擁抱白色

Marc J. Spears

After catching a rare sight ofa black man pumping gas in SaltLake City in 1980， Utah Jazz guardDarrell Griffith felt the need toapproach his fellow "brotha."

從后視角看到另一名黑人在猶他州鹽湖城停車加油時，猶他爵士隊后衛達雷爾·格里菲斯覺得自己有必要在1980年這天跟他的“黑人兄弟”打聲招呼。

The only black people whothe then-rookie guard regularlysaw after coming to the city werehis own Jazz teammates. At thetime， Salt Lake City had a 1.5percent black population. WhileGriffith hoped that the man had theblueprint for black male survivalin Utah， those visions of grandeurended like a missed layup.

自從來到鹽湖城后，還是新秀的格里菲斯時常見到的其他黑人，就是自己在爵士的隊友了。那時鹽湖城的總人口中有1.5%是黑人。但格里菲斯希望對方告訴他如何在猶他州生存的希望，卻像上籃不中一樣破滅了。

"I went to this gas station-storeover by my motel to get a soft drinkand I see this black guy pull up ina black Cadillac Seville，" Griffithsaid. "I went up to him to ask himwhere the black population was. Itold him， ‘Hey， I'm just getting intown and I'm playing ball for theJazz. I just want to know where thebrothas are at？' He said， ‘Man， I wasjust getting off the expressway toget some gas. I'm from California.Good luck with that one.' "

“我去旅店旁邊的加油站買飲料，我看到這個黑人開著一輛黑色凱迪拉克賽威停了下來。”格里菲斯說，“我過去問他，黑人住在什么地方。我對他說，'我剛到這座城市，我為爵士打球。我只是想知道兄弟們都在什么地方。' 他說，'老兄，我剛從高速下來準備加油。我來自加州，希望你最終能找到答案。'”

isn't a market that seems lessconducive to an African-Americanplayer than Salt Lake City， thehome of the two-time WesternConference champion Jazz.

在30支NBA球隊中，還沒有哪支球隊能像兩屆西部冠軍爵士一樣，在非洲裔美國球員中這么缺乏共鳴。

Salt Lake City's populationhas always been predominantlywhite. In 2016， the city was 75percent white and 2 percent black.Utah itself was a mere 1.6 percentblack in 2010， according to the U.S.Census Bureau. While the lack ofblack residents is a real issue for theblack players on the Jazz past andpresent， once they figured out theirsurroundings and met people， theyloved playing there.

鹽湖城的人口向來以白人為主。2016年，這座城市75%的人口為白人，黑人只占2%。根據美國人口普查局的數據，2010年猶他州總人口中只有1.6%是黑人。盡管對爵士球員來說，缺少黑人居民確實是問題，可一旦他們適應了環境，見到更多人后，他們就會愛上在那里打球。

"I never had any problems.The people always treated me nice，"said former Jazz forward-centerThurl Bailey， an African-Americanwho converted to Mormonism.

“我從來沒遇到過任何問題，人們對我一直很好?！鼻熬羰壳颁h瑟爾·貝里表示，他就是轉信摩門教的黑人。

"There are a lot of greatpeople out there. They try to helpyou as much as they can，" saidJazz forward-center DerrickFavors. "Everybody speaks to you.Everybody smiles and says hello. I'venever witnessed any kind of [racism]out there. It's a great place."

“這里有很多特別好的人，他們會盡可能幫助你?！本羰壳颁h德里克·費沃斯說，“每個人都會與你交流，每個人都在微笑，都會跟你打招呼。我在這里從沒遇到過種族歧視，這是個好地方?！?br>