社交媒体让警察暴力曝光

在科技日新月异的今天，随着Facebook和微信等各种公众展示平台不断出现，社交媒体已日渐成为民众每日新闻的重要信息来源。老百姓也因此得以有机会将其所经历的种种不平和创伤公布于世。同时，社交媒体也在某种程度上能够迫使警方对其暴力行为负责。

Displaying in a variety of platforms – from Facebook to WeChat, social media has grown into a news powerhouse in today’s technology dominated world. It has allowed citizens to share their tragic experiences like never before, and empowered them to hold the powerful, such as the police, accountable.

 

7月5日，美国路易斯安那州CD和DVD的小贩Alton Sterling惨遭警察枪杀。一名旁观者现场拍摄的视频显是，警察将其按倒在地后突然发生两声枪响，小贩Sterling躺倒在地，胸口有大量鲜血涌出。

Alton Sterling, a 37-year-old man who sold CDs and DVDs in Louisiana, was killed by the police on July 5. A video footage from a bystander captured police officers wrestling him to the ground. Suddenly two shots were heard and Sterling was seen sprawled on his back with a large blood stain on his chest.

 

在Sterling被警察击毙仅仅两天后，明尼苏达州又有一名黑人男子被警察残忍击毙，而他的女友在Facebook上通过手机直播了这起令人深感震惊和不安的枪杀事件。

Just two days after Sterling was shot dead by the police, another Black man died brutally after being shot by a police officer in Minnesota. The shocking and disturbing incident was streamed live on Facebook by his girlfriend.

 

“不要离开我”，从手机视频中可以清楚地听到该名女子的声音，而她旁边、倒在座椅上的黑人男子胸口中不断涌出鲜血。随着该名女子对这骇人场景的描述，视频上显示出一名在驾驶位车窗外举着枪的警察。

“Stay with me," says the girlfriend, as she turns the phone to the black man slumped in the driver's seat with a blood splattered chest. A police officer is seen pointing a gun through the driver's window, while she continues narrating the shocking scene.

 

该名女子在视频中用平静的语调详细叙述着这起枪击事件，她向视频观众解释说：“他（男子）当时只是想掏出他的驾照和牌照信息。”

“All he was trying to do was to produce his licence and registration,” the girlfriend said in her calm voice as she offered a vivid narrative of the incident in the video footage.

 

通过社交媒体的传播，这两段充分曝光美国警察的种族枪杀行为的视频在网上广为流传。至次日上午，共有250多万人通过各种社交媒体平台在网上观看了相关视频。

Both video footages that painted a perfect picture of police officers’ racist killings in the US has gone viral on the internet through social media, and by the next morning, over 2.5 million people had watched the stream as it appeared online through a variety of different platforms.

 

这些惨不忍睹的视频在美国引发了众怒。明尼苏达州州长指出，做出种种迹象已表明警察的行为“太过激”。

The videos sparked outrage across the US, prompting the Governor of Minnesota to say there was every indication that the police conduct was "way in excess”.

 

视频也使得黑人社区群情激愤。Dallas爆发了“黑人也是人”的抗议活动。抗议活动中，又爆发了一场精心策划的悲剧事件，导致五名警员中伏身亡，另有七名警员受伤。上周，在Baton Rouge又有三名警员被杀，另有三名警员受伤，这也是自两名黑人男子连续被警察枪杀后爆发的一连串暴力事件中的最新一起。

The disturbing images sent the black community on edge. During a black community’s protest against the police shooting – Black Lives Matters, a premeditated massacre took place as deadly gun fire erupted in Dallas that saw five officers killed and seven wounded in an ambush. Last week, another 3 police officers were killed and another 3 injured in Baton Rouge, marking the latest in the string of violent incidents after the two black men were shot by police.

 

实际上，警察枪杀手无寸铁的黑人的事件在美国并不鲜见，但是大部分事件都因为没有社交媒体的曝光而不为人知。毫无疑问，如果这些残忍枪杀黑人男子的场景视频没有被美国各地数百万网民传送转发，黑人抗议等一系列事件就不会发生。

In fact, it was never a rare incident that unarmed black people were killed by the police in America, but most of the incidents were gone unnoticed without social media’s assistance.  Undoubtedly, none of the protests would have happened had the scenes of the brutal killings of black men not been delivered online at the fingertips of hundreds of millions of people across America.

 

美国警察枪击黑人事件令人联想多伦多警察James Forcillo被定企图谋杀罪成立的事件。当时在社交媒体上广泛流传的19岁少年Sammy Yatim被枪杀致死的视频中显示Forcillo向街车里的Yatim一连开了九枪。

The police brutality in the States brings back horrid flashbacks of Toronto police officer James Forcillo, who was found guilty of attempted murder after video footage revealing 19-year-old Sammy Yatim’s death was spread on social media. In the video, Forcillo fired a total of 9 shots at Yatim on a bus.

 

无独有偶，一名目击者拍摄的27岁中国男子雷洋在遭到中国警察逮捕和殴打时拼命求救的视频也在中国社交媒体微信上迅速疯传。尽管中国当局已对这段视频封杀，但许多微信用户仍然设法得以目睹，并因此在中国引发了全国性的抗议警察暴力呼声。中国网民在微信上称，“如果我们不要求问责到底，不追究他们的责任，我们将会成为下一个受害者。”最终，雷洋案的五名涉案警察被检方立案侦查。

In the similar way, video images shot by witnesses showing a 27-year-old Chinese man, Lei Yang, was desperately seeking help as he was arrested and beaten by the Chinese police, has gone viral on Chinese social media.  Despite being censored by the Chinese authorities, the video has found its way to reach many WeChat users and sparked nationwide outcry on police violence in China. “If we don’t demand accountability and hold them responsible, we will be the next victim”, netizens tweeted on Chinese social media Weibo.  As a result, 5 police officers are currently under investigation.

 

社交媒体有助于曝光警察的暴行，在揭露不良行为的过程中发挥着至关重要的作用。此外，社交媒体工具也强化了公众舆论监督功能，将警方的暴行公布于大庭广众之下，从而迫使警察遵守职业操守，尽严肃执法。

It was social media that has helped put the police officers’ misconduct under the public spotlight.  It plays a vital role in exposing wrong doings. Moreover, the social media tool has fueled the growth of watchdog journalism, allowing the public to hold police officers accountable.