The Birth Of A Nation in France on Wednesday 11 January 2017
A narrative on the issue of race relations in France by Bah-Pna Dahane
I was pleased to spend my summer vacation at Martha's Vineyard, where I was able to attend the conversation on the film "The Birth Of A Nation".
In collaboration with the National Center of The Armenian Memory, I am printing the content of the exposition I organized last summer in France with Ndaba Mandela. This booklet on slavery is so far the best exposition I have seen in France that depicts the reality of slavery and colonization and its aftermath on the psychology of black folks.
It's free of charge, you don't need to pay a dime for anything, just email a picture of your ticket after you went the film to roots1901@gmail.com
As a basketball die-hard fan, I am also very happy to learn that French basketball point guard, Tony Parker, with whom I worked with at his beginning in the NBA was among the backers of "The Birth Of A Nation"
The Birth Of A Nation Trailer:
Let’s have a real talk on race relations in France. I am still amazed that in this beautiful country, country of the universal declaration of human rights, it takes a half-white team owner the following to own a basketball team: 4 NBA rings, 1 NBA Finals MVP, 1 European Gold Medal and 2 Olympic Games appearances before you can be entitled to own a team. Most importantly, he was allowed so because he brings the most of it and he takes the biggest risk: his money, his investors, which Unequivocally gives great publicity for the city and great publicity for France. My people, we must be behind him and make sure he becomes the best team owner France ever had. Let’s be behind him so his team brings the first basketball Euroleague title in France.
THE TOILET PAPER TALK
I need to bring that toilet paper talk. Everyone is probably wondering why such awkward title right?
Just a scene I experienced a few weeks ago, in this beautiful country of France. I was attending a training session on communication, empathy, the word and its symbol. We were a group of 14, as often I was the only black person there and the two teachers were also white. It started well with an example on how the information lose its content and sense when person 1 reports it to person 2 and so forth up to person 14th. By the time we get to person 14, the story totally changed. They called that experiment the “telephone Arab” (the Arab telephone). Then we started another exercise on the good and bad words. We had 3 different titles: the strong words, the weak words and the words that are banned and not good to be used, they named it the black words. What was interesting is that I am tall, about 6’5 for 240 pounds and athletic, the teacher didn’t look at me with a smile when she talked about the strong words to use, however, she felt compelled to look at me with a gentle smile when she used the term black words. I took it as a simple coincidence, so I returned her smile. The next topic was Empathy, and we did some exercise and I don’t know why they felt the need to ask me what came to my mind if they say white words. It was now money time for me, she and the rest of the group didn’t know that under my quiet demeanor I GOT Game. It was money time for me; it was my time to answer. I purposely replied the following with the same smile she gave me earlier when talking about the black words. Acting naively, I naturally said “what came to my mind when I hear white words? Do you want me to give examples?” She replied positively, so I went on with “what comes to my mind for white words is:
Toilet paper, baby diapers, women’s menstrual pads, tissue, cocaine...” Suddenly the whole class was calm. Imagine the 3-point Ray Allen took on game 5 against the Spurs, the same effect occurred in the classroom. No one talked for at least a minute…Deep silence. One of my co-workers got angry and said “I don’t know why you say that when I see black people I don’t think about negative words and I have many black friends. What a racist comment!” I smiled at her and replied, “When I see you I don’t think of toilet paper either and I do also have many white friends”.
Now, the 15 white people in the classroom were giving a weird look and just by changing their norm I suddenly became the one with racist ideas. In France, they like to call black people, people of color, however, after I gave the example, I saw they face going from pink to red while me, the person of color, remained still black.
Now, the 15 white people in the classroom were giving a weird look and just by changing their norm I suddenly became the one with racist ideas. In France, they like to call black people, people of color, however, after I gave the example, I saw they face going from pink to red while me, the person of color, remained still black.
It didn’t end there, one of the teachers tried to calm the situation by patronizing me on the fact that toilet paper exists in many colors and she already saw black toilet paper. Now, I was the one puzzled, it was ok for them to associate black with negative words, but suddenly we are embarking on a talk about the color of toilet paper and that black toilet paper also exists. Always with my calm posture and a gentle smile, I told her “In most grocery stores, toilet paper comes in either white or pink, I never found a black toilet paper at a grocery store before.
I am sure that it does exist but its more fantasy toilet paper, and it’s more expensive than the pink and white toilet paper. It’s the Maybach or Bentley of toilet paper”. They all got mad and one of the teachers finally said “I knew we shouldn’t be using this term black words to describe negative things. I said it when we were preparing the training courses, I knew it!” Before the two teachers called for a break, I took another shot at the buzzer “the exercise was about empathy right? So you had a real empathy experiment because I simply changed your norm.”
I am sure that it does exist but its more fantasy toilet paper, and it’s more expensive than the pink and white toilet paper. It’s the Maybach or Bentley of toilet paper”. They all got mad and one of the teachers finally said “I knew we shouldn’t be using this term black words to describe negative things. I said it when we were preparing the training courses, I knew it!” Before the two teachers called for a break, I took another shot at the buzzer “the exercise was about empathy right? So you had a real empathy experiment because I simply changed your norm.”
Instead of the usual 10min break we had an additional 5-minute bonus. To my astonishment, the next day, most coworkers went to complain to Human Ressource Manager about my toilet paper talk... I continue laughing because I am sure that the15 people will make sure to use toilet paper of different color, while I’ll continue purchasing pink or white toilet paper.
The Rape charge: Understanding the Nate Parker scandal
A rape is a rape no matter what, a no is a no, no matter what. I am not defending Nate Parker on this but the justice cleared him from it. I hope that many of you have seen the movie “He Got Game” with Ray Allen in which he was visiting a university. Do you remember the scene with the white girls:
It seems fictional but I can assure you this is not fiction. When you are tall, black and athletic even if you are not student-athlete, white women will throw themselves at you. I was fortunate that I watched "He Got Game", although I thought it was an exaggeration in the film, my experience at Portland State University just confirmed what I saw in the movie. Because of that reality, considering a white woman as your First Lady was simply out of the question. What would I say to my kids when they asked me "Dad, how did you meet Mommy?" To answer "Mommy was a jump off?" I can't do that to my kids, therefore the stereotypes of the white women as a whore was born. I couldn't believe it because to my world prostitutes were doing that in exchange for money thus setting a price for their services, but on campus, it was for them just to brag about how many black men they were able to screw and free of charge. It became so natural that every time you met a white girl on campus, the next thing you did was to pick up your phone, call few black friends and asked if they knew her. 101% of the time, the did.
In college, it was common to have the white girl or white girls knocking at your room past midnight because of that "jungle fever", no Advil, Tylenol or even Prozac can heal but only da'black man magic stick was the best organic medicine with no chemical that could heal them immediately. The black man next door was their 911.
It seems fictional but I can assure you this is not fiction. When you are tall, black and athletic even if you are not student-athlete, white women will throw themselves at you. I was fortunate that I watched "He Got Game", although I thought it was an exaggeration in the film, my experience at Portland State University just confirmed what I saw in the movie. Because of that reality, considering a white woman as your First Lady was simply out of the question. What would I say to my kids when they asked me "Dad, how did you meet Mommy?" To answer "Mommy was a jump off?" I can't do that to my kids, therefore the stereotypes of the white women as a whore was born. I couldn't believe it because to my world prostitutes were doing that in exchange for money thus setting a price for their services, but on campus, it was for them just to brag about how many black men they were able to screw and free of charge. It became so natural that every time you met a white girl on campus, the next thing you did was to pick up your phone, call few black friends and asked if they knew her. 101% of the time, the did.
In college, it was common to have the white girl or white girls knocking at your room past midnight because of that "jungle fever", no Advil, Tylenol or even Prozac can heal but only da'black man magic stick was the best organic medicine with no chemical that could heal them immediately. The black man next door was their 911.
To illustrate what many young athletes are going through or many people who are perceived as being pro athletes are going through, I purposely documented these pictures below.
The pictures weren't taken in any gentlemen clubs or at a private party. It was in a regular VVIP section in a club in New York, with the consent of these ladies.
These pictures weren't taken 19 years ago, they are recent pictures so Imagine a 19 years old teenager in the middle of all that?
These pictures weren't taken 19 years ago, they are recent pictures so Imagine a 19 years old teenager in the middle of all that?
The manifestation of the KKK* syndrome or the "Kim-Khloe-Kardashian" syndrome
In college, for those who attended college in the United States, it’s very frequent to find many ladies just waiting to place their order, ready to take some risks on choosing the stock that will yield them a high return on investment. By high return on investment I mean the stock they picked (the black athlete) will yield some high interest once he enters the stock market (NBA, NFL, MLS, MLB, etc…).
Most of the time when they end up not happy with their choice and looking for a better stock, they won’t hesitate to call it a rape or anything that can put them at ease. I clearly remember my time at Portland State University, I wasn’t a student-athlete, just an international student who came to study in America , however anytime we went clubbing we were automatically granted some perks: we had our VIP access, once in the VIP section we had a tons of white girls – I am not pointing any white girls particularly I am just describing what happened in my experience – and being at the bar you just pick and choose which one interest you better. You just had to point the finger at the one you like and she comes. She even offers to pay for the drink and the rest is rated R.If you attend the house parties that football athletes were throwing, it was common that many of the girls were offering free blow jobs at will. As someone of African descent "Coming to America", I must confess that Eddie Murphy contributed a lot of us being the "Envy of the world" on campus. We were humble and easy going because we were broke students not because of trying to hide our wealth from our royal families in Africa.
Let's be honest if you are Prince or a king from an African village, which can be true, your wealth is not determined in terms of marble palaces, diamonds or gold, it often translates into you having lots of goats, sheeps, camels, etc.... but you live in a nice mud hut not like a palace in Zamunda. After all, as a student, why would you shoot a bullet on your feet when white girls are trying to impress you? It was practice time so you can be ready to win the championship so you can put da'ring on your Black Queen.
My time at Portland State University, I never had to worry about cooking, about doing my laundry, I didn't even bother having a car always one to offer a ride anytime I wanted to go somewhere. I benefited from all these perks just because Eddie Murphy has the genius to make a fictional film depicting a powerful African prince who came to America.
I thought it was only an African having a unique experience in the United States until I visited Sydney, Australia. I have heard many accounts of racism in Australia, and based on my time there, I wondered if it wasn't because white female were all over black men. In Australia, based on my experience, women were challenging themselves to get your attention. I never paid a drink at a club in Sydney, Australia. You come to a club, like the one in King Cross area, within minutes a waiter comes with a drink and points you the lady who sent the drink for you. You barely finished your drink another waiter comes with another drink from another lady and it goes on and on until you decide which one you are going to have a chat with. At that time I didn't know at all about writings by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in "We are all feminist". Having experienced in Europe, America and now Oceania, white women lust for black men, I automatically resented them. I was raised to chase the woman, not woman chasing me that is probably the reason I didn't welcome them, it wasn't part of my education to see women throwing themselves at men.
Every black man who went to Australia can relate to the night club experience, every African man who went to college in the US in the late 90's and early year 2k can also relate to the "Zamunda" experience.
My black queens never lust at me the way white female did. Trying to get just a phone number and a date was like fighting Goliath. Asking a black woman on a date at that era you were automatically prepared to get many rejections but we kept in mind what Michael Jordan said "I failed many times, that why I succeed"...in getting a date with a black woman.
" We raise girls to see each other as competitors not for jobs or accomplishments, which I think can be a good thing, but for the attention of men. We teach girls that they cannot be sexual beings in the way that boys are.”
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
He insisted "don't be that stuck up, I really want her to fulfill that dreams of hers. Think about it if you change your mind the offer is still there". His offer really struck me and I was thinking again about the King Kong movie... Is the Gorilla a representation of the white woman lust for the black man?
It's not easy to be a black man in America, after police brutality comes white women with the Kim-Klhoe-Kardashian syndrome for, First Name: Mandingo, Last name: King Kong... just kidding!
Back to the Portland State University athletes party times, it was common to see a line of guys waiting in front of the restrooms or bathroom for their free lollipops at those parties. Most amazing is that the next days those same white girls were bragging about how many lollipops they gave away and which one was the most successful at giving the best to the star athlete of the campus.
Many of these gold diggers girls were suggesting to get drunk or to get high because according to them getting drunk or high gave them more sensation and allowed them to enjoy the free distribution of lollipop.
I remember the advice that the big brothers gave me before I came to college the first time in the United States: "the cheapest thing in America are a can of Coca-Cola, a hamburger, and the white woman", when brothers are leaving the motherland for France they also receive the kind of advice but with a little difference "you'll love France, the cheapest things there are the wine, the cheese, the french baguette and the french women and they love bi-racial kids so if you want your paperwork within a week you can find a white woman and you'll be on good standing".
When I learned about the Nate Parker’s rape charges and knowing he was star wrestler I really questioned if the rape charge really happened. Having seen things first hand in college at Portland State University, I really questioned what really happened that night Nate Parker got charged with rape.
One day, after a "locker room" talk with my white teammates who recently traveled to some African countries I was just listening and laughing at their stories. They were bragging at how many African women they had fun with for less than 5 dollars, they were able to end the night with two or three African sex workers. Since we were having a "locker room" talk without mention of grabbing anything, I felt it was ok for me to share my white women college experience and I added that "You were dealing with African sex workers, so due to poverty they had to that, what I shared with you is that your white women did that for free and were proud of it". Once again, when you change someone's norm, you automatically became the racist, the prejudiced. I can't recall how many time after sharing some stories with white friends I end up being the racist person!
One day, after a "locker room" talk with my white teammates who recently traveled to some African countries I was just listening and laughing at their stories. They were bragging at how many African women they had fun with for less than 5 dollars, they were able to end the night with two or three African sex workers. Since we were having a "locker room" talk without mention of grabbing anything, I felt it was ok for me to share my white women college experience and I added that "You were dealing with African sex workers, so due to poverty they had to that, what I shared with you is that your white women did that for free and were proud of it". Once again, when you change someone's norm, you automatically became the racist, the prejudiced. I can't recall how many time after sharing some stories with white friends I end up being the racist person!
SOME IMAGE OF RAPISTS:
Conversation on "The Birth Of A Nation"
The day after I attended the conversation with Aja Naomi King, Spike Lee and Nate Parker, I ran into Angela Davis the next day in the afternoon at Nancy's restaurant while watching the Olympics basketball game Carmelo Anthony's team USA vs Tony Parker's team France team while enjoying a fresh glass of a blond (beer) under that Heat. That same evening of Sunday 14th of August, I decided to go back to Lola's restaurant. A place I had discovered the night before and liked it. To me it was a great destination to sit and watch Usain Bolt's historical win. But that night we had a surprise visit at Lola's. It was also a historical moment there because the soon to be former White House tenants showed up for the first time. Miss Lola was happy, she rushed to capture that moment and said to President "it was about time you come here" the only thing that wasn't cool is that we had to wait on the parking lot at Lola's for at least 30minutes because no one could leave the premises unless the President leaves. I couldn't believe all the motorcade, the ambulance, the squadron all dressed up in black with no expression in their eyes. Trust me, you don't want to mess with them. I wondered "waoouh, all that company just to go at night in a restaurant?"
I was tired to wait outside so I went back to the "party" and found Alonzo Mourning I had met few weeks before in Houston for the pre-Olympic basketball screening game of Team USA vs Team Nigeria. It was interesting to see how things unfold because when it comes to slavery, the biggest contingent of Africans was taken from Nigeria. I was so happy to see that Nate Parker didn't remove that African tradition at the beginning of his film.
* President Obama & First Lady Michelle Obama arriving at Lola's restaurant:
The day I left Martha's Vineyard, while on the boat that brought me back to Cape Cod, I sat and started exploring the definition of the word serendipity? The year before, in 2015, a friend of mine who attended Spike Lee's reception for his movie "Chiraq" at Martha's Vineyard brought me a tee-shirt with "Officially on Vineyard time with President Obama".
.
Being black, African with a French citizenship, the title of the film Chiraq, made me think of the former French President Jacques Chirac who on this video tells the truth when he said "French wealth comes from the exploitation of Africa and Africans, we must return to Africans what we stole from them otherwise we might pay the consequences later"
Interestingly enough to find out that I ran into Angela Davis at the Musee du Quai Branly Jacques Chirac while attending the exhibit "The Color line", which uses the same flag that Spike Lee used in his film.
I wondered what made me decided to cancel my trip to Rio De Janeiro and embark on a road trip to visit deep south United States in order to understand the aftermath of slavery on black folks. Was that tee-shirt an unofficial invitation for me to go to Martha's Vineyard?
I wanted to feel the deep south in order to better understand the United States of America and the "Soul of Black Folks". Was it serendipity that made me change my mind to remain in the US and travel for Martha's Vineyard. The last time I saw president Obama was in Soweto during Nelson Mandela's funeral, and I was able to witness live this handshake with Raul Castro. That year 2016 was also interesting because few hours before I left New York to go to the first ever NBA All-Star Game in Canada on that time of Black History Month, I was pleased to meet with the South-African Trevor Noah at a restaurant at the meatpacking district on my way to the country Harriet Tubman took the freed slaves with the underground railway. Interesting enough, I was with Nelson Mandela's grandson that evening we had that dinner with Trevor Noah. We had this conversation on race in America and in South Africa, when I watched his interview with soon to be former President Obama, I wondered again "why it has to be an African journalist from South Africa working in the USA to interview a half-white president of Kenyan decent on the topic of race relations in the United States?" Why it couldn't be Travis Smiley? Cornell West? Reverand Al Sharpton? Michael Eric Dyson on a national channel such as ABC, CBS or CNN... I asked myself that question because a black American friend of mine once told me about President Obama and Trevor Noah... " They are Black but they are also half-white and directly from Africans with no direct link to slavery so white people will listen to them because of they don't feel that uncomfortable."
Then he added " True Obama was raised by a single mother, but his father left them to study at Harvard and he grew up in Hawaii. I wish the reason I grew up fatherless was because my Dad went to Harvard!" I remained speechless and realized that the issue of race relations in the US is much more complicated than I thought.
In 15 days, the Obama's will be gone and missed by many. I like the fact that Trevor Noah could interview the President on that question concerning race in America.
I copied Trevor Noah on this along with Michael Eric Dyson, who wrote a wonderful book on " The Black Presidency" hoping that the Big 3 will get together after President Obama leaves the White House and host a real conversation on Race Relations in America.
Since France is copying the United States, I hope they will be influenced by this US dynamic to have an open conversation on race relations in the black France.
I never understand why racist people like to compare blacks to monkeys?
For a long time, we have been taught at school that HIV/AIDS came from Africa because a monkey had a sexual intercourse with an African woman. I was expelled from class at 14years old after I told the teacher: "In King Kong it was a white woman not an African woman...maybe the monkey slept with this white woman, then she slept with African guys and they contracted it from her and they pass it on?".
That same clenched fist Angela Davis had when she beat the system, that
I keep wondering if Blacks in France are so desperate for belonging to the white supremacy cast?. Last May, when Reverend Jesse Jackson was invited to attend the celebration of the abolition of slavery in France, he found himself at a restaurant sharing a meal with that same racist politician. I woke up that next day wondering what happened to Martin Luther King's dream.
The clenched fist has been a recurring symbol in the struggles of the labor movement, representing class solidarity and the agency of the working man. The children of early labor activists then adopted the symbol throughout the social movements in the mid-century. In the 1960's, the New Left emerged to protest social and political policies that were oppressive and demonstrative of the racist and gendered ideologies that informed law-making. The New Left used the symbol of the raised fist in the Vietnam anti-war movement and later in the Black Power and Women's Liberation movements to represent solidarity, resistance, militancy and radicalism. These activists were seeking ways to disrupt the common order and establish a new system of social and political ideologies that did not discriminate against women, African-Americans, other communities of color or gay women and men. The first use of the clenched fist as a symbol of black power was during the medal ceremony of the 1968 Olympics. John Carlos and Tommie Smith raised their fists, clothed in black gloves, into the air in the spirit of resistance and defiance against the established order.
On that day of December 29th after my Parisian jog, I stopped at one of my favorite spot to take a breakfast at the Peninsula to find this piece by the NY Times:
THE SYMBOLISM OF THE CLENCHED FIST FOR DUMMY BLACKS
On that day of December 29th after my Parisian jog, I stopped at one of my favorite spot to take a breakfast at the Peninsula to find this piece by the NY Times:
Let's pray that "The Birth Of A Nation" will not be canceled at the last minute as they did with Spike Lee's movie "Miracle at St Anna", which was depicting the courage and important role of black soldiers in liberating Europe from the Nazi regime and that the first soldier who died for French liberation on the shores of Normandy was a Black soldier. Indeed "There was a Buffalo Soldier In the heart of America. Stolen from Africa, brought to America, Fighting on arrival, fighting for survival"... and these Buffalo soldiers fought and died also on the shores of France to knock out Nazism.
With the release of "The Birth Of A Nation" in France next week, I am happy that we are going to see a movie that is on the big screen and speaks seriously about slavery.
Last French film on slavery that made a huge success in France was the movie "Case Depart". It was a comic movie on slavery and most people who went to attend the movie, blacks French, included said "it's good movie because it talks about slavery with humor and it's a good way to talk about it"
Was Spielberg's "Schindler's list" a comic movie on the Jewish experience?
Was "Life is beautiful" a comic movie on the Jewish experience?
Was the "Diary of Anne Franck" a comic movie on the Jewish experience?
Was Djamel Debouzze's film "Indigenes" which dealt with the people from the Maghreb who fought for the liberation of France from Nazi Germany a comic film?
Why mainstream black French actors need to make the topic of slavery a comic movie?
See you Wednesday 11th at the movie theater.
Don't miss it...
And remember...
“If you know your history
Then you would know where you coming from
Then you wouldn't have to ask me
Who the heck do I think I am?
I'm just a Buffalo Soldier
In the heart of America
Stolen from Africa, brought to America
Said he was fighting on arrival
Fighting for survival
Said he was a Buffalo Soldier
Win…" - Bob Marley
Please keep in mind, there is no attempt to offend anyone, the purpose is to have a frank conversation based on our experiences all feedback are welcomed. Thank You.
And the most important thing to remember is we can be united within our differences because:
Thank You,
And the most important thing to remember is we can be united within our differences because:
Thank You,
Bah-Pna
Remembering Dr.Frances Cress Welsing ... a year already. Thank You for your teachings and contribution to our pride.
