The Civil Rights Activist Whose Name You’ve Probably Never Heard

By

Dion Diamond was sitting at a“whites only” lunch counter in Arlington, Va., in 1960 when a crowd started gathering around him.At the time, he was a young black man participating in a sit-in at a local fiveand-dime store with a group of black and white university students, and they were drawing some attention from people who didn’t want them protesting.

1960年，黑人青年戴恩·戴蒙德坐在弗吉尼亞州阿靈頓一個(gè)標(biāo)有“白人專用”的午餐臺(tái)旁，人群在他周圍聚集起來。那時(shí)，他正和一群黑人、白人大學(xué)生在當(dāng)?shù)氐碾s貨店靜坐，他們引起了反對(duì)人士的注意。

[2]At one point, a white boy—maybe 12 or 13—pointed his finger at Dion.He seemed to say, “‘Get out, you know you are not wanted here,’” Dion tells StoryCorps1美國非營利組織，通過記錄、保存人們的對(duì)話，分享不同背景和信仰的人的故事。該組織是人類迄今為止最大的聲音庫，已收集超過5萬份采訪對(duì)話，逾9萬人參與。in Washington, D.C.

[2]戴恩告訴華盛頓特區(qū)的“故事團(tuán)”節(jié)目：他們靜坐時(shí)，一個(gè)大約十二三歲的白人男孩指著戴恩，似乎嚷了句：“滾出去，這兒不歡迎你?！?/p>

“I could only hope that as he got older, some of his attitudes regarding equality and equal rights changed,” he says.

他說：“我只能希望，他長大后會(huì)改變看法，在一定程度上認(rèn)同人人生來平等及享有平等權(quán)利?！?/p>

[3]Dion, now 76, started doing sitins at 15.He grew up in the 1950s in Petersburg, Va., and says he grew tired oflooking at the “whites only” signs.That’s when he began what he calls “his own private sit-ins” at lunch counters,skirting out the back door whenever the police came.His family had no idea what he was up to—until the newspapers started calling his house.

[3]現(xiàn)年76歲的戴恩從15歲開始就參加靜坐示威。20世紀(jì)50年代，他在弗吉尼亞州彼得斯堡長大，厭倦了“白人專用”的標(biāo)示。于是，他開始在午餐臺(tái)旁進(jìn)行他自稱的“私人靜坐”，每次警察一來他就從后門繞路而出。他的家人對(duì)此一無所知——直到媒體開始給他家打電話。

[4]Dion says, “I’ve done some crazy things, but you take chances when you’re young.I call it youthful exuberance.”

[4]戴恩說：“我做過一些瘋狂的事，但年輕的時(shí)候就要冒險(xiǎn)，我稱之為青春的活力?！?/p>

[5]By the time of his last arrest in Baton Rouge, La., he had been—as he describes it, a “guest”—at the jail there more than once.

[5]他最后一次被捕是在路易斯安那州的巴吞魯日，此前他已多次入獄，稱自己是監(jiān)獄的“?？汀?。

“The white guards told these inmates,‘We got a troublemaker here, gang.If you give him a hard time, you may get time off for good behavior,’” Dion says.

“白人獄警告訴其他囚犯：‘伙計(jì)們，來了個(gè)難纏的家伙。如果你們給他點(diǎn)兒顏色瞧瞧，就算表現(xiàn)良好給你們減刑?！贝鞫髡f。

[6]Looking back, that was probably the time he was most frightened, he recalls.But some of the inmates knew who Dion was, and they issued a warning: Don’t mess with him.

[6]回想起來，那或許是他最害怕的一次。但有些囚犯知道戴恩是誰，他們警告其他人：不許碰他。

“That was my salvation,” Dion says.

“那是我的救贖。”戴恩說。

[7]Today, if people see his name somewhere, they may not know who Dion is—and they likely won’t, he says.His three grandchildren aren’t all that interested in his story, either.But that doesn’t matter.

[7]如今，如果有人在某處看到戴恩的名字，或許并不知道他是誰——或許永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)知道，戴恩說。他的三個(gè)孫子、孫女對(duì)他的故事也不是那么感興趣。但這不重要。

“Any time I pick up a historical publication, I feel as if a period or a comma in that book is my contribution,”he says.

他說：“每當(dāng)我讀歷史書的時(shí)候，都會(huì)感到書里某個(gè)句號(hào)或逗號(hào)是我書寫的。”