Some years ago, I was on an airplane with my son
几年前 我和儿子一起坐飞机
who was just five years old at the time.
他当时只有五岁
My son was so excited about being on this airplane with Mommy.
我儿子因能和妈咪一起乘飞机而兴奋不已
He’s looking all around
他四处张望
and he’s checking things out and he’s checking people out.
周围的人和事让他应接不暇
And he sees this man, and he says,
当他看到一位男性时说到
“Hey! That guy looks like Daddy!”
“嘿 那个人看起来像爸爸”
And I look at the man,
我看了看那个人
and he didn’t look anything at all like my husband, nothing at all.
他根本不像我丈夫 完全不像
And so then I start looking around on the plane,
于是我开始在飞机上四处张望
and I notice this man was the only black guy on the plane.
我注意到 他是飞机上唯一的男性黑人
And I thought, “Alright.
我想 ‘’好吧‘’
I’m going to have to have a little talk with my son
我必须得和儿子聊聊
about how not all black people look alike.
并不是所有黑人看起来都一样
My son, he lifts his head up, and he says to me,
我儿子抬起头 对我说
“I hope he doesn’t rob the plane.”
‘’我希望他不要劫机‘’
And I said, “What? What did you say?”
我说 “什么 你说什么呢”
And he says, “Well, I hope that man doesn’t rob the plane.”
他说 “我希望那个男人不要劫机”
And I said, “Well, why would you say that?
我说 “你为什么这么说
You know Daddy wouldn’t rob a plane.”
你知道爸爸是不会劫机的”
And he says, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, well, I know.”
他说 “是的 我知道”
And I said, “Well, why would you say that?”
我说 “那你为什么这么说”
And he looked at me with this really sad face,
他很委屈地看着我
and he says,
他说道
“I don’t know why I said that.
“我也不知道为什么会这么说
I don’t know why I was thinking that.”
我不知道为什么会这么想”
We are living with such severe racial stratification
我们生活在如此严重的种族分化中
that even a five-year-old can tell us what’s supposed to happen next,
连五岁的孩子也能假想接下来会发生什么
even with no evildoer, even with no explicit hatred.
即使没有坏人 即使没有恶意
This association between blackness and crime
黑人和犯罪之间的联系
made its way into the mind of my five-year-old.
刻进了我孩子的思想 哪怕他才五岁
It makes its way into all of our children,
这种思想被灌输进所有孩子的头脑
into all of us.
被灌输进所有人的头脑
Our minds are shaped by the racial disparities we see out in the world
我们的思想被随处可见的种族不平等左右
and the narratives that help us to make sense of the disparities we see:
而这些言论 帮助我们将这种不平等合理化：
“Those people are criminal.”
“那些黑人是罪犯”
“Those people are violent.”
“那些黑人很暴力”
“Those people are to be feared.”
“那些黑人让人害怕”
When my research team brought people into our lab
当我的调研团队将人们带入实验室
and exposed them to faces,
并向他们展现各种面孔
we found that exposure to black faces
我们发现 面对黑色面孔时
led them to see blurry images of guns with greater clarity and speed.
人们能更清晰 更快速地辨别枪支的模糊图像
Bias can not only control what we see,
偏见不仅能影响我们看到什么
but where we look.
还能影响我们看向什么
We found that prompting people to think of violent crime can lead them to
我们发现人们联想到暴力犯罪
direct their eyes onto a black face and away from a white face.
会把视线从白色面孔转移到黑色面孔
Prompting police officers to think of capturing and shooting and arresting
提到抓获 射击和逮捕
leads their eyes to settle on black faces, too.
也会使警察的眼睛选择黑色面孔
Bias can infect every aspect of our criminal justice system.
偏见会影响我们刑事司法系统的各个方面
In a large data set of death-eligible defendants,
从死刑犯的大数据库中
we found that looking more black
我们发现肤色更黑的人
more than doubled their chances of receiving a death sentence –
被判处死刑的机率是其他人的两倍多
at least when their victims were white.
至少当受害者是白人时是这种情况
This effect is significant, even though we controlled for the severity of the crime
即使我们控制了案例的犯罪严重程度
and the defendant’s attractiveness.
和被告的关注度 这种影响也很明显
And no matter what we controlled for,
不管我们控制哪方面的因素
we found that black people
我们发现黑人
were punished in proportion to the blackness of their physical features:
受到惩罚的几率与其肤色黑度成正比：
the more black, the more death-worthy.
肤色越黑 越容易被判死刑
Bias can also influence how teachers discipline students.
偏见也会影响教师对学生的管教方式
My colleagues and I have found that
我和同事们发现
teachers express a desire to discipline a black middle school student
老师们对于同样的反复违纪行为 表现出一种倾向
more harshly than a white student for the same repeated infractions.
就是对黑人中学生比白人学生更严厉
In a recent study,
在最近一项研究中
we’re finding that teachers treat black students as a group
我们发现教师将黑人学生视为一个群体
but white students as individuals.
而视白人学生为独立的个体
If, for example, one black student misbehaves
例如 如果某个黑人学生行为不端
and then a different black student misbehaves a few days later,
然后过几天 又有另一位黑人学生行为不端
the teacher responds to that second black student
老师对第二位黑人学生做出的反应
as if he had misbehaved twice.
就好像他犯了两次错一样
It’s as though the sins of one child get piled onto the other.
好像一个孩子的过错累积在另一个孩子身上
We create categories to make sense of the world to
我们给世间万物分类
assert some control and coherence to the stimuli
以便在这个纷乱的世界理清头绪
that we’re constantly being bombarded with.
能有所掌控 保持秩序
Categorization and the bias that it seeds
分类及其引发的偏见
allow our brains to make judgments more quickly and efficiently,
使我们的大脑更快 更高效地做出判断
and we do this by instinctively relying on patterns that seem predictable.
我们本能地凭借心中的成见来判断
Yet, just as the categories we create
然而 正如我们所划分的类别
allow us to make quick decisions,
使我们快速做出抉择一样
they also reinforce bias.
它们也加剧了偏见
So the very things that help us to see the world
因此 那些帮助我们认知世界的事物
also can blind us to it.
也能使我们变得盲目
They render our choices effortless, friction-free.
它们使我们的选择变得轻松 毫无阻碍
Yet they exact a heavy toll.
而我们恰恰为此付出沉重代价
So what can we do?
我们该怎么办？
We are all vulnerable to bias,
我们都容易受到偏见的伤害
but we don’t act on bias all the time.
但我们并非一直采取行动以消除偏见
There are certain conditions that can bring bias alive
某些情况下 偏见得以滋生
and other conditions that can muffle it.
某些情况下 偏见被掩盖了
Let me give you an example.
我来举个例子
Many people are familiar with the tech company Nextdoor.
大家熟悉的科技公司Nextdoor
So, their whole purpose is to create stronger, healthier, safer neighborhoods.
以创建更强大 更健康 更安全的社区为目的
And so they offer this online space where
因此 他们提供了一个在线空间
neighbors can gather and share information.
邻里们可以在此收集和共享信息
Yet, Nextdoor soon found that
然而 Nextdoor很快发现
they had a problem with racial profiling.
他们面临着“种族脸谱化”的问题
In the typical case,
在一个典型案例中
people would look outside their window and see a black man in their otherwise white neighborhood
在白人社区 人们若看到窗外有一个黑人
and make the snap judgment that he was up to no good,
即使在没有犯罪证据时
even when there was no evidence of criminal wrongdoing.
他们也会草率地判断 他在干坏事
In many ways, how we behave online
在很多方面 我们在网络上的行为
is a reflection of how we behave in the world.
会反映我们在现实世界的行为
But what we don’t want to do is create an easy-to-use system
但我们不想创建一个虽易于操作
that can amplify bias and deepen racial disparities,
但会扩大偏见 加深种族不平等的系统
rather than dismantling them.
而是应该消灭这种偏见和不公
So the cofounder of Nextdoor
因此Nextdoor的联合创始人
reached out to me and to others to try to figure out what to do.
联系了我和其他人想找到解决方法
And they realized that to curb racial profiling on the platform,
他们意识到 要遏制平台上的种族脸谱化
they were going to have to add friction,
他们将不得不增加“摩擦”
that is, they were going to have to slow people down.
也就是说 他们必须让人们放慢节奏
So Nextdoor had a choice to make, and against every impulse,
Nextdoor要做出选择 为阻止人们凭冲动判断
they decided to add friction.
他们决定增加摩擦
And they did this by adding a simple checklist.
他们通过添加一个简单的清单来实现
There were three items on it.
清单上面有三项内容
First, they asked users to pause and think,
首先 他们请用户停下来思考
“What was this person doing that made him suspicious?”
“这个人在做什么 让他显得可疑？”
The category “black man” is not grounds for suspicion.
“黑人”类别不能成为令人怀疑的理由
Second, they asked users to describe the person’s physical features,
其次 他们请用户描述该人的体貌特征
not simply their race and gender.
而不仅仅是他们的种族和性别
Third, they realized
第三 他们意识到
that a lot of people didn’t seem to know what racial profiling was,
很多人似乎不知道什么是种族脸谱化
nor that they were engaging in it.
也没有关注过这个问题
So Nextdoor provided them with a definition
因此 Nextdoor向用户给出了定义
and told them that it was strictly prohibited.
并告诉他们严格禁止种族脸谱化
Most of you have seen those signs in airports and in metro stations,
大家在机场和地铁站都看到过这些标志
“If you see something, say something.”
“发现情况 及时上报”
Nextdoor tried modifying this.
Nextdoor尝试对此进行修正
“If you see something suspicious, say something specific.”
“发现可疑情况 请上报并具体描述”
And using this strategy, by simply slowing people down,
通过这种放缓用户操作的策略
Nextdoor was able to curb racial profiling by 75 percent.
Nextdoor遏制了75％的种族脸谱化问题
Now, people often will say to me,
现在 人们常常对我说
“You can’t add friction in every situation, in every context,
“你不能在所有情况下 在所有环境下都增加摩擦
and especially for people who make split-second decisions all the time.”
尤其是对于那些向来就在瞬间做决定的人”
But it turns out
但事实证明
we can add friction to more situations than we think.
能增加摩擦的情形 超过我们所想
Working with the Oakland Police Department in California,
通过与加利福尼亚州奥克兰警察局的合作
I and a number of my colleagues were able to help the department to
我和我的同事们得以帮助该局
reduce the number of stops they made of people who were not committing any serious crimes.
对未犯下任何严重罪行人员 减少了截停检查数量
And we did this by pushing officers to ask themselves a question
我们敦促警官在每次做截停执法前
before each and every stop they made:
都扪心自问一下：
“Is this stop intelligence-led, yes or no?”
“这个截停是’情报主导’的吗 是或不是？”
In other words,
换句话说
do I have prior information to
我是否先入为主地
tie this particular person to a specific crime?
把特定的人与特定的犯罪联系起来？
By adding that question to the form officers complete during a stop,
通过在警察填写的截停单上增加这个问题
they slow down, they pause, they think,
他们会放缓速度 暂停并思考：
“Why am I considering pulling this person over?”
“为什么我要把这个人拦下来？”
In 2017, before we added that intelligence-led question to the form,
2017年 在我们将情报主导问题添加到表格中之前
officers made about 32,000 stops across the city.
警官们在全市进行了约32000次截停执法
In that next year, with the addition of this question,
第二年 在加上这个问题后
that fell to 19,000 stops.
这个数字下降到19000次
African-American stops alone fell by 43 percent.
仅非裔美国人的截停次数就下降了43％
And stopping fewer black people did not make the city any more dangerous.
减少截停黑人并没有使这座城市更加危险
In fact, the crime rate continued to fall,
实际上 犯罪率持续下降
and the city became safer for everybody.
对每个人来说 这座城市变得更加安全
So one solution can come from reducing the number of unnecessary stops.
因此 减少不必要的截停是解决方法之一
Another can come from improving the quality of the stops officers do make.
另一个方法是提高警官的截停执法质量
And technology can help us here.
这时科技就发挥作用了
We all know about George Floyd’s death,
我们都知道乔治·弗洛伊德的死
because those who tried to come to his aid
因为那些试图来援助他的人
held cell phone cameras to record
拿着手机摄像头记录了
that horrific, fatal encounter with the police.
那场与警察间可怕的 致命的遭遇
But we have all sorts of technology
其实我们有各类技术
that we’re not putting to good use.
但却没没好好利用
Police departments across the country are now required to wear body-worn cameras
现在 全国的警察局都要求佩备穿戴式摄像机
so we have recordings of not only the most extreme and horrific encounters
因此我们不仅记录了最骇人听闻的事件
but of everyday interactions.
还记录了日常的互动情况
With an interdisciplinary team at Stanford,
和斯坦福大学的一个跨学科团队一起
we’ve begun to use machine learning techniques to
我们已经开始使用机器学习技术
analyze large numbers of encounters.
来分析大量的事件
This is to better understand what happens in routine traffic stops.
这是为了更好地了解交通截停执法中会发生什么
What we found was that even when police officers are behaving professionally,
我们发现 即使在警务人员表现得非常专业时
they speak to black drivers less respectfully than white drivers.
与黑人司机对话时 不如对白人司机那么尊重
In fact, from the words officers use alone,
实际上 仅通过警察使用的语言
we could predict whether they were talking to a black driver
我们就能预判 和他们交谈的司机是黑人
or a white driver.
还是白人
The problem is that
可问题是
the vast majority of the footage from these cameras
这些摄像机中绝大部分镜头
is not used by police departments to understand what’s going on on the street
并没有被警察局用来了解街头发生的情况
or to train officers.
或者培训警察
And that’s a shame.
真令人遗憾
How does a routine stop turn into a deadly encounter?
一次常规截停执法怎么会演变成致命事件？
How did this happen in George Floyd’s case?
乔治·弗洛伊德的案子是怎么发生的？
How did it happen in others?
在其他人身上是怎么发生的？
When my eldest son was 16 years old,
当我的大儿子16岁时
he discovered that when white people look at him, they feel fear.
他发现白人看见他时 他们会感到害怕
Elevators are the worst, he said.
他说 电梯里是最严重的地方
When those doors close,
当门关闭时
people are trapped in this tiny space with someone
人们和一个他们曾被告诫意味着危险的人一起
they have been taught to associate with danger.
被困在一个狭小的空间里
My son senses their discomfort,
我儿子感到他们的不适
and he smiles to put them at ease, to calm their fears.
他微笑着让他们放心 以平息他们的恐惧
When he speaks, their bodies relax.
当他说话时 他们的身体放松了
They breathe easier.
他们呼吸更轻松了
They take pleasure in his cadence, his diction, his word choice.
他们喜欢他的语气 语调和措辞
He sounds like one of them.
听起来他也并非异类
I used to think that my son was a natural extrovert like his father.
我曾经认为我儿子像他父亲一样天生外向
But I realized at that moment, in that conversation,
但在那次谈话中我意识到
that his smile was not a sign
他的笑容
that he wanted to connect with would-be strangers.
并不是想和陌生人交往的标志
It was a talisman he used to protect himself,
而是一个他用来保护自己的护身符
a survival skill he had honed over thousands of elevator rides.
一个他乘电梯时磨练了千百次的求生技能
He was learning to accommodate the tension that his skin color generated
他正在学习调解由他肤色引发的紧张氛围
and that put his own life at risk.
肤色也会危及他的生命
We know that the brain is wired for bias,
我们知道大脑容易受偏见影响
and one way to interrupt that bias is
阻断这种偏见的方法之一
to pause and to reflect on the evidence of our assumptions.
就是中断和反省我们假想的证据
So we need to ask ourselves:
因此 我们需要自问：
What assumptions do we bring when we step onto an elevator?
我们带着哪些假设登上电梯？
Or an airplane?
或者登上飞机？
How do we make ourselves aware of our own unconscious bias?
如何让我们意识到自己的无意识偏见呢？
Who do those assumptions keep safe?
这些假设保证了谁的安全？
Who do they put at risk?
这些假设又让谁陷于危险？
Until we ask these questions
除非我们发出这些质问
and insist that our schools and our courts and our police departments
并坚持我们的学校 法院 警察局
and every institution do the same
以及每个机构都发出这样的质问
we will continue to allow bias to blind us.
否则我们将继续放任偏见蒙蔽我们
And if we do
如果我们放任
none of us are truly safe.
那我们没有人是真正安全的
Thank you.
谢谢