Racists in Paris
In the Captain Obvious news of the day, there are racists in Paris, France too. There’s no escaping them. They permeate every corner of this Earth in some way, shape or form. Even in my beloved Paris. Le sigh.
So I’m walking from class with a classmate on the Boulevard du Montparnasse when I see a chic little costume shop I’d never noticed before. Bidding adieu to my classmate, I go inside to check it out. As I peruse the masquerade mask aisle, the two White American gentlemen who were also in the store walk out, leaving just the sales clerk and me in the store. Whatever pop-y french music that was playing stops playing and suddenly over the loudspeaker, I hear the Hit Boy-produced beat drop and I recognize the new song he chose to play instead, right away: Jay-Z and Kanye West’s hit track, “N***** in Paris.” I was the only customer in the store and as such, the sales clerk must have felt obliged to play the soundtrack to my life for me, a n**** in Paris.
As I calmly put the masks I was going to purchase back onto their shelves, I tried to think of all the French curse words I had learned in previous years. Fortunately for us both, that morning, I had listened to my Christian meditation on keeping your peace in difficult situations — and I also couldn’t remember any relevant French profanity — so I just left without a look or a word or a sound.
I am aware that in this song Jay-Z and Kanye are rapping about how they made it out of the ghetto (used loosely for Kanye) and are now “balling so hard [Oedipus Rexes] want to fine” them, and are living it up in Paris and everywhere else they aren’t “supposed to be” and yelling out “that ish cray!” and other such things that don’t relate to my life. So, did this French hipster consider himself “celebrating” my obviously American self being able to afford to come to Paris and escape the ghetto I must have come from? Or was he telling me I wasn’t “supposed to be here,” in the store or Paris in general? Or was he just straight up calling me a “N**** in Paris”?!?! Quoi le EFF, sir?
I Knew It Would Come to This…
I am annoyed that the ammunition that the sales clerk was able to use in firing off his ignorance was a song written by Black men. And yes, I am irritated by rappers and Blacks in general who continue to use this historically painful word as if its use is somehow empowering. I did not feel empowered when it was hurled at me by that sales clerk (who probably believes himself to be super progressive, or socialiste, or whatever get-out-of-racism-free card they play over here). I felt shocked and embarrassed and incredibly sad for him and how massively burdensome his nescience must be.
But I am even more vexed by people like rapper Nas who give people like Gwyneth Paltrow a “pass” to say the “N-Word,” as if, by the power vested in regulatory Blackness, there is a certain point at which a person can be deemed “Black enough” to say it — whether by deeds (like saxophone playing!) or Paltrow’s sheer proximity to rappers. And if a real Blackity-Black person like Nas says you’re “fam,” (whatever that is supposed to mean) then by golly, all Black people should accept this. Well, no. I do not accept any of this.
But if racism were only a mere irritation — a simple discomfiture, if you will — that boiled down to insults and hurt feelings, that would be an upgrade for racism. Yes, if I only had to stomach an entitled child a decade my junior pitying me enough to advise me on life in all of her obvious, worldly, superior wisdom, then maybe I’d be inclined to pay attention to the talk of this post-racial world I keep hearing about.
Except it isn’t about feelings or name-calling or prejudices. Racism is an intricate, global entanglement of economic, educational and cultural policies and laws that actively works to block access to even the most basic of resources –health, safety, and education, among them — to entire races of people, most aggressively against those of us socially classified as Black. Most tragic, the results of systemic racism are inescapable poverty and reduced life chances for masses of people based solely on the non-genetic classification of skin color.
But it starts out so small and “harmless.” It starts with some people being so confident in their own inherent superiority that they develop the nerve, stones and the gumption to be a teenage baby mama lecturing the President of the United States on his parenting skills, a college co-ed schooling a woman with a law degree on how to learn good, or a hipster sales clerk cleverly playing “N***** in Paris,” because, you know, there’s a Black woman in a store, in Paris. Yes, that’s how it starts.
And with each generation of privileged folk teaching the next generation that privilege is genetically and socially inherited (and not at all gained by theft and indoctrination), using stereotypes as a justification not only for that deeply-held belief but also for creating and sustaining oppressive policies and laws that perpetuate this new-age mental, economic, and cultural enslavement of those without privilege, and all-the-while brainwashing masses into denying the very existence of this privilege and the belief in its inherent nature, without which the system could not even stand — the band plays on to a Hit Boy-produced beat and we all dance to it.
After all, it’s just a victimless song, just a harmless word to which we give or take power. Privilege. N*****. Words, words words. There is no spoon. There are no words. No man behind the curtain.
That ish cray.
Oh. Wow. I wasn’t ready. Going to an all white prep school in the south in the 80’s and 90’s, I dealt with quite a bit if foolishness – impromptu raps in the hall, “homeboy” stances as I walked by, spitting, and “gifts” in my locker, but wow. Not ready for a racist serenade, in this day and age. As creative as those two can be, all they could come up with was THAT to show how far we’ve come? Something so ugly in such a beautiful city. Great points in this post. Well written.
I wasn’t ready either, Eva! Thanks for reading and sharing with me!
You know what, the more I think about this and how averse I am to being the “teacher” in situations like this were people have done or said something ignorant, the more I think about the scripture I was meditating on in the post I wrote just yesterday: “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” Systemic racism not only hurts those being oppressed, but also cuts to the very soul of those oppressing. Lord, help me be patient with them, not wanting them to perish in that sin but everyone to come to repentance so there can be true healing and a true end to this system on Earth as it is in Heaven!
And while you learn patience may God give you avenues to teach in productive ways that bring about societal changes one person at a time. Beginning with that letter to the store clerk . Write it in English that way when he gets an interpreter and they’ll both learn together the error of their thinking and ways.
*standing ovation*
that is all…
oh, i lied. p.s. i have never heard the song before, so the oedipus rex reference really confused me. took me a while to get it. remedial moment to the MAX over here. i know you’re laughing right now. enjoy! 😉
HAHAHA Henny!! So, Oedipus Rex might have been a little too remote. “That was for people who went to school,” as Aretha would shade. LOLOLOLOL But I couldn’t think of a euphemism for m-fers. Maybe I should’ve just put m-fers…
“I was the only customer in the store and as such, the sales clerk must have felt obliged to play the soundtrack to my life for me, a n**** in Paris.” OMG!! I just LOL’d LITERALLY. Smh. Great piece as usual. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thanks for reading,Tila!!
Complex post full of complex ideas, here are my thoughts:
-I was much more disgusted with Kanye and Jay for naming a song “N*ggas in Paris” than Paltrow for repeating it. not only does it minimize the very real struggle for equality amongst minorities in paris but it gloriies the idea that materialism can elevate one from a nigger to a “nigga”. That point asisde, however, Paltrow, as a young, suburban, white person, is the exact demographic that financially supports and consumes mainstream rap through their purchasing power. As much as we’d like to believe otherwise, raps consumer base has shifted out of the hood and into the suburbs as quickly as many rappers went mainstream. Thus, when black ppl made the N word acceptable, rappers were free to market it to their base- and Paltrow’s tweet is the direct consequence. One cannot police the use of a word by race regardless of whether or not its a slur or a term of endearment. I’m not mad at paltrow for using a word that we as black people told her has been stripped of its historical pain. No, I am mad at Jay and Ye for believing that lie.
-Now onto your second point about racism being intricate and leading to larger, institutionalized consequences. I agree that what we may perceive as “benign” racism or simply ignorance can lead to larger, institutionalized racism. After all, when that College Republican that grew up beleiving that affirmative action programs harms decent white folks runs for office as an adult and cuts funding from college retention programs and AA programs, it is a direct result of the prejudicial believes he grew up with. What’s also significant is that these ideas are passed on to the next generation in one form or the other. My question, however, is is each one of us responsible for sitting down that store clerk, misguided hipster, wayward College Republican, or purse-clutching white woman and giving them a lesson on structural and institutionalized racism? How much are we responsible for rectify centuries of white supremacy thinking being overtly and covertly fed to white as well as black people one individual at a time?
Also, to the comment that the French have no historical knowledge of the N word: Just look up any historical reference to Haiti in the 1800s and you will see how comfortable those French writers, diplomats, and statesmen were with the N word as well as other colorful language for black people. France doesn’t get a pass b/c it’s racial history is different from that of the U.S; it has a long-standing relationship w/ dehumanizing Africans
Yes yes and YES!! Frenchie!! Tout cela! And yes. no. maybe. I don’t know. I really struggle with being the “teacher,” but seriously, “How can they learn without a teacher?” So, I guess, yes. Pull them aside. Explain yourself. Some people genuinely want to know. Learn to identify those people quickly and just pray for the rest you can’t reach, I guess.
Paris is full of racists there’s’no question about that…believe me they are everywhere…
However that song is played in every radio in every store any restaurnt 24/7 whatever the customers I dont think it was played as a message to you…and most of the uneducated people of Paris actually dont get the lyrics….
You wanna see racism, just walk in one of these stores with a french speaking black person and enjoy getting more followers than you have on twitter…
Being american youu may not realise that the green color of the dollar often overshadows the blackness of your skin in that France you seem to love so much but blacks and other minorities here have bigger problems that K&J fooling around on the Champs Elysees…
Anyway I know you wrote this with a positive mind so keep up the good work, much love from Paris… Peace
When I clicked on this piece, I was worried you were going to tell a story of race-based fetishization – which, as a Haitian-American woman – has been something I’ve been subject to by SCORES of French men. I’m hoping that did not happen to you. I wonder if the store clerk thought you were a Frenchwoman of African descent, or a tourist. hmmm…
Pingback: DistrictDiva.com
I wouldnt know if this is going off point! But back to the basics, when you think about bullies, the utmost reason they behave the way they do is because they are insecure and when this is linked to the idea of racism, racism and what not, these people are jus insecure and powerless (the reason they bahave that way) so its down to us to not pay attention to their negativity just continue trying to live our lives the best and positive way we can, because really when we do give them a reaction they’ll keep thinking they’ve got one over us.