Fox News’ racism in Chinatown interview under fire

Elected officials and activists staged a protest outside the Manhattan headquarters of Fox News on Thursday over a segment in which a correspondent conducted a series of mocking interviews of Asian-Americans in New York City's Chinatown that critics said trafficked in stereotypes and veered into racism.

周四，一些民选官员和活动人士因一个电视片段，在Fox新闻频道(Fox News)的曼哈顿总部外进行抗议。在那个片段中，一名记者在纽约的唐人街对亚裔美国人进行了一系列嘲弄性采访，批评者称其饱含刻板印象和种族主义倾向。

The correspondent, Jesse Watters, who has been accused of stalking and harassment for his ambush-style interviews on the street, expressed "regret" late Wednesday after provoking a storm of criticism for the segment that was broadcast on Monday.

涉事记者杰西•沃特斯(Jesse Watters)被指责为进行"埋伏式"采访而在街上跟踪、骚扰行人。周一，该片段播放后遭到暴风雨般的批评。周三晚些时候，沃特斯对此事表示"遗憾"。

Mayor Bill de Blasio called the segment "vile." And Councilman Peter Koo said in a statement: "Passing off this blatantly racist television segment as 'gentle fun' not only validates racist stereotypes, it encourages them. The entire segment smacks of willful ignorance by buying into the perpetual foreigner syndrome.

纽约市长白思豪(Bill de Blasio)称这段视频"很卑劣"。市议员顾雅明(Peter Koo)在一项声明中称："把这个公然的种族主义电视片段轻描淡写为'温和的玩笑'不仅是认可而且是鼓励种族主义刻板印象。整段视频信奉永久外国人综合征(perpetual foreigner syndrome)，带有执意无知的意味。

"How is it, that in New York City in 2016, this is still O.K.? Short answer: It's not, and it is unfortunate that Fox News needs to be reminded of that."

"在2016年的纽约市，这怎么可能依然被接受？简而言之：不能接受。很不幸，Fox新闻频道需要知道这一点。"

Fox broadcast the interviews as part of "Watters' World," a recurring segment on "The O'Reilly Factor," the network's top-rated show. The host, Bill O'Reilly, introduced the piece by saying it had been inspired by how frequently China was mentioned during the first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump.

这些采访是作为《沃特斯的世界》(Watters' World)的一部分在Fox频道播出的。后者是该频道收视率最高的节目《奥莱利实情》(The O'Reilly Factor)中经常出现的一个环节。主持人比尔•奥莱利(Bill O'Reilly)在介绍这个片段时称，它的灵感来源是，在希拉里•克林顿(Hillary Clinton)和唐纳德•J•特朗普(Donald J. Trump)的首场总统辩论中，中国经常被提及。

But the nearly five-minute video was interspersed with references to martial arts and scenes of Mr. Watters getting a foot massage, playing with nunchucks and asking loaded questions that some residents appeared not to understand or couldn't answer. Clips from well-known movies were sprinkled throughout the segment, including "The Karate Kid" and "Chinatown."

但是，近5分钟的视频经常提到武术，点缀着沃特斯接受足底按摩和玩双节棍的画面，他还经常提出一些暗藏圈套的问题，有些居民似乎无法理解或回答这些问题。视频还穿插了很多知名电影中的片段，包括《龙威小子》(The Karate Kid)和《唐人街》(Chinatown)。

Mr. Watters begins the piece with an instrumental version of the Carl Douglas song "Kung Fu Fighting" playing softly in the background. He asks two young women, "Am I supposed to bow to say hello?" He asks a street vendor if his wares were stolen: "I like these watches — are they hot?"

视频开头是卡尔•道格拉斯(Carl Douglas)的歌曲《中国功夫》(Kung Fu Fighting)的演奏版，它作为背景音乐一直在轻声播放。沃特斯问两名年轻女子，"我打招呼时是不是应该鞠躬？"他问一名街上小贩他的货物是不是赃物："我喜欢这些手表——它们是烫手货？"

When he asks some passers-by their opinion of Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Trump, the two men answer in accented English, and their answers are displayed in subtitles at the bottom of the screen.

他询问一些行人对克林顿和特朗普的看法时，有两名男子说话带有口音，他们的回答在屏幕下方用字幕显示。

"Trump has been beating up on China; how does that make you feel?" he asks an older woman. He peppers others with questions like "Is it the year of the dragon … rabbit?" "Is everything made in China now?" "Do they call Chinese food in China just food?"

"特朗普一直在抨击中国，你对此有何感想？"他问一位年长的女性。他用这样的问题接连追问其他人："今年是龙年……还是兔年？""现在所有的东西都是中国生产的吗？""在中国，中国菜是不是就叫菜？"

And at one point, when another young woman says she really doesn't want to vote for Mr. Trump so her choice was Mrs. Clinton, he opines, "So China can keep ripping us off."

在某个时刻，另一名年轻女性说，她真的不想投票给特朗普，所以她选择克林顿，他发表意见说，"好让中国继续敲诈我们。"

The segment provoked an uproar among social media users, and Asian-American groups denounced it. The Asian-American Journalists Association said it was "outraged and shocked" and demanded an apology from the network.

该片段在社交媒体上引起轩然大波，亚裔美国人团体纷纷谴责。亚裔美国记者协会(The Asian-American Journalists Association)称它"令人愤怒和震惊"，要求该电视网道歉。

"We should be far beyond tired, racist stereotypes and targeting an ethnic group for humiliation and objectification on the basis of their race," the group said in a statement. "Sadly, Fox News proves it has a long way to go in reporting on communities of color in a respectful and fair manner."

"我们应该早已远离陈腐的种族主义刻板印象以及从种族角度出发针对一个族群进行羞辱和物化，"该团体在一项声明中表示。"不幸的是，Fox新闻频道表明，要实现以尊重和公平的方式报道有色群体，我们还要走很长一段路。"

The influential blog Angry Asian Man, founded by Phil Yu, a Korean-American, described the segment in a post as "a new low, even for Fox News."

韩裔美国人菲尔•余（Phil Yu，音）创立的有影响力的博客"愤怒的亚洲人"(Angry Asian Man)在一篇帖子中写道，该片段达到了"新低点，甚至对Fox新闻频道来讲都是如此"。

"Jesse Watters went for a holy-crap-that's-so-racist-man-on-the-street approach," the post said.

"杰西•沃特斯采取了'街头混蛋种族主义者'的方式，"该帖子称。

State Senator Daniel L. Squadron, whose district includes Chinatown, condemned the segment for "stereotyping, mockery and a thinly veiled disdain for immigrants."

纽约州参议员丹尼尔•L•斯夸德隆(Daniel L. Squadron)谴责该片段"是对移民陈腐的、嘲弄的、露骨的蔑视"。他的选区包括唐人街。

In addition to Mr. Koo, Comptroller Scott M. Stringer, Representatives Grace Meng and Nydia Velasquez, and Assemblymen Ron Kim and Walter T. Mosley attended the rally on Thursday, according to a statement from the New York State Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus.

据纽约州黑人、波多黎各裔、西班牙裔和亚裔党团(New York State Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus)的一项声明称，除了顾雅明，纽约市主计长斯科特•M•斯特林格(Scott M. Stringer)、众议院议员孟昭文(Grace Meng)和尼迪娅•贝拉斯克斯(Nydia Velasquez)，以及州众议院议员金兑锡(Ron Kim)和沃尔特•T•莫斯利(Walter T. Mosley)也参加了周四的集会。

Mr. Watters, who responded to his critics on Twitter on Wednesday, said he considered himself "a political humorist" and regretted that he had upset people. He said his interviews were meant to be taken as a lighthearted joke.

周三，沃特斯在Twitter上回应他的批评者时称，他认为自己是"一个政治幽默家"，对自己令人不快感到遗憾。他说自己的采访只是轻松的玩笑。

Mr. Watters and Mr. O'Reilly, however, appeared to anticipate that the interviews would cause a stir when the segment was broadcast on Monday.

不过，沃特斯和奥莱利似乎预料到这些采访周一播出后会引起哗然。

"I know we're going to get letters," Mr. O'Reilly said. "It's inevitable." The Fox host added that he was surprised, considering how "insulated" he believed the residents of Chinatown were, that many seemed to be aware of what was going on politically.

"我知道我们会收到来信，"奥莱利说，"这是不可避免的。"Fox的这位主持人还表示，他本以为唐人街的居民在政治上是"绝缘的"，但是很多人似乎知道政坛正在发生什么，这令他感到意外。

Mr. Watters said one man who had responded negatively to him was "one of many" who "hated" him. "They're such a polite people — they won't walk away or tell me to get out of here," he said, laughing.

沃特斯说，一个对他给予负面回应的男人是"恨"他的"很多人之一"。"他们这个族群非常礼貌——他们不会转身走开或叫我滚开，"他大笑着说。

"They're patient, they're patient," Mr. O'Reilly replied.

"他们很有耐心，很有耐心，"奥莱利回应说。

Renee Tajima-Peña, a professor of Asian-American studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, said the segment captured a longstanding and distinct feature of anti-Asian sentiment in the United States.

加州大学洛杉矶分校(University of California, Los Angeles)的亚裔美国人研究教授雷妮•田岛-佩尼亚(Renee Tajima-Peña)称，该视频片段展现出美国长期存在的明显的反亚裔情绪。

"They mock the Chinese and Chinese-Americans, yet the backhanded compliments — he said these people were so polite," Professor Tajima-Peña said. "That kind of duality of the perception of Asians has been there since time immemorial and the beginning of the republic."

"他们嘲笑中国人和华裔美国人，然后又说些挖苦的恭维话——他说这些人很礼貌，"田岛-佩尼亚说，"这种对亚裔的双重观念从很久以前、从美国建国之初就存在。"

Source: New York Times