多種族家庭 依然承受異樣眼光

多種族家庭 依然承受異樣眼光
Mixed-Race Family Tested by Strangers

2011/10/27 【By SUSAN SAULNY／陳世欽譯】

TOMS RIVER, New Jersey — “How come she’s so white and you’re so dark?”
「怎麼她那麼白，妳的膚色卻這麼深？」

The question tore through Heather Greenwood as she was about to check out at a store he r e . He r brown hands were pushing the shopping cart that held her babbling toddler, Noelle, all platinum curls, fair skin and ice-blue eyes.
正當海瑟‧葛林伍德準備在新澤西州湯姆斯河鎮的一家商店結帳時，這個問題刺穿她的心。她那棕色的雙手推著購物車，牙牙學語，剛開始學走路的小女兒諾愛兒坐在裡面。諾愛兒有白金般的捲髮、白皙的皮膚，以及一雙冰藍色的眼睛。

The woman behind Mrs. Greenwood, who was white, asked once she realized, by the way they were talking, that they were mother and child. “It’s just not possible,” she charged indignantly. “You’re so . . . dark!”
站在葛林伍德女士後面的是個白種婦人，她從葛林伍德與諾愛兒的對話中得知她倆是母女後，憤怒的衝口而出道：「這怎麼可能呢，妳的膚色那麼的…深！」

It was not the first time someone had demanded an explanation from Mrs. Greenwood about her biological daughter, but it was among the more aggressive. Shaken almost to tears, she managed a reply: “How come? Because that’s the way God made us.”
陌生人要求葛林伍德女士解釋為什麼她的親生女兒膚色與她如此不同，這不是第一次了，然而這一次比較具有侵犯性。她的淚水幾乎就要奪眶而出，最後勉強回答對方：「為什麼？因為上帝就是這樣創造了我們。」

The Greenwood family tree, emblematic of a growing number of American bloodlines, has roots on many continents. Its mix of races — by marriage, adoption and other relationships — can be challenging to track and can confuse even the family.
葛林伍德一家的世系是越來越多美國人血統的典型代表，祖先來自幾個不同大陸。這個世系透過婚姻、收養與其他關係而擁有多種族，不容易溯本探源，甚至自家成員也不甚了了。

Mrs. Greenwood, 37, is the daughter of a black father and a white mother. She was adopted into a white family as a child. She married a white man with whom she has two daughters, Noelle and Sophia. Her son from a previous relationship is half Costa Rican. She also has a half brother who is white, and siblings in her adoptive family who are biracial, among a host of other close relatives — one from as far away as South Korea.
葛林伍德女士現年37歲，父親是黑人，母親則是白人。她小時候被一個白人家庭收養，成年後嫁給一個白人，兩人育有一對女兒，也就是諾愛兒與蘇菲亞。她來自前一段關係的兒子有一半哥斯大黎加血統。她還有一個同母異父的白人兄弟，而在其他近親當中，她收養家庭中的那些兄弟姊妹也同樣出身兩個種族，其中一人的血統可以追溯到南韓。

The population of mixed-race Americans like Mrs. Greenwood and her children is growing quickly, driven largely by immigration and intermarriage. One in seven new marriages is between spouses of different races or ethnicities, for example. And among American children, the multiracial population has increased almost 50 percent, to 4.2 million, since 2000.
在美國，類似葛林伍德女士及其子女的混血人口增加迅速，主要原因是移民遷入與異族通婚。例如，每七對新婚夫婦當中就有一對是異族通婚。至於美國小孩的多種族人口數，自2000年至今已增加將近50%，總人數達到420萬。

Many mixed-race youths say they feel wider acceptance than past generations. The Greenwoods , when they are alone, strive to be colorblind. But what they face outside their home is another story. People seem to notice nothing but race. The Greenwoods’ experiences offer a telling glimpse into contemporary race relations, according to sociologists and members of other mixed-race families.
許多混血青少年說，他們自認比父祖輩受到更大的包容。葛林伍德一家獨處時努力嘗試對膚色色盲，外出時卻必須面對完全不同的情況。人們似乎只注意到種族別。社會學家與其他多種族家庭的成員說，葛林伍德一家的遭遇可供人們一窺當代美國種族關係的狀態。

It is a life of small but relentless reminders that old tensions about race remain, said Mrs. Greenwood, a homemaker with training in social work. “People confront you, and it’s not once in a while, it’s all the time,” she said.
葛林伍德女士是家庭主婦，受過社工訓練。她指出，這種生活狀態不斷的輕輕提醒人們，有關種族的長期緊張狀態並未消失。她說：「人們會直接對上你；不是偶一為之，而是經常如此。」

Jenifer L. Bratter, an associate sociology professor at Rice University in Houston who has studied multiracialism, said that as long as race continued to affect where people live, how much money they make and how they are treated, then multiracial families would be met with doubletakes. “Unless we solve those issues of inequality in other areas, interracial families are going to be questioned about why they’d cross that line,” she said.
休士頓萊斯大學社會學副教授珍妮芙‧布雷特曾經研究多種族問題。她說，只要種族問題繼續影響人們安身立命的地點、收入的多寡，以及受到怎麼樣的對待，多種族家庭就得承受異樣的眼光。她說：「如果我們不能徹底解決其他領域的不平等問題，多種族家庭就仍得因為跨越那條界線而受到質疑。 」

According to American Census data, interracial couples have a slightly higher divorce rate than same-race couples — perhaps, sociologists say, because of the heightened stress in their lives as they buck enduring norms.
美國人口普查數據顯示，異族通婚夫婦的離婚率略高於同種族夫妻。社會學家認為，這可能是因為不同種族夫妻在生活過程中對抗持久的規範，必須承受沉重的壓力。

“If we could just go about whatever we’re doing and not be asked anything about our family’s colors,” Mrs. Greenwood said, “that would be a dream.”
葛林伍德女士說：「但願我們可以在日常生活中不被人問到我們家族膚色的問題。真是這樣，不知該有多好。」

Over the summer, when Noelle scampered as usual toward a carousel, her parents in tow, the ride operator, Risa Ierra, felt free to have a little fun.
今夏某日，諾愛兒一如往常蹦蹦跳跳，跑向一座旋轉木馬，她的爸媽陪伴在側。操控木馬的麗莎‧伊艾拉自認可以開個小玩笑。

“You know this little one isn’t really theirs, right?” Ms. Ierra joked to the other people in line. “Must have been switched at the hospital.”
伊艾拉向排隊的其他民眾開玩笑道：「你們知道這個小女孩其實不是他們的女兒，對吧？一定是在醫院出生時被調包了。」

Mr. and Mrs. Greenwood are friendly with her, and said later that they were not offended. But the exchange was typical of remarks they hear often, even from people who seem well-meaning.
葛林伍德夫婦對她很客氣，稍後並表示並不覺得受到冒犯。不過這段對話適可代表他們經常從人們那兒聽到的話，有些甚至來自看似出於善意的人。

“‘Oh my God! Are they yours? Or are you their nanny?’ ” she said she was often asked. “That’s the most common thing I get,” Mrs. Greenwood said of the nanny question. “But I don’t want to go there. I don’t want to justify me being their mother to strangers.”
她說，陌生人經常問她：「噢，老天。她們是妳的小孩嗎？還是妳是她們的保母？」葛林伍德女士談到所謂保母的問題時說：「這是我最常面對的問題。然而我不想多說，而且不想向陌生人證明我是她們的母親。」

She is thinking about having a T-shirt made that says “Yes, I’m the mom.”
她考慮訂製一件T恤，上面寫著「是的。我是她們的媽媽。」

She said she is not ready to have a conversation about race with Sophia, now 7.
她又說，她還不打算與七歲的蘇菲亞談論種族這個話題。

“I actually don’t know what to tell Sophia and Noelle when they start asking me, ‘Am I black?’ ” she said.
她說：「我其實不知道當蘇菲亞與諾愛兒開始問我『我是黑人嗎？』時，我該如何回答。」

Silas, 18, Mrs. Greenwood’s half-Latino son from a previous relationship, started to ask race questions around age 7.
葛林伍德來自前一段關係的半拉美血統兒子塞拉斯現年18歲，大約7歲時開始問起有關種族的問題。

“I went up to my mom and said, ‘What am I?’ ” Silas recalled. “And, ‘What are you? Are we the same thing?’ ”
塞拉斯回憶道：「我問我媽，『我是什麼人種？』、『妳是什麼人種？我們是不是同樣的人？』」

He added later, “I think my little sisters will be fine.”
他稍後又說：「我猜我的小妹妹會沒事。」

Race is not something Silas says he spends a lot of time worrying about. “Barriers are breaking down,” he said.
塞拉斯表示，他並未花許多時間去煩惱種族的問題。他說：「障礙正逐漸瓦解。」

For the moment, the matter seems simple enough for Sophia, too. She responds confidently when asked what race she is. “Tan!” says the second-grade student. “Can’t you tell by just looking?”
目前，這個問題對蘇菲亞似乎也很簡單。問到她屬於什麼種族時，念二年級的她很有把握的說：「褐膚種！難道你看不出來嗎？」


【2011-10-25/聯合報/G5版/UNITEDDAILYNEWS】
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