體育也是把國家社會的道德標尺

One world, one game.

同一個世界，同一種運動。

The defining story of the NBA offseason could have been LeBron James’s triumphant return to his home state to heal the hurt of his previous defection. But while that homecoming dominated the early days of the summer, the predominant theme has now shifted from a reunion to a rift.

整個NBA休賽期，大家談論的都是勒布朗·詹姆斯的榮歸故里。重回克利夫蘭騎士隊的他發表聲明稱，他想彌補當初出走邁阿密熱火隊給家鄉造成的傷害。然而，正當他“回家”的新聞充斥着整個夏天的同時，一個重要的事件，將這個“團聚”的話題瞬間變成了“裂痕”

With Donald Sterling removed from the NBA and forced to sell the Los Angeles Clippers, Atlanta Hawks majority owner Bruce Levenson voluntarily selling his franchise and General Manager Danny Ferry taking an indefinite leave of absence, this offseason is forcing the league to confront the delicate issue of race. The situations with the Clippers and Hawks differ in scale and context but have brought to light the complicated dance for a league in which more than three-quarters of the players are black while coaching, management and especially ownership is overwhelmingly white.

隨着快船隊的老闆唐納德·斯特林被趕出NBA並被強迫出售快船隊的股權，亞特蘭大老鷹隊的老闆布魯斯·利文森自願出售球隊股權，老鷹隊的經理丹尼·費裏無限期離職。休賽期的聯盟，正面臨着微妙而又脆弱的種族話題。快船和老鷹的種族言論問題，在程度上和所處環境上是不同的，但在NBA這複雜的關係圈中同樣被廣泛關注。因爲四分之三以上的籃球運動員是黑人，而教練、管理層，尤其是球隊的老闆幾乎清一色的全是白人。

Richard Lapchick, founder of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport. “We can always do better. Anybody can. But the NBA, among all of the leagues, is more in tune with moving in the right direction in terms of diversity and inclusion than all of the other leagues.”

身爲對“體育多樣性和體育道德”研究的創始人理查德·雷普奇克說道：“我們總能做的更好，每個人都可以做到更好。NBA聯盟在所有體育聯盟中，總能比其他聯盟在多樣性和包容性方面，更夠逐步走上正軌。”

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver acted quickly to banish Sterling. Levenson and Ferry had no documented history of racial incidents, but their objectionable words — Levenson blamed blacks for driving away white fans at Hawks games in an e-mail to Ferry and other business partners; Ferry relayed comments from a background report that equated a lack of character with Luol Deng’s African heritage — caused considerable damage in a community that has a large black population.

NBA總裁亞當·蕭華對斯特林的種族言論做出了“將其驅逐出聯盟”的快速應對措施。利文森和費裏沒有類似於斯特林這種“種族歧視”的罪惡行徑。但是他們那些令人反感的言辭——利文森在一封寄給費裏和其他生意夥伴的電子郵件中，指責是黑人使得老鷹隊的白人粉絲上座率驟減，在費裏的回覆郵件中，他還稱洛爾·鄧具有一系列非洲人的習性，對絕大部分黑人羣體造成的巨大的傷害。

During his 30-year run as commissioner, Silver’s predecessor, David Stern, was able to navigate the NBA through some situations that featured some racial undertones, the rivalry between Magic Johnson and Larry Bird is a good example. In his first few months since taking over from Stern in February, Silver has had to guide the league during a period when any inappropriate utterance behind closed doors could lead to dramatic consequences.

擔任了30年的聯盟總裁，蕭華的前輩，大衛·斯特恩，有能力幫助聯盟在各種關乎種族的事件中找到正確的方向。魔術師約翰遜和拉里·伯德之間的鬥爭，就是個鮮明的例子。二月份之後，在蕭華逐步接手斯特恩的工作沒幾個月，那些在背後議論的、不恰當的話語，對聯盟產生了一系列戲劇性的影響。蕭華該如何在這個特殊的時期，帶領聯盟走出困境，蕭華不得不面臨着嚴峻的挑戰。

After Levenson announced he was selling his majority stake in the Hawks franchise, Silver said the NBA would “redouble” its efforts to promote diversity and anti-discrimination policies. Hawks CEO Steve Koonin, who has been placed in charge of the franchise until the team is sold, also plans to create a chief diversity officer position within the organization.

在利文森宣佈其願意出售他手中老鷹隊的股權之後，蕭華聲稱NBA必將加倍努力推動NBA多樣性的發展，並儘快制定出反種族歧視的政策。在這支球隊被賣出之前這段時間內，老鷹隊的首席執行官史蒂夫·庫寧，將被任命爲老鷹隊臨時的老闆。同時，庫寧也計劃在老鷹隊的組織內部設立一個“多樣性總監”的職位。

Wayne Embry became the first black general manager in any of the major professional sports when he was assigned to run the Milwaukee Bucks in 1972. Embry has witnessed the improvements for blacks in everyday society and within the NBA and said he doesn’t want to see this country revert to a time when attitudes and thoughts were less progressive.

韋恩·恩布里是專業體育世界中第一個黑人總經理，曾經在1972年負責運營密爾沃基雄鹿隊。恩布里見證了黑人在NBA聯盟中社會地位的逐步上升。他說他不想讓這個國家回覆到當初觀念和思想都停滯的狀態。

“We made progress, but we still have a way to go,” Embry said. “I wish we didn’t have to discuss these issues, but we do because they keep popping up. I think you’ll see the NBA will take steps. We can’t have another summer like we’ve had this year.”

“在種族的觀念上，我們已經取得了進步，但是我們還是有很長的一段路要走”恩布里如是說道。“我希望我們以後將不再討論這些話題，但是事實卻不是我想的那樣，相反的，我感覺這種話題反而在變得更加流行。我想你們能夠看見NBA採取的一系列補救措施。希望明年夏天，再也聽不到種族歧視言論的存在。”