讀書筆記：Good Trouble – Lessons from the Civil Rights Playbook
這是一本帶插圖的書，字占了不到一半篇幅。而這裡面的內容，占主要邊幅的不是教條指引，而是小故事和它們引出的道理。
非裔民權運動，對於其他種族其他國家的人，是一個遙遠的故事。畢竟，黑人被當作奴隸的時代太過久遠，他們爭取平權的抗爭已獲得勝利，種族歧視的行為在當今美國已經得不到法律支持。但看到書裡的時間表，我才忽然發現，歷史，離我們並沒有那麼遠。
1954 Brown v. Board of Education. Supreme Court desegregates schools!
1955 Rosa Parks arrested for refusing to give up her seat on bus. Movement begins!
1957 Little Rock Nine. Stoic kids defy racist thugs!
1960 Lunch counter sit-ins. Brave college students shoved and abused.
1961 Freedom Rides. More abuse and heroism, this time on buses.
1963 March on Washington, MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
1963 Church bombing in Birmingham. Four girls die, nation mourns.
1964 LBJ signs Civil Rights Act! (Whites Only signs come down!)
原來，連我都聽過的羅莎·帕克斯在公車上拒絕讓座給白人乘客事件，發生在1955年。聽起來是上個世紀的久遠年代，但細想一下，這是個甚麼概念呢？這是在一個非裔美國人的家庭，老一輩的人可能親身經歷過的年代。試想一下，如果是我的奶奶或者外婆，告訴我她小的時候，我們的種族連在巴士上坐和白人一樣的位置的權利都沒有，這是甚麼樣的感覺？
從種族隔離即正義，到種族歧視會被告上法庭，用了不到一個世紀。非裔民權運動，無疑是成功的。
關於羅莎·帕克斯，她在公車上拒絕讓座給白人乘客，顯然是一個經過策劃的事件。她不是一個普通的美國上班族，也不是真的只是累了才占了白人的座。說難聽點，這是個政治秀。
但是羅莎·帕克斯不是第一個在公車上拒絕讓座給白人乘客的人，為什麼只有她成功了？
書裡是這麼說的：
Two other women had the SAME experience on the SAME bus system in the SAME year – eighteen-year-old Mary Louise Smith and fifteen-year-old Claudette Colvin. Both were handcuffed and locked up after refusing to give up their seats to white passengers.
And thirteen years before that, Bayard Rustin was arrested for refusing to budge on a segregated bus in Kentucky.
Colvin – an outspoken, pregnant teenager
Smith – a poor girl from the country whose dad was a drunk
Rustin – a gay former communist
Rosa Parks – a secretary at the NAACP. Dignified, middle class, and respectable.
“They put her out front just because of what she looked like – that’s what the white man did discriminating against us. That don’t seem right. You being pretentious.”
因為羅莎·帕克斯是僱主們的理想員工，是一個端莊、令人敬仰的中產階級。
如果要為民運選標誌性的人物，羅莎·帕克斯當然是一個能引起共鳴的典型。
做想爭取被允許的事，引發被迫害，從而引發廣大群眾的同情，反思現存體制，獲取對變革的支持，這是一個在非裔民權運動中被普遍運用的策略。
一個例子是1960的午餐柜台靜坐 (Lunch counter sit-ins)，也就是黑人學生故意坐在白人的就餐位置。他們被霸凌、圍毆，甚至可能被殺。而他們被霸凌的畫面也成為了那個時代的傑出宣傳畫。
“Joan Trumpauer Mulholland was among a group of students who sat in at the Woolworth lunch counter in downtown Jackson, Mississippi, in May of 1963… Mulholland’s head getting doused with sugar in a picture that became an iconic image of the movement.”
當然，書裡在建議這種冒險的同時也給了兩點建議：
一、要有後援；
二、讚頌媒體。
有目擊證人和媒體的傳播，冒險和犧牲才有意義。
被逮捕、被襲擊，這些常人恐懼的事，利用得當，也將成為最好的宣傳。
書裡提到了馬丁·路德·金1963年的C計畫——C for Confrontation（對抗）。
Beginning with a boycott of downtown stores, the campaign continued with smaller sit-ins and marches. When momentum seemed to wane, Dr.King made the controversial decision to be arrested himself.
在運動陷入僵持時故意被逮捕，然後馬丁·路德·金在獄中寫了著名的信LETTER FROM BIRMINGHAM JAIL. 這封信部分是寫在廁所紙上的，大概也是因為這樣，才吸引了更多人讀，成為了著名的信吧。
比這些行動都更大膽而又更引人爭議的例子，是一個叫CHILDREN’s CRUSADE的運動。這個運動讓小孩（最年輕的年僅六歲）去街上遊行。成百上千的小孩被捕，被關在監獄裡，給官方構成了壓力，讓他們摘下了那些僅白人可入的牌子。
在教科書上我們看到了一個個黑人被迫害的例子，看到他們的遭遇引起了抗爭，引起了同情。但其實，這些例子大多不是偶然，而是經過精心的策劃。也只有精心的策劃，能讓這些本來發生在角落裡的不合理廣為人知。
“People think that we woke up one morning and said we’re going to protest. No. We planned, we studied, we organized. We were preparing ourselves. It’s a discipline.”
提出訴求，被迫害，引發同情和支持，促進變革。馬丁·路德·金領導的非裔民權運動大概遵從這個模式。非暴力是指導原則，是首要戰略，是運動的核心。
有一晚，馬丁·路德·金的房子被炸了。他勸他的支持者放下武器回家，而不是以暴制暴。
Standing in the January chill, Dr. King reassured everyone that he, Coretta, and their baby girl were unhurt. He told everyone to go home and put away their weapons. There would be no retaliation – they would not answer violence with violence.
“This is not our way,” he said.
這不是聖母，而是所有的壓迫，都是壓迫者的犯罪證據，是憤怒、反抗和變革訴求的助燃劑。
“The civil rights movement has no greater friend than its enemy. It is the enemy of civil rights who again and again produces the evidence that we cannot afford to stand still.”
-Rep. Emanuel Celler, chair of House Judiciary Committee
如果爭取權利的人使用了暴力，那就離失敗不遠了。
“Those who want to continue the worst policies of the past WANT you to be violent. We give them a gift when we engage in violence. Then all anyone pays attention to is THAT and NOT our underlying message. Dr. King understood that. That’s why the dude was so powerful.”
然而，即便領導人反對暴力，有時候也難免有害群之馬，甚至可能有敵對方的人混進來，故意搧動暴力，就為了給運動的形象抹黑。所以，並不是搧動許多人參與就可以了，非暴力是脆弱的，它需要紀律和自我監督。
遊行示威，是一個引出權力機構的殘暴和壓迫的有效策略。
“Negroes gained moral authority not because Americans opposed segregation, but because black people were suffering, because churches were bombed and children firehosed.” – Bayard Rustin’s Strategies for Freedom
美國人民見證了壓迫與苦難，於是尋求改變。苦難只是故事的開始，是助燃劑，是燎原的星火。
Our power is in our TOGETHERNESS. It’s in our recognition of our common humanity.
“All life is interrelated. All humanity is involved in a single process, and all men are brothers… When I am commanded to love, I am commanded to restore community, to resist injustice, and to meet the needs of my brothers.” – Dr. King
書中還有很多有用的建議和例子，這裡就不一一引用了。這裡在複製粘貼一下書裡的建議：
- Put your body in it.
- Get comfortable with disruption.
- Understand the value of suffering.
- Focus on oppression, not oppressors.
- Reject violence.
- Get organized.
- Bring joy.
- Stop waiting for leaders.
- Summon soul force.
我覺得，即使是現代的美國，那些平權運動的領袖們，或許也忘了上個世紀的成功經驗，更遑論在地球另一邊的對民運諱莫如深的國家。
但即便如此，有實際行動的人，也比只會把憤怒宣洩於社交媒體之上的人更令人尊敬。
