So much has changed since I have been out of school. In November 2006, Le Conseil Représentatif des Associations Noires (CRAN) was formally created. It is more than 120 organizations of all sizes throughout France to fight anti-black discrimination and racism (this is all according to their website).
They succinctly pinpointed the problem of being black in France, in their opinion, with the following from their question section:
4. Nous disons que “Les Noirs de France sont invisibles ” : que cela signifie-t-il ?
Avoir la peau noire en France hexagonale, n’est pas, a priori, la meilleure manière de passer inaperçu ! Le paradoxe est que les Noirs de France sont individuellement visibles mais ils sont invisibles en tant que groupe social. D’abord en tant que groupe social, ils sont censés ne pas exister, puisque la République française ne reconnaît pas officiellement les minorités, et ne les compte pas non plus. On pourrait se réjouir de l’invisibilité des populations noires, ou en tout cas considérer que cela ne pose pas problème en soi si certaines difficultés sociales spécifiques qui les affectent étaient mesurées, connues, reconnues. Or ce n’est pas le cas. Aussi l’invisibilité, plutôt que d’être la conséquence paisible d’une absence de problèmes particuliers, devient un tort.
Their Translation (yay less work for me):
4. When one says that ” in France Black people are invisible”, what does it mean?
In principle to have a dark skin in metropolitan France is not the best way to go unnoticed. The paradox is that as individuals, Black people in France are visible and yet as a social group remain invisible.
As a social group it seems as if they were not supposed to exist: the French Republic doesn’t officially recognize minorities, and doesn’t record them as such. One could be satisfied with invisible populations, or at least see no problem with it, as long as social and specific difficulties concerning them be recorded, identified, recognized. However it is not the case. And instead of remaining a quiet and normal status, invisibility is wrong.
Anywho, they are starting a new campaign that features a Barack Obama look alike (video above), to raise awareness of “racial profiling”. Basically, visible minorities in France are stopped by the police more than people who look… white. They have chosen Barack Obama because, well, he is a global inspiration for black people and he has admitted to being the victim of this type of racial profiling. It is very interesting to me. I can’t wait to see more of the videos (I’m assuming there will be more). I am also mad this organization wasn’t around when I was getting my Master’s (even though there website is pretty bad).
