Judge's running club helps Skid Row's homeless rebuild their lives
法官创办的跑步俱乐部帮助贫民窟的无家可归者构筑新生活
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He is a 62-year-old superior court judge. They are former addicts and felons. Some of them have completed prison sentences; others have lived under bridges.
他是62岁的高等法院法官。而他们是曾经的瘾君子和重刑犯。有的人已经服刑完毕，其他人曾是住在桥底下的流浪汉。
图源：Skid Row Running Club官网
All of them, however, are part of one team: the Skid Row Running Club in Los Angeles.
然而，他们现在都属于一个队伍——洛杉矶的贫民窟跑步俱乐部。
Twice a week, before the sun comes up, Judge Craig Mitchell runs the mile from his office at the county courthouse to The Midnight Mission, a social services organization centered in Downtown's Skid Row -- the notorious area where the city's largest homeless population resides.
每周有两天，一大清早，Craig Mitchell会从他所在的郡法院办公室跑一英里到午夜团，一个位于市中心贫民窟的社会福利组织，而臭名昭著的贫民窟是这座城市中最大的无家可归者聚集地。
图源：Skid Row Rnning Club官网
"It's not an overstatement to say that on any given morning I personally look at hundreds of people within eight blocks. On either side of every sidewalk there are people in tents," Mitchell said. "It's a dangerous place. I've been physically assaulted on Skid Row. People approach me asking if I want to buy drugs."
At the mission, he meets a group of 30 to 40 people, and together they run through East L.A.
“在任意一个早晨，我能在8个街区里看到上百人——我这可不是在夸大其词。每条人行道的两边都有住在帐篷里的人。”Mitchell说。“这是个危险的地方。我在贫民窟被人殴打过。人们会靠近我，问我想不想买毒品。”在组织里，他和三四十人会合，并与他们一起跑过洛杉矶东部地区。
The group includes runners from all walks of life and all levels of athleticism. Some members are homeless or in recovery, and others are lawyers, social workers, students or off-duty LAPD officers.
这群人涵盖了来自各行各业、具有各层次运动能力的跑步者。有的人无家可归或是正在戒酒，而有的人则是律师，社工，学生或是休息的洛杉矶警员。
Mitchell developed the program in 2012 after a man he'd once sentenced to prison returned to thank him.
在一位经他手判刑服役的人回来表达感谢之后，Mitchell于2012年成立了这个项目。
"He was paroled to The Midnight Mission and decided to come back and say, 'Thank you, Judge Mitchell, for treating me like a human being.' The president of the mission at the time asked me if there was something that I could do to contribute to the mission's program, and I thought of starting a running club. That was the inception," Mitchell said.
“他获得假释，被安排到了The Midnight Mission，决定回来找我，他对我说，‘Mitchell法官，谢谢你能平等对待我。’组织的主席当时问我，你能不能做些什么来帮助我们的项目，而我想到了创办一个跑步俱乐部。这就是俱乐部诞生的起因。”
Between 300 and 500 people have since run with the group, now an official nonprofit. Every year, Mitchell takes his most dedicated Skid Row runners on a free trip to participate in an international marathon.
现在这个俱乐部是个非营利性组织，前后共计大约有300到500人曾参与了跑步活动。每年，Mitchell都会带贫民窟俱乐部中最积极的跑步者们，免费参加一次国际马拉松比赛。
"I come back to the courthouse after any run and check off who was there. And so, I know exactly who has been faithful to the running program and who just comes periodically," he said.
他说道，“每次跑完步以后我都会回到法院看看有谁参加了。所以我清楚地知道谁一直在坚持参与这个项目，而谁又只是偶尔参加。”
In recent years, Mitchell and club members have participated in marathons in Ghana, Rome, Vietnam and Jerusalem.
最近几年，Mitchell和俱乐部成员分别参加了加纳，罗马，越南和耶路撒冷的马拉松比赛。
Mitchell says he's seen participants turn their lives around, attending college, securing full-time employment and maintaining sobriety.
Mitchell说，他看到参与跑步的这些人生活得到了改善，有的考入了大学，有的有了稳定的职业，并且他们不再沾染酒精或毒品。
"Running is a mechanism for the participants to build relationships," he said. "You can be a horrible runner and benefit the same as our fast runners, because at the end of the day you're going to be surrounded by people who really care about you and want to spend time with you. Everybody is welcome. We affirm. We listen. We support."
“跑步是参与者们建立关系的一种途径。”他说道，“就算你跑得很慢，你也能和我们跑得快的人一样从中受益，因为在一天结束的时候，你会被真正关心你，想和你一起共度时光的人陪伴着。我们欢迎每一个人的参与。我们肯定。我们倾听。我们支持。“
CNN's Allie Torgan spoke with Mitchell about his work. Below is an edited version of their conversation.
CNN的Allie Torgan和Mitchell谈到了他的工作。以下是他们对话的修订版本。
CNN: Did you ever imagine taking on this role?
CNN：你之前有没有想过会担任这个角色？
Judge Craig Mitchell:When I went down to The Midnight Mission that one afternoon with the parolee, I had absolutely no idea that my life would play out this way. I was just a volunteer coming to The Midnight Mission. I didn't know what I was doing. I don't think The Midnight Mission really knew what direction this would take. I crossed over the line from simply being his sentencing judge to being someone who's trying to guide him into a decision-making process that might break the cycle.
Craig Mitchell法官：
当我那天下午与获假释者一起去午夜团时，我根本不知道我的生活会这样发展。我只是以一名志愿者的身份来到午夜团。我不知道自己正在做什么。我不认为午夜团真的知道他们会走向何方。我从单纯为某个人量刑的法官成为了一个试图引导他，让他做出决策来改变生活现状的人。
I really understood that if I could run with people who are trying to rebuild their lives, deal with addiction issues, deal with homelessness, that would facilitate some very meaningful conversations and build relationships between myself and the people I was running with. One of our runners said, "Judge, your life has taken this direction because almost on a lark one day, you decided to say 'yes' to this person."
我真正明白了这一点，那就是如果我可以和想要重建生活，戒掉毒瘾以及试图组建家庭的人一起跑步，这将促成一些非常有意义的对话，并且可以建立我和参与者之间的关系。我们的一位参与者说：“法官，你的生活已经朝着这个方向发展了，因为一个偶然的机会，你抱着试试看的态度，决定对你面前这个人说'是'。”
This "yes" has turned into one of the defining aspects of my life. When those things happen, and you don't plan it, it's nothing short of glorious. I couldn't be happier.
这个“是”在一定程度上成为了我人生中重要的方向。因为无心插柳的举动，这些事情就发生了，这让我感觉很棒。我不能更开心了。
CNN: How did you change your own running schedule to make it work?
CNN:你是如何改变自己的跑步计划使其奏效的?
Mitchell: Interestingly enough, my free time was in the afternoon after court. But I learned very quickly that for a lot of the people who are in recovery at the mission, that is when they attend their A.A. (Alcoholics Anonymous) meetings. So, I was never going to get anybody out there on the pavement if I ran in the afternoon.
Mitchell：有意思的是，我的空闲时间是在下午的庭审结束之后。但我很快了解到，对于很多正在接受（酒精成瘾）康复治疗的人来说，那是他们参加戒酒互助会(A.A.)的时候。所以如果选择下午的话，我就没法把他们召集到人行道上来一起跑步。
So, the suggestion by the runners were, "Let's try it in the mornings. Show up at 5:30, we're available. Nobody is asking us to go to any meetings at 5:30." So, I did. And we run now three days a week. We do our long runs largely in Pasadena on the weekends. I find the runners really enjoy getting out of Skid Row, being able to sit down in the park after a long run and share a meal together.
所以跑步者建议：“让我们尝试一下早上跑步。5点半集合的话，我们都是有空的。我们不用在下午五点半参加任何聚会。”所以我就这么做了。我们现在每周跑三天。所以如果选择下午的话，我就没法把他们召集到人行道上来一起跑步。我发现跑步者们真的很喜欢跑出贫民窟，这样大家就能在跑了很长一段路之后坐在公园一起吃顿饭。
CNN: How has your professional path helped prepare you for this role?
CNN：你的职业道路如何帮助你为这个角色做好准备?
Mitchell: I was a high school teacher for 17 years. I buried a fair number of my students who were the victims of gang violence. So, I saw the real toll that criminal conduct, gang activity, took on people that I really cared about.
Mitchell：我在高中当了17年的老师。我送走了非常多的学生，他们都是帮派暴力的受害者。所以，我看到了犯罪行为、帮派活动给我真正关心的人带来的恶劣影响。
I went to law school at night, and my commitment to practice in the criminal law area was largely driven by my experience teaching in the inner-city of Los Angeles. And so, it was a natural draw to me to work as a prosecutor, to try and hold the people who were inflicting that type of pain and loss within our community to answer for it.
我晚上去夜校学法律，且在很大程度上，我对刑法实践的贡献是由在洛杉矶市中心教书的经历所推动的。因此，我很自然地被吸引成为一名检察官， 试图抓住那些在我们社区造成这种痛苦和损失的人，让他们承担责任。
I ended up putting my papers in to be a judge because I saw judges in the best of circumstances could make a tremendous difference. But I would not trade the 17 years I spent teaching high school for anything. It certainly made me a better prosecutor and has made me a far better judge.
我最终提交了成为法官的申请书，因为我发现法官在最好的情况下能产生巨大的影响。但我不会拿我在高中教书的17年去换任何东西。这（17年的经历)使我成为一名更好的检察官，也使我成为一名更好的法官。
编译 | 张萌 阿孜姑 戴乐彤
排版 | 张萌
指导老师 | 刘佳
来源 | CNN
