2020年，亚特兰大警方调查了157起凶杀案，高于前一年的99起。据《亚特兰大宪法报》报道，这是该市二十多年来最多的凶杀案数量。第二年情况更糟。枪击案件与凶杀案同步攀升。连CNN也无法忽视这一现实。CNN援引亚特兰大警方数据报道，截至2020年7月初，亚特兰大已记录282起枪击事件，较前一年同期上升19%。到2021年6月，该市遭枪击人数又激增了38%。
In 2020, Atlanta police investigated 157 homicides, up from 99 the year before. That was the most the city had seen in more than two decades, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The next year was worse. Shootings climbed right along with the killings. Even CNN couldn't ignore it. It reported that by early July 2020, Atlanta had logged 282 shooting incidents, up 19% from the same point a year earlier, citing Atlanta police data. By June 2021, the number of people shot in the city was up another 38%.
仅2020年一年，就有200多名警官离开亚特兰大警察局。时任亚特兰大市长凯莎·兰斯·博托斯既不支持亚特兰大警察，也不支持依靠她维护安全的亚特兰大最脆弱市民。她的市长任期让这座城市在犯罪爆发、数百人丧生中陷入震惊。这是严重的失职渎职。
More than 200 officers left the Atlanta Police Department in 2020 alone. Then-Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms did not have the backs of the Atlanta police, nor did she have the backs of Atlanta's most vulnerable citizens who depended on her for their safety. Her tenure as mayor left the city reeling as crime exploded and hundreds were killed. That is a serious dereliction of duty.
随着尸体堆积，博托斯给出了什么解释？她归咎于疫情，归咎于枪支法律。在一次全国电视采访中，她指责共和党州长布莱恩·肯普重新开放佐治亚州的酒吧和夜总会。与此同时，巴克黑德区的居民忍无可忍，发起了脱离亚特兰大市、另立门户的运动。
And as the bodies piled up, what did Bottoms offer? She pointed to the pandemic. She pointed to gun laws. In a national television interview, she pointed at Republican Gov. Brian Kemp for reopening Georgia's bars and nightclubs. Meanwhile, residents of Buckhead were so fed up that they launched a movement to break away from the city altogether.
面对这一连串失败，她却想说服佐治亚州选民，她是竞选州长的合适人选。各位，这是个糟糕透顶的主意，如果不是因为在她任内数百人最终进了墓地，这简直可笑。佐治亚州承担不起这种风险。亚特兰大的家庭用惨痛代价弄清了，他们究竟选了什么样的市长。
With that list of failures, she wants to convince Georgians she's the right candidate to be governor. Folks, that's a terrible idea, and it would be laughable if it weren't for the fact that, on her watch, hundreds ended up in the cemetery. Georgia cannot afford to risk this. Atlanta's families found out the hard way which kind of mayor they had.
博特姆斯童年早期的部分时光是作为一位著名节奏布鲁斯歌手的女儿环游世界度过的。共和党州长提名人里克·杰克逊则是在亚特兰大的特克伍德住宅长大的，那是美国第一个公共住房项目，他的家庭靠福利救济维持生计。他不是从报纸上了解贫困社区的，他是亲身经历过的。他从未见过父亲，母亲是一名只有六年级学历的女服务员。13岁时，他进入寄养系统，在找到合适的寄养家庭、体会到什么是爱与稳定之前，先后辗转了五个寄养家庭、上了13所学校。
Bottoms spent part of her early childhood traveling the world as the daughter of a famous R&B singer. Republican nominee for governor Rick Jackson spent his in Atlanta's Techwood Homes, America's first public housing project, where his family relied on welfare. He didn't learn about struggling neighborhoods from the newspapers. He lived it. He never met his father, and his mother was a waitress with a sixth-grade education. At 13, he entered foster care, moving through five foster homes and 13 schools before the right foster family came into his life and showed him what love and stability looked like.
从那里起步，他白手起家创建了杰克逊医疗集团，将其发展为全美最大的医疗人力派遣公司之一，该公司现在报告的年收入超过30亿美元。一个曾经依靠公共救助、住过廉租房、经历过多个寄养家庭的人，能凭借亲身经历谈论影响佐治亚州普通民众的议题。这使他在博特姆斯无法比拟的方面脱颖而出。
From there, he built Jackson Healthcare from the ground up into one of the largest healthcare staffing firms in the country, a company that now reports more than $3 billion in annual revenue. A man who once depended on public assistance, lived in the projects and went through multiple foster homes can speak to the issues that affect everyday Georgians from lived experience. That sets him apart in a way Bottoms can't match.
杰克逊的公共安全计划读起来像是由一个倾听过警察和犯罪受害者心声的人写的。我通过自己创立的考德威尔公共安全研究所，时常听到这些家庭的呼声，该研究所是在我的无辜弟弟克里斯蒂安在芝加哥被谋杀后成立的。
Jackson's public safety plan reads like it was written by someone who has listened to cops and crime victims. I hear from those families constantly through the Caldwell Institute for Public Safety, which I founded after my innocent brother Christian was murdered in Chicago.
他们的诉求很简单：证据能得到处理、罪犯不再流窜街头、领导人认真对待贩运问题。杰克逊的计划回应了这三点。他承诺投资增加认证犯罪实验室，让证据不再搁置在架子上、受害者不再漫长等待、危险罪犯不再留在街上。他的计划要求设立一个全州范围的执法部门，唯一使命是终结佐治亚州的儿童性贩运。他还承诺为执法人员和退伍军人提供减税优惠。
What they ask for is simple: evidence that gets processed, offenders who stay off the street and leaders who take trafficking seriously. Jackson's plan answers all three. He has pledged to invest in additional certified crime labs so evidence stops sitting on shelves while victims wait and dangerous offenders stay on the street. His plan calls for a statewide law enforcement division with one mission: ending child sex trafficking in Georgia. He has promised tax relief for law enforcement officers and veterans.
佐治亚州在 11 月 3 日面临一个明确的选择。一位候选人已经在犯罪危机的考验中交出了一份接连失败的答卷。另一位则用一生证明了起点不决定终点，并且拿出了一份让佐治亚州每个社区都更安全的计划。
Georgia has a clear choice on Nov. 3. One candidate has already been tested by a crime crisis and answered with failure after failure. The other has spent a lifetime proving that where you start doesn't determine where you finish, and he has a plan to make every Georgia neighborhood safer.
佐治亚州不需要一个只想要头衔的州长，而需要一个愿意付诸实干的人。那就是里克·杰克逊。
Georgia doesn't need a governor who wants the title. It needs one who is willing to put in the work. That's Rick Jackson.