Garvey's Ghost: Black Talk

More on France

The last post on the situation in France prompted negative feedback from a reader. You should read the comment and response in the post. I did however feel prompted to discuss one point that the reader made since it has greater meaning in terms of Garveyism and "Consciousness." Garvey is famouns for saying (paraphrased):

"Take all opportunities you find (in white countries) but the best bet for African progress is to create a state in Africa."

he also is known for saying (again paraphrased):

"When the white man finds himself in hard times who do you think he will employ, you or his own."

The reader made a side comment about what conscious "French-African" intellectuals and writers woudld write in regards to African-Americans. Given that Garveyism holds the above quotes as bedrock ideology i have to question the "consciousness" of the ideology that is largely to beg the white French for jobs. Mind you, there are all manner of social stuggle that one may ascribe to. If one believes that the French owe thier citizens x,y and z then by all means the logical progression of that thought leads to protesting the government for jobs or other forms of relief.

The Garveyite would say that since the French Government provides free education and healthcare, that one should take advantage of that. But given that we know the French to be racist, and we simply don't expect them to change anytime in the near future, the blacks in that country ought to be looking back to thier homelands.

It also strikes me as odd that blacks in France hold the white French government to a higher standard of behaviour than they do or did of thier own homeland(s). Truely if some of this behavior had happened in say Cote D'Ivoir there would be a lot of dead people right now. But this is the exact problem with the African global community we can spot and react againts the very real bad things that whites do to us, but will not take responsibility for the very real bad things we do to each other.

I do think that the African community does have a valid arguement outside of the "give us jobs" discussion. The fact that the police apparently have the authority to stop people on the streets for "ID" was a problem waiting to explode. Mind you such laws also exist in the US though like the one in New Jersey can only happen between certain times of day (well actually night). It is apparet that the two boys killed were killed while fleeing police they presumed were going to ask them for papers which could possibly lead to harrassment. They went and sat in a transformer. Therefore the police were not the direct cause of the deaths. We know this because a third boy said as much (assuming he was not coerced into this statement).

Let me also point out more specifics about the situation of blacks in France. the NY Times pointed out in an article entitled France Has an Underclass, but Its Roots are Still Shallow:

That is one foundation of the fear among some experts that a structural underclass is emerging. Already, French-Arabs and French-Africans make up the majority of inmates in France's prisons, just as minorities make up a vastly disproportionate part of the American prison population.

That is one foundation of the fear among some experts that a structural underclass is emerging. Already, French-Arabs and French-Africans make up the majority of inmates in France's prisons, just as minorities make up a vastly disproportionate part of the American prison population.

Note that the latter problem is one of private business. Now in the US you have had roughly 30 years of Affirmative Action which is partially responsible for the rise of a black middle class but which has done squat to deal with the high encarceration rates or the fact of above average unemployment. Thus I expect that even if the French Government approves of some sort of Affirmatove Action, it will not do anything for unskilled immigrants or others at the margins of French Society.

Lastly, No, let me repeat: NO capitalist country has "full employment." There exists no such thing in a Capitalist economy. So who exactly do we expect to end up on the unemployment line more often? Who then will we expect to end up in the prisons more often?

I'm not saying it's right. I am saying that it's real and the rioting won't change the larger picture much as it hasn't changed it in the US.