Black lives matter

I'm not going to lecture you on how black lives matter - of course, they do. I'm not going to give lessons - I'm white, my eyes are green, I experience sexism almost daily, I seldom experienced racism, it's not my place to talk for what black people experience. I didn't react quickly on the blog, because there is one computer here for 4 people - students and exams first. The violence happening in the USA but also around the world, even here in France, cannot be justified. Trump is a complete moron, we all know that (so is Macron). Today, I would just like to give two very French examples of common, everyday, racism, that I witnessed myself.

The first happened a few years back, in the streets of Paris. A young man, not a kid, of Maghrebi descent (not black, but this was racism too), was asking two policemen about what road he should take to get where he wanted to go. He said "vous" to them (the polite way to address an adult), they said "tu" to him (as if he were a kid or someone who can be overlooked). They were clearly disrespecting him. They sent him on his way, but I was shocked. You hear so much about how police cannot get into "cités"  (ghettos), but there are reasons for that. At one time, there was proximity police, police that worked in ghettos, who bounded with the people in there, who were recruited among a diversity of races, who helped the people living there, talked to them, interacted with them. Our (but not mine) ex-president Sarkozy ridiculed them and did his best to eliminate them. Just saying. I heard today an interview of a policeman of Maghrebi descent who was so depressed about how his colleagues treated him that he wanted to resign. But he'll stay because the more diverse the police gets, the less racist it will become ?...

The second example took place in a mall. I had been shopping to feed my family like I do every week on mondays, wanted to come out of the mall. There he was, this little black boy in the alley, a 2 year-old at best, crying his heart out. And here she was, this older white woman, lying on her cart, talking to the boy from a distance. She wasn't crippled or anything, she just kept her distance. I approached them and asked her what the problem was : the boy was lost. So I kneeled to speak to him from the same height, try to get him to talk and meanwhile... the woman fled ! No good-bye or anything, she left in a hurry through the revolving door ! I couldn't believe it, but well, at least, she didn't leave the boy alone... Right ?

I pointed to the end of the mall to the little boy, told him I would lead him to a place where employees had a microphone and could tell his parents that he was safe and where to pick him up, that he wasn't lost, abandoned, that his family was worried sick. I asked him to take my hand, he did, and together we walked to the employees's stand. While we walked, I saw the look of people in the mall, mostly elders, retired, at this time of the day (I don't work on mondays), and the way they looked at him, at me, a white woman holding this little black boy's hand. Surely I was his mother and had "faulted" with a black man ! As if it were a sin ! They looked horrified and I'll never forget their look. I couldn't believe it. I just saw a little boy, lost, longing for his parents, they saw a black boy with a white mother and hated the thought of it.

I'm not saying I'm a pure, blameless angel, it's just that I'm a mother and when I saw this boy lost, who couldn't or wouldn't speak his name, I just couldn't leave him here alone, who on Earth would ? As any other human being would do, I hope. And I'll never forget this. I took the boy to the employees, they gave him crayons and a piece of paper and started to make an announcement. So I left, stunned, heading to my car, with an experience I'll never forget.

As I said I'm white, fair skinned, green-eyed, a Celt, I've known sexism at times when really, I could have done without it because the situation was pressing, urgent, depressing. But this... This stuck with me... This older woman, not being able to leave the boy alone, but not being able to take his hand, I simply can't process it. The racism towards a kid ?! I can't even begin to imagine what black women live every day !

I know this isn't much. I just wanted to share this with you. I'm not trying to steal other people's, black people's voice. Just witnessing and writing about what I know of. And hope for a better world, I'm doing my best, everyday, to help build it. My boyfriend, my kids and I are not racists. I work in a big Paris library, I had diverse coworkers, diverse readers, the love of books, of people, bind us together, the only problems we meet here is with people who have mental issues. Race is not the issue. Let's not make it so. It just is stupid. Like  Trump and his likes.