AND SO WE ENTER THE FRENCH PANTHEON? I had to be there on 30 November 2021 to witness, to applaud, to support the pantheonization of JOSEPHINE BAKER. I arrived excited, in celebratory mood as if my aunt or mother had a special celebration. I never truly heard Josephine Baker's voice. The dept of it and the way it resonated at the Pantheon's door was imperial! She had such formidable talents and was truly gifted. I quickly found myself giving interviews - see below. Inevitably when they are so few black women, often journalists and students alike really want to give a voice to a black woman, to a woman who came to celebrate the accomplishment of another woman. WE BOTH KNOW TOO WELL HOW IT IS TO NAVIGATE IN PATRIARCHAL AND RACIST WORLD. When French President Emmanuel Macron said of her 'She had a dazzling beauty and lucidity' particularly in the dark times of France's occupation, I completely agree. I am shocked that I did not know the extent of JOSEPHINE BAKER pivotal role in French resistance! The next step after this entrance in the Pantheon is to TEACH THE NEXT GENERATION ABOUT JOSEPHINE BAKER ROLE IN THE RESISTANCE AND CIVIL RIGHTS. PUT IT IN SCHOOLBOOKS. WORLDWIDE. However I strongly disagree with parts of Emmanuel Macron speech about Josephine Baker. IT ITS FALSE TO SAY THAT JOSEPHINE DID NOT DEFEND A SKIN COLOUR. It is false to say that Ms Baker did not attend the March in Washington with Martin Luther King as a Black woman. By doing so in his speech, President Macron removes Josephine's identity, who she was at the core and what makes her such an inspiring figure for us all. SHE IS A WOMAN. SHE IS A BLACK WOMAN. SHE IS FRENCH. Is it forbidden to be all this in the French Republic? Do you have to turn her into a white male to fit in your Pantheon? Listening to Macron speech my heart started to sink. To remove Josephine Baker identity is to make her a white male biffing to be in the French the pantheon. I DOUBT SHE WILL AGREE. NO WOMAN WOULD. NO BLACK WOMAN WOULD - dearest Emmanuel. Even racist Brigitte Bardot got a mention for making a plea for Jospehine Baker to keep her Milandes castle. Attempting the rehabilitation of the well known racist icon Brigitte Bardot on this day left me flabbergasted. These were carefully chosen words. I ponder what JOSPEHINE BAKER would have thought of this Pantheon ceremony where the only very few non-white people are the children of the rainbow tribe she created. This is France on 30th November 2021. It has about 60 millions inhabitants many are of different race and creed and yet in the ceremony of pantheonization of the first BLACK WOMAN, only one of 6 women, there was such a lack of diversity that it froze my blood. It contrasts so much to what Paris and France is. From 5am in the morning until late in the midnight in Paris, you will see the first people hard at work setting the city up for work are French people often of immigration origins. They are the lifeline of the country's capital and are INVISIBLE in their own country. They who are challenged daily by racist discourses on TV because they are named Mohammed. And this is now accepted and tolerated in France. Political discourse on a nauseating racist level. Everywhere in Paris you see people of different races and origins daily. But when you look at French television or institutions they don't exist. Very much like the Pantheonization ceremony of a BLACK WOMAN. A HERO. Who is now devoid of her gender and race, because in the French republic, everyone is male and white? WE SHOULD ALL BEG TO DIFFER. INTERVIEW FOR FRANCE Outre-mer https://la1ere.francetvinfo.fr/josephine-baker-au-pantheon-ma-france-c-est-josephine-a-declare-emmanuel-macron-1168726.html AND https://twitter.com/la1ere/status/1465747790491967491?s=20 'Shana, came from Belgium to attend the Pantheonization of Joséphine Baker, find her testimony' "For me it’s really a day of celebration, I’m coming to celebrate an aunt, a mother a grandmother. "Shana is Belgian, but made her life in England. "It is important to recognize those people who have made the Republic. And not just the French Republic, this is truly an example of an international way. And I think she wanted her life like that. She could have just been a dancer with bananas, play with the colonial stereotypes etc. But she understood that the meaning of her life could be so much bigger than just an artistic career and I think that's why we admire her. " 'Shana, est venue de Belgique pour assister à la Panthéonisation de Joséphine Baker, retrouvez son témoignage ⤵' "Pour moi c’est vraiment une journée de fête, je viens célébrer une tante, une mère une grand-mère." Shana est belge, mais a fait sa vie en Angleterre. "C’est important de reconnaître ces gens qui ont fait la République. Et pas seulement la République française, c’est vraiment un exemple d’une façon internationale. Et je pense qu’elle a voulu sa vie comme ça. Elle aurait pu se contenter d’être une danseuse avec des bananes, se jouer un peu des stéréotypes etc. Mais elle a compris que le sens de sa vie pouvait être beaucoup plus grand que juste une carrière artistique et je pense que c’est pour ça qu’on l’admire." |
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