French ambassador to the US to Trevor Noah: “Unlike in the United States of America, France does not refer to its citizens based on race, religion or origin. To us, there is no hyphenated identity, roots are an individual reality.”

21 comments

  1. Lmao that’s only because they won. I’m sure it wouldn’t have been the same if they lost…

  2. I remember this. The whole point was that noah claimed that the players are african even if they live in France. He intended to be progressive.

    Meanwhile in France this is quite rightwing to suggest that these citizens are indeed not truly french. So basically Noah talked like the equivalent of Desantis.

    I tend to agree with the ambassador. But I suppose it is a difference in perception between Europe and elsewhere.

  3. I sided with the ambassador on this. US truly has a problem with races. The fact that the topic comes up so often there is symptomatic of a general problem with identity and integration. It also shows how individualistic American society is.

  5. It is true that they don’t refer to people by race, religion or origin. It is something the French are very proud of. I read a piece here a few weeks back that was very interesting about a panel of white French men and a black French woman and a black French man. The black Frenchman was firmly on the side of “we are all French” and “let’s avoid this American culture war nonsense”, but he was able to come around and see how his existence is different than an average white French person’s, and it’s something that needs to be at least talked about. I should go back and try to find that.

    This blanket erasure of identity is somewhat of a blind spot for France, however. These people still have black skin and may come from very different contexts or homes whether the government wants to acknowledge that or not. I see hatred towards immigrants in this sub sometimes and I think it echos what can happen simply out and about for people of color or immigrants. A significant portion of those coming to Europe at this point are from Africa making the trek across the Mediterranean. Simply existing in the context of Western Europe as a black person or African immigrant means that you are at the bottom of the social pyramid and therefore face extra issues as opposed to someone white with family from this place.

    I traffic in data, and handle United States census data on a daily basis. The minutiae of the data collected and the collection of information on race helps everyone to better establish what is actually happening using facts. Who would’ve known that a black child in Chicago is twice as likely to have asthma as a white one due to their proximity to mills and factory? No one if that information had not been collected. It would’ve just been “Americans”. Acknowledging race and background in this example is important because it can help decision makers (in places where competent people are elected) to make more nuanced decisions that help people who we’ve now statistically proven to be at a disadvantage.

    There is something to be said for America being obsessed with race and finally starting to reckon with its sins of the past, and while I think Europe may be right to try to evade some of the culture wars that are plaguing the US, there is still racial disparity in Europe. What I have been explained here in the US is that people who live each day as black or an immigrant can’t help but see everything through the lense of their race because it is who they are and what they have to deal with daily. It’s not that they’re obsessed, it’s their existence.

    Europe is just a much better social situation with better resources from the state than the US – it’s not even close it’s an enormous chasm (I’ve lived in both contexts and it’s just unbelievable). If I had to choose to be a black man in the US or a black man anywhere in France the choice to me is an easy one. But the experience of minorities and immigrants of color is still likely worse off than a white European in Europe. I have seen and heard the racist things, I have seen the othering. I believe that it is important to acknowledge the fact of their racial or skin difference, collect better information, and use it to make better decisions for the entirety of the French/European people

    Queue the downvotes 🙂

  7. French are super based in this. Completely different approach to colonies compared to British/Belgians/Dutch/Spanish and others.

    And yes, there are difference between metropolitian France and colonies and yes, there was and probably still is some degree of prevalent racism, from the point of French Law, France doesnt make a difference. Its all France and you are all French.
    Liberte, egalite, fraternite!

  14. LOL is this sub gonna pretend they treat white and non-white European citizens the same? Go read literally any thread about a crime committed by a non-white European. Europe doesn’t have a hyphenated identity, it has a quotation identity where people are European and “European”, or French and “French”, or Swedish and “Swedish”, or British and “British”, etc.

  17. Araud sounds like a Redditor, in that he makes massive generalizations about a country’s culture based off the problematic views of one person from that country.

    Imagine if I used Araud’s letter as evidence that (somehow) all French people are pretentious. That wouldn’t be fair to France, would it?

  21. I used to try to like Trevor Noah’s show. He’s not funny and it feels like everything he talks about is race.

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