弗雷德裏克‧道格拉斯
(FREDERICK DOUGLASS)

對美國反對奴隸制協會的演說
Speech to the American Anti-Slavery Society

只有在黑人有投票權時，奴隸制才會被禁止。

在北方戰勝南方已成定局時，反對奴隸制的鬥爭似乎也取得勝利。1865年2月1日，國會批准了禁止奴隸制的《憲法第十三修正案》，一週之內八個州批准了修正案。只有幾個月時間，該修正案就被正式通過。但是，對於新獲得自由的黑人會是怎樣呢?有哪些法律保護可以保證他們的權利呢?誰也無法預計將來會是什麼情況。美國反奴隸制協會在波士頓開會討論既然奴隸制已成為歷史，那麼該協會有沒有必要存在。1865年5月10日，弗雷德裏克‧道格拉斯發表演說，敦促該協會不要解散，而要繼續向種族歧視作鬥爭。由於過去的艱難經歷，他肯定在黑人能夠無所畏懼地行使公民權並接受法律的完全保護之前，他們的從屬地位(不管把這種情況叫作什麼都一樣)就將繼續下去。

……我不想在這兒吹毛求疵，或者指責那些認為現在到了解散這個協會的時候的人的動機。我沒有懷疑那些促使本協會主席(威廉‧勞埃德‧加裏森)和其他贊成解散本協會的先生們的動機之純潔和美好。我堅持這樣的一種觀點，即不管這個憲法修正案(第十三)是否已成為法律，不管是否有足夠數量的州已批准該修正案作為法律，我認為廢除奴隸制的工作並沒有結束。即使聯邦每個州都批准了那個修正案，當南方立法裏黑人還與「白」這個詞相對時，在我看來，我們作為廢奴主義者的工作還沒有結束。昨晚，我堅持認為南方通過不友好的立法可以使我們的自由按照那個規定成為一種幻想，一個嘲弄和一個陷阱，我現在還是持這種觀點。如果任何一個州的議會可以在明天宣佈法院不能接受黑人的證詞，那麼像這個修正案這樣一個規定對黑人來說又有什麼好處?那麼我們現在在哪裡?任何一個壞蛋都可以進入一個黑人的房子隨意施暴，如果剛好他施暴時只有黑人在場，那他便可追逐法外。[好哇!好哇！]不要對我說南方那些人已經一下子變得那麼公正誠實，以致他們不會通過那些剝奪黑人在法庭上提供反對白人的證詞的權利的法律。喔，我們北方各州已經幹了。伊利諾伊、印地安納和俄亥俄已經幹了。這裏，在普利茅斯巖發佈的法規中，黑人就已被排除在外，不讓他們在法庭作證，如果每一個南方州的議會明天通過一項法律，宣佈黑人不能在任何法庭作證，那麼他們也不會違反憲法的那個條款。這樣的法律現在在南方還存在，而且根據憲法的這個條款，即在聯邦的任何一個州都不應有奴隸制和非自願勞役的存在，這些法律還可能存在……

只有在黑人有投票權時，奴隸制才會被禁止。只要南方各州議會還保留通過在白人與黑人之間製造歧視的法律的權利，那麼奴隸制仍然還會在那兒存在。[鼓掌]正如埃德蒙‧昆西說過的那樣，「只要在麻塞諸塞的法令全書上還有『白』這個詞，麻塞諸塞就是一個蓄奴州。只要在麻塞諸塞可以把一個黑人從汽車裏推出去，馬薩話塞就是一個蓄奴州。只要你可以從舊麻塞諸塞得到一個奴隸，麻塞諸塞就是一個蓄奴州」。那是我在二十三年或二十四年以前聽到埃德蒙‧昆西這麼說的。我從來沒有忘記這件事。現在，只要黑人的投票權可以被剝奪，只要南方各州議會可以剝奪黑人保留和攜帶武器的權利──在我那個地方，他們不讓黑人拿手杖走路，他們不讓五個以上的黑人聚集在一起──那麼我們廢奴主義者的工作就沒有結束。雖然美國憲法的條款規定保留和攜帶武器的權利不應被剝奪，但黑人從來沒有保留或攜帶武器的權利，根據這個修正案，各州議會仍然還有權力禁止這個權利。他們可以繼續推行不友好的立法制度，他們會不這麼做嗎?他們在那兒這麼幹時就不帶偏見嗎?難道你們以為因為此刻他們是處於我們光榮的鷹爪和鷹嘴之下，而不是像以前那樣處在奴隸之中，他們就會改弦易轍了嗎?我在威爾明頓聽說過忠誠守法，我在南卡羅來納也聽說過忠誠守法──可那能值幾個錢?

[「不如一根稻草。」]

不如一根稻草。我感謝我的朋友承認這一點。當他們看到二十萬黑色士兵帶著閃亮的刺刀從他們當中走過時，他們就忠誠守法。[鼓掌]但是，如果讓南方恢復政府權力，那麼對黑人的舊偏見和敵視又會重現。是的，正是黑人被利用來擊敗這次叛亂並摧毀了邦聯的道德倫理標準這個事實將刺激他們所有的仇恨，所有的惡意，並導致他們對這個階級制定出比以往任何時候都更苛刻的立法。[鼓掌]美國人民有義務──出於他們的榮譽感有義務(我希望是出於榮譽感，至少出於公正的榮譽感)給予黑人選舉權，我本想說美國反奴隸制協會的廢奴主義者應當有義務「站著不動，期待上帝的拯救」直至那項工作完成為止。[鼓掌]朋友們，如果美國反奴隸制協會不支援黑人，那麼他們去哪裡尋求支援！[「好哇，好哇。」]當這個老資格的廢奴先驅，這個經過暴民攻擊、英勇犧牲以及牧師和政客的聯合鎮壓之後仍倖存下來的協會突然消逝，僅僅宣佈說憲法已經得到修正，所以在這個國家裏自此以後既不允許有奴隸制也不允許有非自願的奴役，那麼我們還能從何處期望得到自由喇叭的一個肯定的聲音呢?裡士滿的奴隸主對那些以武裝黑人將使他成為自由人為由而反對武裝黑人的人說了什麼呢?哼，他們說：「這個論點很荒唐。我們應當使這些黑人為我們作戰，但是，當我們獲得南方的政治權力時，我們仍可將他們保留在從屬地位。」這就是他們的論點，而且他們是對的。他們本可以僱傭黑人為他們作戰，而且當他們手中獲得剝奪黑人政治權利的權力時，他們就可以將黑人降低到與奴隸一樣的狀況中。他們將不會把這種情況叫作奴隸制，而是叫作別的什麼名字。在給自家起名字方面，奴隸制一直是很有成果的。它曾被叫作「特別制度」、「社會制度」和「障礙」，正如衛理聖公會的全體大會所稱的那樣。它已經有過許多名字。而且將給它自己再起一個名字，你，我，我們大家最好拭目以待，看看這個老妖怪將以什麼形式，這隻老毒蛇將以什麼新皮出現。

[熱烈鼓掌]

I do not wish to appear here in any fault finding spirit, or as an impugner of the motives of those who believe that the time has come for this Society to disband. I am conscious of no suspicion of the purity and excellence of the motives that animate the President of this Society [William Lloyd Garrison], and other gentlemen who are in favor of its disbandment. I take this ground; whether this Constitutional Amendment [the thirteenth] is law or not, whether it has been ratified by a sufficient number of States to make it law or not, I hold that the work of Abolitionists is not done. Even if every State in the Union had ratified that Amendment, while the black man is confronted in the legislation of the South by the word "white," our work as Abolitionists, as I conceive it, is not done. I took the ground, last night, that the South, by unfriendly legislation, could make our liberty, under that provision, a delusion, a mockery, and a snare, and I hold that ground now. What advantage is a provision like this Amendment to the black man, if the Legislature of any State can to-morrow declare that no black man's testimony shall be received in a court of law? Where are we then? Any wretch may enter the house of a black man, and commit any violence he pleases; if he happens to do it only in the presence of black persons, he goes unwhipt of justice. ["Hear, hear."] And don't tell me that those people down there have become so just and honest all at once that they will not pass laws denying to black men the right to testify against white men in the courts of law. Why, our Northern States have done it. Illinois, Indiana and Ohio have done it. Here, in the midst of institutions that have gone forth from old Plymouth Rock, the black man has been excluded from testifying in the courts of law; and if the Legislature of every Southern State to-morrow pass a law, declaring that no Negro shall testify in any courts of law, they will not violate that provision of the Constitution. Such laws exist now at the South, and they might exist under this provision of the Constitution, that there shall be neither slavery not involuntary servitude in any State of the Union. . . .

    Slavery is not abolished until the black man has the ballot. While the Legislatures of the South retain the right to pass laws making any discrimination between black and white, slavery still lives there. [Applause.] As Edmund Quincy once said, "While the word "white' is on the statute-book of Massachusetts, Massachusetts is a slave State. While a black man can be turned out of a car in Massachusetts, Massachusetts is a slave State. While a slave can be taken from old Massachusetts, Massachusetts is a slave State." That is what I heard Edmund Quincy say twenty-three or twenty-four years ago. I never forget such a thing. Now, while the black man can be denied a vote, while the Legislatures of the South can take from him the right to keep and bear arms, as they can－they would not allow a Negro to walk with a cane where I came from, they would not allow five of them to assemble together－the work of the Abolitionists is not finished. Notwithstanding the provision in the Constitution of the United States, that the right to keep and bear arms shall not be abridged, the black man has never had the right either to keep or bear arms; and the Legislatures of the States will still have the power to forbid it, under this Amendment. They can carry on a system of unfriendly legislation, and will they not do it? Have they not got prejudice there to do it with? Think you, that because they are for the moment in the talons and beak of our glorious eagle, instead of the slave being there, as formerly, that they are converted? I hear of the loyalty at Wilmington, the loyalty at South Carolina－what is it worth?

    ["Not a straw."]

    Not a straw. I thank my friend for admitting it. They are loyal while they see 200,000 sable soldiers, with glistening bayonets, walking in their midst. [Applause.] But let the civil power of the South be restored, and the old prejudices and hostility to the Negro will revive. Aye, the very fact that the Negro has been used to defeat this rebellion and strike down the standards of the Confederacy will be a stimulus to all their hatred, to all their malice, and lead them to legislate with greater stringency towards this class than ever before. [Applause.] The American people are bound－bound by their sense of honor (I hope by their sense of honor, at least, by a just sense of honor), to extend the franchise to the Negro; and I was going to say, that the Abolitionists of the American Anti-Slavery Society were bound to "stand still, and see the salvation of God," until that work is done. [Applause.] Where shall the black man look for support, my friends, if the American Anti-Slavery Society fails him? ["Hear, hear."] From whence shall we expect a certain sound from the trumpet of freedom, when the old pioneer, when this Society that has survived mobs, and martyrdom, and the combined efforts of priest-craft and state-craft to suppress it, shall all at once subside, on the mere intimation that the Constitution has been amended, so that neither slavery not involuntary servitude shall hereafter be allowed in this land? What did the slaveholders of Richmond say to those who objected to arming the Negro, on the ground that it would make him a freeman? Why, they said, "The argument is absurd. We may make these Negroes fight for us; but while we retain the political power of the South, we can keep them in their subordinate positions." That was the argument; and they were right. They might have employed the Negro to fight for them, and while they retained in their hands power to exclude him from political rights, they could have reduced him to a condition similar to slavery. They would not call it slavery, but some other name. Slavery has been fruitful in giving itself names. It has been called "the peculiar institution," "the social system," and the "impediment," as it was called by the General conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. It has been called by a great many names, and it will call itself by yet another name; and you and I and all of us had better wait and see what new form this old monster will assume, in what new skin this old snake will come forth. [Loud applause. ]