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From Our View |
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Melissa's Personal Observations
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The
question that we originally came to answer was, is there racism in France,
although that may not have been what we were really looking to
explore and understand. Rather, we wanted to get a better
understanding of the kinds of experiences that Black French had with
issues of race. We make this distinction, because it is one of great
importance, as it can heavily influence one's observational viewpoint.
If one enters a scenario when all of their energies are focused upon a
particular behavior, undoubtedly it will be found. As the saying
goes, "You see what you want to see." In our situation, going to Paris on
a hunt for racism would have unearthed a plethora of harmful examples to
choose from; it most certainly would have prevented us from seeing factors
playing an equal or greater role in a given situation or social system.
Approaching the study in such a manner would have been a grave failure on
our part, rendering any conclusion skewed at best.
Skewed analyses were certainly not our goals. Nor was witnessing painful incidents of racism; we know those stories all too well. Our goal from the onset was thus anchored in understanding the many varied experiences of Black people in France. Did they feel that they experienced racism? Why? How? How did their analysis of a situation or system vary from our own? Did they see and acknowledge factors unknown to us? Were their lives, education, business or personal lives affected or effected by race? How? These have been our truest questions. However there were many reasons to begin with our opening question. Two reasons for this choice stand out in particular. First, discourse regarding race seems to be greatly missing in French Popular culture. Perhaps this struck us so deeply because of the stark contrast that it provides to the US in which race is always discussed. This was perhaps even more profound because despite this lack of discourse, France is often hailed as place without any racial tensions - both by her own and by others. Both of us have heard these acclaims, yet we have also heard accounts that severely oppose them in narrations of incidents with racist undertones. We were left wondering if the same place was being discussed. And if it was, were the discrepancies simply a matter of personal experiences, socioeconomic factors of privilege, or some other factor unknown to us? Our second impetus for retaining our original question lies in what we've termed as the myth of France as the Black Utopia. Particularly in examining the accounts of famous Black American artists, one could easily conclude that France was a virtual promised land for Blacks, ready to welcome you with open arms. Was this true? While both of us had our skepticism, we felt that the only sure way to make an analysis was to experience it ourselves. Thus, we return to our original question - Is there racism in France? The resounding answer, both form our respondents and our own experience was, Yes, Of course. To this, there may be little surprise. So we'll go a bit deeper. Is racism there the same as in the US? Yes ... and no. Is it better or worse than the US - again no definitive answer. How do people living there - Black youth in particular - view it? Certainly this depends on who you ask and about what you ask them. Well, were there any definitive answers found? While finding a single definitive answer was not out goal ... yes, we did come to some general conclusions. Perhaps one of the most important lessons that we learned regarded the degree to which racism can be manifested in different manners - not merely in different behaviors, but in kinds of racism. Similarly, racial consciousness, especially about one's own ethnicity or culture, has at least as many facets. In both instances, family structure, degrees of interaction with other cultures, and socioeconomic status greatly influence any analysis of given experience of situation. Racism in France may very much be of a different kind than that which exists in the US. As one of the respondents noted, "Racism in the US seems more in the front than here. I mean it's here, but it's more behind. Like in the US, you have people calling out, 'Nigger!' Here's it's not like that." Yet it is perhaps that subtlety, that being "behind" which makes the racism there so dangerous. There seems that a way can always be found to negate claims of racist behavior, by the perpetrators ... and the victims. This fact speaks to the various types of consciousness that a given people or group can have regarding racism. Understanding this phenomenon was perhaps our most difficult undertaking. There seemed, to us to be contradiction in the way that people of color would speak passionately of the injustice and brutality of racist systems and incidents in their lives, and then in the next breath explain it all away in comment that clearly stated that race wasn't really the problem. ????? Ultimately it resulted in us beginning to question our own interpretations and understanding of the world. Were we making the fatal mistake of looking too hard for an explanation steeped in racist behavior. But, hadn't they just made the same analysis? Or was it a way of thinking and reasoning that was unique to them, making them negate racism as a true factor to be considered? That wheel turned round and round. In fact, it is probably still turning. Nevertheless, we began to understand that there is no one consciousness from which to approach or view racism. The culture in which one lives very much contextualizes the way that one views race. |
The way that Black French view racism is greatly colored by their living within a culture that seldom speaks openly about what we would term the realities of racism, especially in regards to acknowledging the possibility of actual systems of advantage based upon race. They are further effected by a culture which holds on to an ideology that they value nationality above all else. This often leads them to frown upon distinctions of race and ethnicity due to the manner in which they may co-opt the unifying bonds of nationality. Says Donald Horrowitz, "French revolutionary norms provide for a direct relationship between the citizen and the state. Jacobin ideals are hostile to organizations that mediate this relationship. Hence the suspicion of ethnic interest groups. Until 1981, there was actually in force a statue that prohibited formation of organizations of foreigners. There is no denying that various interest organizations exist and that they sometimes lobby government, but the phenomenon gives rise to theoretical discomfort. … In such an ideological climate, ethnic pluralism does not flourish easily. It is not surprising that even the term ethnicity, with its connotations of competing, substate loyalty, is regarded with considerable suspicion" Pg 9. On another level, differences in France and the US may also relate to their historical backgrounds, which in their own way, are rooted in a type of colonialism. France, as a more traditional colonizing nation, the people of the colonies lived outside of the countries borders. Yet, as they moved into post-colonial era, there were those who came to "home" colony, typically in hopes of better economic and educational opportunities. This most certainly created a new dynamic within in France, especially with the entrance of people who were citizens, yet who had different racial and ethnic backgrounds, different cultures, people who could have been seen as foreign. In the US, particularly in regards to Blacks, there was a much different story, as the colonizer and the colonized have always lived together. Not too mention that the US is a much younger country in which it is very difficult for any one group to feel as if another is foreign, again speak in terms of Blacks there. On yet another level, France is not steeped in the Black-White structure that often seems to bind discussion of race within the US. While there are many other cultures and ethnicities within the US, our unique history of slavery often makes Black-White interactions the paradigm from which to begin discussion of slavery. In France however, there are other complexities particularly those that pit national culture against that of racial or ethnic culture. This often results in what can be seen as degrees of foreignesss, not simply for those who are new immigrants to the country, but to any that may "appear" to be foreign, particularly through color. . The implied definition of “immigrants” generally included those from North Africa (rather than Europe) and, at least in the Paris region, Black French citizens from the overseas territories. Local governments, by their actions, generally formulated public policy towards immigrants in exclusionary terms. They tended to define the “immigrant” problem as one of ethnic relations between native White Frenchmen against nonwestern immigrants, a problem of how to approach integration of people who were racially and (especially) culturally different, rather than a problem of how to deal with temporary labor. One indication of this definition of the issue is the fact that citizens from the overseas territories were frequently included as part of the problem. Martin A Schain P-418. The combination of these differences are apparent examples of the manners in which racism and one's own consciousness regarding race may be greatly influenced by the culture in which one lives. Similarly the many facets also show that racism is not a single systematic enemy. Rather it is one which necessitates many different strategies to ameliorate, dissolve and eradicate racism. Thus, we have opted rather than try to find some definitive answer or to create some consensual conclusion about racism in France to let the experiences which we heard and lived, speak for themselves. Is there racism in France, how does it compare to the US, what can be done to change it ... here are the stories and the life experiences ... what do you think?
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