INTERVIEW
"Change may be happening", rejoices Ben L'Oncle Soul, in reaction to the movement of indignation against racism which rises in the United States and in France since the death of George Floyd. At the microphone of Matthieu Noël in L'Équipée Sauvage, on Europe 1, the singer says he is "very touched" by the current mobilization. He evokes in particular the large demonstration of June 2, which had gathered more than 20,000 people at the call of the family support committee of Adama Traoré, a young black Frenchman of 24 years died in 2016 after his arrest. "I'm very happy that it ends up happening," he adds.
For Ben L'Oncle Soul, "things haven't moved enough yet"
For Ben L'Oncle Soul, this renewed mobilization on the issue of racism could be linked to the very specific situation that the country has gone through since the start of the coronavirus crisis. "Did the containment not help to feel that we all needed each other?" He asked.
Asked about his own experience, Ben L'Oncle Soul confirms that "yes", he too was confronted with racism in his life. And he doesn't particularly see a reduction in this racism in recent years. "On a historical scale, we can perhaps speak of a change, but not of my experience," he says. In any case, he concludes, "change may be happening".
A change is gonna come, a cappella
He himself also intends, on his own scale, to get involved in mobilization. Next Saturday, he is in fact invited by Serena Williams' coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, to the inauguration of a new closed-door tennis tournament, the Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS), towards Nice.
The coach scheduled a speech and a minute of silence, and invited Ben L'Oncle Soul "to sing a cappella " a song that is close to his heart. The artist will therefore sing the song A change is gonna come , by Sam Cook. He will perform with Linda Lee Hopkins, a gospel singer who has lived in France for years. "She is more of my mother's generation, my grandmother's, and knew the 60s and the release of the song. 60 years later, it echoes to sing to two generations, and to see that this song is still so topical, that things have not yet moved enough ", summarizes the singer.