“Blacks in France”: France 2 gives the floor to Blacks in France

Héloïse Goy with Alexis Patri 10:53 a.m., January 18, 2022

Their lives and their stories are little and badly represented in the media and in the cinema.

France 2 gives them the floor.

The public channel broadcasts the documentary 

on Tuesday evening , which gives the floor to black French people of all ages and from all walks of life, known or unknown to the general public.

A film by Aurélia Perreau and narrated by the writer Alain Mabanckou.

To tell these stories, all different from each other, the documentary is built around six main characters, including Maïly, a 9-year-old girl. 

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"In my class, we are only two black students. I have already been told, 'You are black, so you are not beautiful and I do not play with you'. It makes me a little sad", explains the child in the documentary.

"I want to tell these people that it's as if there were few whites and we were more blacks and we told you 'You're ugly because you're white'."

The test of the white and black dolls reproduced

In addition to archive images that trace the history of discrimination in France against black people, the director sought to know the weight of racial prejudice on the unconscious of children.

For this, the documentary reproduces a test that already existed in the United States in the 1940s.

"We gave black children to choose between a white doll and a black doll", details in 

the director of the national museum of immigration.

"And we noticed that the child took the doll he preferred, rather than the doll that looked the most like him. It was almost always the white doll."

A test where black children assign faults (wickedness, dirtiness) to the black doll and qualities (kindness, beauty) to the white doll from an early age.

Soprano, Karine Baste and Firmine Richard

The film is also nourished by testimonials from celebrities.

Viewers will be able to hear, for example, comedian and director Jean-Pascal Zadi, journalist Karine Baste, singer Soprano and his colleague and tennis player Yannick Noah. 

This documentary is part of a special evening on France 2. It will be followed by a debate moderated by Julian Bugier, in the presence in particular of the writer Alain Mabanckou and the actress Firmine Richard.

This special evening begins Tuesday at 9:10 p.m. on France 2.