked minority, taken for granted in the city’s calculus of political power.

亚裔美国人社区的领袖们表示，在纽约，他们完全不是“模范少数族裔”——许多人认为这个词是一种贬损，而且也不准确——他们是被忽视的少数族裔，在纽约城的政治算计中不被当回事。

It does not seem to matter, Asian-American officeholders and activists say, that all five Asian-American elected officials at the city, state and federal levels are Democrats, like de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Nor does it matter that Asian-Americans of all backgrounds, including East and South Asians, now make up almost 15 percent of the city’s population, with the total number up by more than half since 2000. Or that the number of Chinese and Korean registered voters has doubled over the same period, according to the Center for Urban Research at the CUNY Graduate Center.

亚裔公职人员和活动人士称，在纽约市、州和联邦层面的全部五位亚裔当选官员跟白思豪和州长安德鲁·科莫(Andrew Cuomo)一样都是民主党人这一点，似乎于事无补。不同背景的亚裔美国人，包括东亚和南亚人，现在占纽约人口的15%，自2000年以来，这个数字增加了一半，也没关系。同样没关系的是，纽约市立大学研究生中心(CUNY Graduate Center)的城市研究中心(Center for Urban Research)有数据显示，华裔和韩裔的注册选民数量同期翻了一番。

“It’s not just one thing, and it’s not just one time,” said Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou, a Democrat who represents Chinatown and lower Manhattan. “It shows a huge blind spot for Asian-American communities as a whole.”

“不止一件事，也不止这一次，”代表唐人街和下曼哈顿的民主党州众议员牛毓琳说。“显示出整个亚裔美国社区的一个巨大盲点。”

But it was de Blasio’s proposal to tackle the vexing issue of segregation at the specialized high schools that galvanized Asian reaction. The eight schools, which have a single test for admissions, have a disproportionate number of Asian students, and few black and Latino ones.

但白思豪提出的解决特殊高中种族不均这一棘手问题的建议，激起了亚裔的强烈反应。八所学校只有一个入学考试，学生中的亚裔人数比例格外之高，非裔和西语裔学生则太少。

De Blasio has proposed throwing out the test and instead admitting students based on their class rank and state test scores, which would increase the numbers of black and Latino students significantly. Because the number of seats at the school are limited, that would necessarily mean fewer Asian students would get in. Changing the admissions method would require an act of the Legislature for the three long-established specialized schools, and perhaps for all of them.

白思豪建议取消考试，根据他们的班级和州考试成绩录取学生，这将带来非裔和西语裔学生数量的显著增加。由于学校的名额有限，这必然意味着减少亚裔学生入学。改变招生方法需要立法机关通过跟三所历史悠久的专业学校有、或许是对所有此类学校关的法案。

But in announcing the plan de Blasio did not mention the schools’ importance to Asian-Americans. Despite stereotypes about their success, Asian-Americans are the poorest immigrant group in the city, noted Joseph P. Viteritti, a professor of public policy at Hunter College, and many view the schools as a ladder to the middle class, and the test as the fairest way to determine admission.

但白思豪在宣布该计划时，并没有提及这些学校对亚裔美国人的重要性。亨特学院(Hunter College)公共政策教授约瑟夫·P. 维特里蒂(Joseph P. Viteritti)指出，尽管人们对亚裔美国人的成功存在刻板印象，但亚裔美国人是该市最贫穷的移民群体。许多人把这些学校视为通往中产阶级的阶梯，而该考试是最公平的入学方式。

A report released Thursday by the Asian-American Federation, a network of community service groups, found that 9 in 10 Asian households in poverty lack affordable housing, and one-quarter of those eligible to work did not have health insurance.

社区服务团体网络亚美联盟(Asian-American Federation)周四发布的一份报告显示，10个亚洲贫困家庭中有9个缺乏廉价住房，有四分之一有工作能力的人没有医疗保险。

Richard A. Carranza, the schools chancellor, intensified matters when he said in a television interview, “I just don’t buy into the narrative that any one ethnic group owns admissions to these schools.”

纽约校监理查德·A·卡兰萨(Richard A. Carranza)在接受电视采访时表示，“我只是不能接受学校入学资格由某一个族裔群体所有这种说法。”

John C. Liu, a former councilman and city comptroller whose mayoral ambitions were derailed by financial improprieties, called Carranza’s remarks “the most offensive and irritating comments that Asian-Americans have heard in quite some time.”

刘淳逸(John C. Liu)是前市议员和纽约市主计长，其竞选市长的雄心因财务不当行为而受到阻挠，他称卡兰萨的言论是“很长一段时间以来亚裔美国人听到的最令人反感和愤怒的言论”。

Liu, along with Chin is a graduate of the Bronx High School of Science, another of the elite high schools.

刘淳逸毕业于另一所精英学校布朗克斯科学高中(Bronx High School of Science)。

Carranza, asked whether he could have displayed more empathy to Asian-American families deeply invested in the current system, did not back off his comments.

被问道现在是不是觉得，自己应该对在当前体制中做了大量投入的亚裔美国家庭表现出更多同理心时，卡兰萨没有收回自己的说法。

“If you choose to be offended as an Asian resident of New York City, that’s a choice you make,” he said. “If you choose to not be offended, that’s a choice you make. But the statement is true: No one owns it. The City of New York, taxpayers, own the public school system of New York City.”

“作为纽约市的亚裔居民，如果你选择感觉受了冒犯，那是你的选择，”他说。“如果你选择不觉得受了冒犯，那也是你的选择。但我的话是真的：它不归谁拥有。纽约市的公立学校系统是由纽约市与纳税人所有的。”

Asked about the criticisms, Eric Phillips, de Blasio’s press secretary, seemed more conciliatory: “When leaders in a community tell us we need to do more to engage them, we take it as a serious sign we have to do more, and do better,” he said in a statement. “While we aren’t going to shy away from doing what we believe is right, every community has a right to be heard and engaged — and it’s our job to make sure this community is a part in that process.”

被问及那些批评时，白思豪的新闻秘书埃里克·菲利普斯(Eric Phillips)的态度似乎更为缓和：“当一个社区的领导者告诉我们，我们需要更多与他们接触时，我们认为这是一个严重的迹象，表明我们必须做得更多，做得更好，“他在一份声明中说。“虽然我们不会回避我们认为正确的事情，但每个社区都有权得到倾听和参与其中——我们的工作就是确保这个社区参与到这一过程中去。”

A central question in the debate is where Asians fall in the worldview of the city’s political establishment. Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, had initially backed de Blasio’s proposal. But after facing a backlash from Asian community leaders, and the prospect that some donors would cancel future fundraisers, Adams moderated his position and expressed reservations.

辩论中的一个核心问题是，亚裔在这个城市政治体系的世界观中处于何种地位。布鲁克林区区长埃里克·亚当斯(Eric Adams)最初支持白思豪的提议。但在面对来自亚裔社区领导人的强烈反对，以及一些捐助者将取消未来筹款活动后，亚当斯调整了自己的立场，表达了保留意见。

“Some progressives seem to be pushing the narrative that Asians are not minorities, immigrants and people of color,” said Assemblyman Ron Kim, D-Queens. And that is “even worse when done in the name of reform and social justice,” he added, and may drive some Asian-Americans to embrace more conservative and Republican candidates.

“一些进步人士似乎在推动亚裔不是少数族裔、移民和有色人种的叙事，”皇后区州议员金兑锡(Ron Kim)表示。他还说，这种事“在改革和社会正义的名义之下进行，因此就更糟糕，”并可能会令一些亚裔美国人更接受保守派和共和党候选人。

De Blasio’s proposal coincided with new revelations that Harvard University had used intangible measures like personality traits to lower Asian applicants’ ratings, in an effort to limit their numbers at the college.

在白思豪提出这个提议的同时，哈佛大学的做法正遭到最新的曝光，该校使用性格特征等无形尺度来降低亚裔申请人入学率，以限制他们在大学的数量。

Lost in the rhetoric, Kim and other elected leaders said, is the fact that Asian-Americans are hardly monolithic on issues of race and education, as evidenced by their wide range of opinions over affirmative action.

金兑锡和其他民选领导人说，虽然有种种令人迷惑的言论，但亚裔美国人在种族和教育方面并不是铁板一块，他们对平权行动的各种不同意见可以证明这一点。

Jo-Ann Yoo, executive director of the Asian American Federation, said, “As much as we understand and applaud the mayor’s efforts to diversify the specialized high schools, there is tremendous anger among parents around the lack of engagement prior to the announcement.”

亚裔美国人联合会执行董事姚久安(Jo-Ann Yoo)表示，“尽管我们理解并赞扬市长为专业化高中的多元化做出的努力，但家长们依然因为提议公布之前未能得到充分参与而感到极大愤慨。”

In their view, rather than making Asian-Americans part of the solution to the racial imbalance at the specialized schools, de Blasio targeted them as the problem, making the prospect of selling them on the change that much more difficult.

在他们看来，白思豪不是让亚裔美国人参与解决专业学校种族不平衡问题，而是在解决该问题时刻意针对他们，这样一来，说服他们接受这一变革就变得更加困难。

“He ran for office, in part, by saying he would open the pathways for political engagement and community engagement” in a way that former Mayor Michael Bloomberg did not, said Basil A. Smikle Jr., a former executive director of the New York state Democratic Party. “But sometimes the process is just as important as the outcome, and the process unfortunately tarnished the potential outcome of this policy.”

前纽约州民主党执行主任史米克(Basil A. Smikle Jr.)表示，“他竞选市长时说，他可以打开政治参与和社区参与的途径，”——以一种前任市长迈克尔·布隆伯格(Michael Bloomberg)未能做到的方式——“但有时候，过程和结果同样重要，不幸的是，这一次的过程玷污了这项政策的潜在成果。”