The Black People’s Lobby
France and America seem to have a lot in common when it comes to their citizens of color. Both, to varying degrees, claim to be colorblind. However, when it comes access to opportunity and justice, it appears the amount you receive of each is inversely proportional to the amount of melanin one has. Each have laws on the books guaranteeing equal regard but, for some reason, these laws aren’t on autopilot and require that darker-skinned residents be constantly pushing to actually enjoy those rights.
There is one difference, however. Rather than just marching and protesting about the condition and treatment of black folks, black people in France have actually formed a lobby to address their concerns.
The Representative Council of Black Organizations (Le Conseil Représentative des Associations Noires, or CRAN), formed in the aftermath of the 2005 riots in France.Since that time, they developed a grass-roots organization formed of more than 130 black civic associations around the country.
Their agenda: to make the concerns of their black residents part of the national dialogue by organizing the black vote around those concerns.
The group’s head, Patrick Lozès, offers his perspective on the group and its mission:
“To be black and proud - that’s not being anti-French. It’s simply the liberation of a people who don’t see themselves reflected in their country’s public life - in its theater, television, medicine, and universities - except in negative images.”
Does any of this hit close to home?
However, their strategy is, still, as yet untested:
CRAN’s big test will come in this spring’s presidential and parliamentary elections. While political experts are doubtful that the group will succeed in uniting blacks in a single voting bloc, its leaders say they will make their mark by putting the question of racial discrimination squarely on the campaign agenda.
Nonetheless, I salute CRAN for approaching this issue with honesty and putting the concerns of black folks front and center in their political platform.
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