First ‘Miss Black France’ Pageant Causes Controversy
France is gearing up for its first ever “Miss Black France” pageant, and while many are excited about the show, others are calling it a step backward.
Saturday a bevy of French beauties will compete for the first ever “Miss Black France title in Paris,” an honor its promoters feel is long overdue.
“The purpose of this beauty contest is to shine a light on the many Black women in this country who are rarely given any media attention,” Frederic Royer, the pageant’s promoter, told France 24. “The Miss France competition is not nearly representative enough of modern France.”
The creators of “Miss France,” the country’s national pageant, called the “Miss Black France” contest “progressive,” noting, “France has a big racial mix and it must be emphasized as much as possible.“
The last time France had a woman of color take center stage in a beauty pageant was over a decade ago, in 2000, when Sonia Rolland—a biracial woman of Rwandan descent—won the “Miss France” title.
However, since then tensions in France, particularly an anti-immigrant sentiment, have continued to mount, culminating in a high percentage of voters (nearly 18%) supporting far right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen.
Critics of the “Miss Black France” contest claim it is “stupid” and “detrimental to French values” which officially ignores a person’s race (only seeing them as French), not even tracking it on the country’s census documents.
“This logic is detrimental to the values of French society,” Patrick Lozès, founder and former president of the French Representative Council of Black Associations. “If I think that there are not enough Black people in the most prestigious schools and companies, am I going to go create establishments exclusively reserved for Blacks?”
Despite many immigrants and people of color feeling increasingly discriminated against in France, Lozès says he’s afraid the new trend of singling out and acknowledging France’s black communities will further erode unity.
“I’m afraid that all of that will make French people even more defensive at a time when the National Front is more popular than ever,” he said. “It’s a contest that stipulates that white women are not welcome, which is very disturbing. This initiative could be perceived as a hostile event that will further erode national unity.”
While he doesn’t discount the discrimination currently at play in France, Lozès warns that having contests and intuitions catering toward France’s black communities is the wrong way to be recognized by the larger populace.
“We can’t start having ethnically exclusive contests if our ultimate goal is to have all-inclusive national contests. It’s a serious strategic error.”
What do you think? Is France’s first “Miss Black French” competition a good move or a step backward
Racism is easy, but race relations have been and forever will be complex. I think as black Americans we have to first understand the concept of “black” is very fluid throughout the rest of the world. Here at home there’s almost something inherit that allows us to identify our own. If a woman has skin like milk, but just the right type of curl we can identify her as black (one drop rules of slavery have reinforced this sort of mulatto identification). As an extension there is scale of sorts for black folks and how they will be received in other parts of the world. I have a caramel color, and curly-kinky-yet-straight-in-the-bakc hair fusion until a flat iron hits it. Here at home I’m black, others see me as black, and my distant mulatto heritage be damned. But my experience in Europe? Quite different. I was adored and gawked at lustfully by Italian men, asked if I was from the Netherlands whilst in Milan, if I was “half cast” in England, blending in on the Paris subways with the other hundreds of French black folk that look like me, while being embraced by a strange gypsy man. And here at home, if I run across the right person at the Hispanic grocery store they assume I can speak Spanish. The point is this, no one pigeon holes “black” people more than other black and white Americans. Contrary to all assumptions and realities we face here at home, we have no clue how we will be received outside the borders of this country. Even Osama Bin Laden gave his sympathy to the black American populous while he rejoiced over the 9/11 attacks essentially saying that it was unfortunate that we too had to share pain in the tragedy because we are the descendents of slaves. What’s going on here is a complicated issue. Taking a look at the beautiful young women in the picture, most of them seem to be a brown or darker complexion(all but two perhaps). Where are the lighter toned women? Are they not black? Does the pageant not speak to them? Do they not feel marginalized by the lack of black representation? Is it just that there is only a certain type of black representation? And if the latter is true then there’s little need to look overseas for controversy. I think we have plenty of that going on right here at home.
True…where are the lighter women. If it was the reverse….All Black is Black, right?
Mon Dieu! Non daltonien France, il n’est pas possible, mensonges maudits.
Yes, lies
I don’t know how black women in France are treated,but if it’s anything like black American women are treated.Which is made to feel unwanted.While white women or women who’s skin looks so light you wouldn’t know their black unless they told you,are always seen as beautiful.The world has know problem making black women feel unwanted,ugly and less than other women.I have no problem with France’s first Miss black French competition.I’ll vote for the woman at the bottom left.Who’s hair look like Diana Ross.
@jw
Does France have an Oprah? A Beyonce? A Condolezza Rice? A Michelle Obama? That should answer your question.
@ Qcastle Does France have an Oprah? A Beyonce? A Condolezza Rice? A Michelle Obama? That should answer your question.
Well they have Aissa Maiga and notice she is a bit darker than a paper bag.
*kayne shrug*
who edits these articles?!?!?!this is a magazine, no?
“of Rwandan decent” — descent*
decent vs. descent
DECENT: Conforming with generally accepted standards of respectable or moral behavior.
DESCENT: derivation from an ancestor; lineage; extraction.
As a black French woman, I will never suppport this nonsense. My country is not perfect and the last thing that I want to hear is black miss France. Give me a break! One miss France is enough already.
AA are always trying to make it look like we black French women live in a bad country. Do not force on us your way of living and your experiences. We are not the same. We may share the same skin color but our CULTURE is different. Respect it!
There may be some black French that have issues or don’t like their country but it is not the case for most of us. For many like me, our country is the best place to live, raise our kids and retired despite all of its problems. We don’t need you to tell us what we need. Accept us for who we are just the same way we accept the fact that you share a culture different than ours.
Um, how is this about AA women where you feel the need to be so sanctimonious?
Your beef is with your beloved country, not AA women.
Your country is the one where they are holding this event, so why are you so mad at AA women?
Axe to grind, n’est ce pas?