Virginia Supreme Court gives Richmond green light to remove city-owned Confederate statues

Virginia Supreme Court gives Richmond green light to remove city-owned Confederate statues

維吉尼亞州最高法院批准瑞奇蒙拆除公有邦聯國雕像

【摘要2020.9.18.自由】◎張沛元

Richmond, Virginia, can continue removing city-owned Confederate memorials, the state Supreme Court ruled this week.

（美國）維吉尼亞州最高法院本週裁示，該州瑞奇蒙市可以繼續拆除市府所有的邦聯國紀念物。

Following protests for racial equality in the wake of George Floyd’s death earlier this summer, Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney invoked his emergency powers to remove multiple Confederate monuments in Richmond, the former capital of the Confederacy, including a statue honoring Confederate Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, from the city’s historic Monument Avenue.

今夏稍早（遭警察壓頸的）喬治．佛洛伊德死後的種族平等抗議之後，瑞奇蒙市長勒瓦．史東尼動用緊急權，拆除多座位於邦聯國前首都瑞奇蒙的邦聯國紀念物，包括將一尊紀念邦聯國將軍湯瑪士．「石牆」．傑克森的塑像，從該市具有歷史意義的紀念碑大道上移除。

"As the capital city of Virginia, we have needed to turn this page for decades. And today, we will," Stoney said at the time.

「身為維州的首府，我們必須將糾結了數十年的這一頁翻過去。就在今天，我們將這麼做，」史東尼當時如是說。

But his actions were soon challenged by a citizen, referred to anonymously in court documents, who said Stoney was acting outside his authority, and a lower court put Stoney’s action on hold to permit the citizen to weigh in on the case.

但他的行動很快遭到一名市民的反對。這名在法庭文件中被匿名的市民說，史東尼此舉逾越其市長權限，而下級法院因而下令暫停史東尼的拆除行動，以便該市民能繼續訴訟。

新聞辭典

give green light to：慣用語，給…開綠燈，准許，許可。例句：Amid the continuing fight against COVID-19, the government has given the green light to use the low-cost, locally developed test kits again.（值此持續對抗武漢肺炎之際，政府已批准再度使用當地研發的低成本篩檢套組。）

in the wake of：慣用語，在…之後。

to turn the page：慣用語，翻過這一頁，意指不再糾結過去，開始人生新頁。例句：The new president told the nation the election was over and asked them to turn the page and work for the reconciliation of the country.（新總統告訴全國，選舉已經結束，並要求國民不要再糾結過去與為國家和解而努力。）