Recently, a
person wrote me asking how I handled racism in the South of France. This person claimed they had lived here and
found the people extremely racist to the point of driving him out of the
country. The writer claimed that they
were East Asian and Caucasian.
When I
asked him to describe his experiences, I
never heard from him again.
He ran
away. Puff!
Numerous
persons of color…all kinds of colors,
let me tell you… have asked me about French racism assuming that I would be qualified
to discuss racism in France simply because I’m Black.
I am an
American.
I consider myself an expert on racism in America as an eighth generation (on my
Mom’s side, even more on my Dad’s), Scots, Irish, Seminole, African decent
American citizen, but am not arrogant enough to believe I am able to discuss
something that exists in France between it’s Caucasian citizens and its
immigrants from the former colonies….somebody’s former colonies, anyway.
Whatever
racism which exists in France I’m sure is being worked out among its citizens
as it was in America over a 500 year period of racial terrorism inflicted on a
small racially mixed minority group called Nig___rs, Negros…uh, Colored
people…um Afro…um Blacks Ummmm……
Anyway, the
Black people of America who were imported in chains to build the very
infrastructure of a new Western, Eurocentric society had to find a way with
very little help from the outside world to assert its humanity in their own
country. No one ever threatened American
with divestiture, for example, due to its human rights violations of the
Negroes of the US.
We had to
do the work all by ourselves.
Racism in
America, is violent, institutional,
simultaneously blatant and subtle and is incredibly, incredibly Butch!
You know?
"Those who kill
their own children and discriminate daily against them because of the color of
their skin; those who let the murderers of blacks remain free, protecting them,
and furthermore punishing the black population because they demand their
legitimate rights as free men—how can those who do this consider themselves
guardians of freedom?"”
~Ernesto "Che"
Guevara
Why ask me about French people? Ask the colored French people about French
people.
Perhaps
there is certain air of nobility which surrounds people who have risen above
oppressive regimes the way Black Americans have, which might elicit envy among
others, who have no idea of who you are except for Will Smith movies, Mike
Tyson, Martin Luther King speeches and Jazz music. As a result they try to *“bite offa yo’
history” with a “high five.”
*BITING:
(Definition: Copying in a plagiaristic context, though mainly just unoffical fad-related things; such as made-up words, clothing styles, types of music, etc.
ie: "Dude, those kids are totally biting on my style!"
~The Urban Dictionary)
What
bothers me in France is far more complex than the so-called racial issues.
My problem
is, why do the people in the North of France look at those of us who choose to
live in the South of France, as right wing country bumpkin imitations of residents of the
16th arrondissement in Paris?
Answer that one, instead of trying to “steal my
kool aid”.
