Racism pt4– Fr. Guiana

French Guiana, originally founded as a slave colony in the New World, saw its African inhabitants freed by the French Revolution.  Later it served as a penal colony in South America.

Now, as a department and region of France on the mainland of the Americas, it is also an actual part of the European Union.  The small but diverse population has strong employment from its French Space Center and a rich history of its own.

From his own experience, Yonaël Assard compares existing racism today both in French Guiana and metropolitan France.

Where did you grow up?

Yonaël Assard:  I grew up in the city of Cayenne (French Guiana, South America) and its multicultural society. If I might say, the Creole community is the one I belong to. With French as the official language, Creole is also a special language that was created by slaves mixing French, English, Spanish and Portuguese words among others to form a unique idiom to communicate. Ever since, with the language came the culture throughout music, dressing, events such as carnival as a mockery to the masters, gastronomy, and so on. Even though several types of Creole cultures exist, the French Guianese one is indeed unique.

Exposure to culture / ethnic diversity?

First and foremost, French Guiana is a French territory and part of the European Union. Being under the statute of “Collectivité Territoriale Unique” sets up a decentralization of powers from France. The rich diversity of the Guyanese society stems from immigration, due to both geographical, historical and economic contexts. 

Being bordered by the Brazilian giant (Southwest) and Surinam (Northwest), legal as well as illegal human flows from those two Southern American countries are important. Moreover, Haiti and Dominican Republic are two other major origins of migrants (e.g. economic migrants), and furthermore the very presence of both the Chinese and the Hmong communities reinforce the unique diversity of the Guyanese society. 

The Natives or “Amerindians”, who were massively massacred by European settlers and the diseases they brought, are the former inhabitants of French Guiana and by extension of the Americas. Nowadays, some seven groups are still present in French Guiana (e.g. Kalinas, Wayampis, Wayanas, etc.). 

So, as a former French colony, the French “metropolitan” or White people are a minority fraction of the Guyanese society. Also, the space industry contributes to the arrival of other people from various origins such as Canadians, Americans, Russians, etc.

Then, slavery via the triangular trade brought the first African slaves by the 17th century. We call “marronnage” the escape of slaves in the forests to find refuge within inaccessible places (e.g. near rivers). Overtime, these former African populations adapted their cultural way of living to the Guyanese realities and survived until nowadays. 

For that matter, the Guyanese “creole” group refers to the descendants of the former imported slaves who adopted occidental models, they differ from Amerindians, from the “Noirs Marrons” and other people originated from immigration. Other “creole” communities are present such as the ones from the French Antilles: the Martinique and Guadeloupe islands notably. 

Finally, mixing among the various communities is a peculiarity of French Guiana and of the Caribbean area more generally. People may be the offspring of parents and ancestors from various origins and still be called ‘Guyanese’ at the end of the day. 

Nevertheless, the cohabitation of the several ethnic groups is peaceful. Each and every community brings its own culture which fuels the diversity in terms of gastronomy, music, language, spirituality, etc.

How aware were you of racism while growing up?

In French Guiana, racism is far from being as problematic as in France or in the United States, and this so due to its unique diversity. For instance, there are multiple instances where children grow up in diverse classes made of Chinese, Metropolitan, Brazilian, Creole, Haitian, Dominican to name but a few. Even though, xenophobia and racist “stereotypes” do exist to some extent because of immigration. Precarity also leads to ghettoization and illegal constructions (e.g. squatting).

However, Racism is strongly experienced by Guyanese colored people notably but not only, out of French Guiana, in France for instance. Clichés and stereotypes of all kinds are bonded to people coming from this Amazonian territory that used to welcome French prisoners in the “bagnes”. In non-French places such as the United States, there are several cases where colored people reported that whenever they affirmed being French but not from mainland France, people simply refused to face with it.

Moreover, a major local issue among colored folks is “colorism” which implies a hierarchy of values and abilities, from positive to negative ones, depending on the intensity of the skin color and the attributes, clichés, related to that skin color. To exemplify, somebody with smooth hair and light skin is closer to the White which is associated with success, intelligence, wealth, purity, etc. This is a very current social complexion within the Guyanese society where the administrative, the politics, the responsibility jobs (…) are essentially occupied by White people and Creoles who do tend toward those socially made criteria scale.

How aware are you of institutionalized racism in your respective country?

Having spent my whole education in French Guiana, I used to be curious about matters such as the history we were taught. I asked myself very childish, basic, simple questions such as why do we review the first and second world wars over and over again, while it never happened on the French Guianese ground? As a matter of fact, why do we speak French? Why is it that we do learn about French geography while most of us never went further than Cayenne?

Why is it that we learn about Napoleon, De Gaulle and Maupassant while we do not learn about Pompée, Félix Éboué or Léon-Gontran Damas in the national programs too? Why is it that we learn mainland France’s history while mainland France students do not learn about us and about ours? Why is it that my parents and their parents before them were taught at school that their ancestors were the Vikings and exclusively the Vikings? To mention but a few. 

 However, being out of my home country made me realize many aspects that required to take a step back. One of those is the very presence of colonial elements such as streets named after settlers who massacred, kidnapped, raped (…) fully took part in a crime against humanity, in a territory where the descendants of the victims of this crime still live. 

 All of this is without mentioning the twenty-five years of infrastructural underdevelopment that creates a concentration, a centralization of powers, of headquarters, of infrastructures in mainland France. Here is a sad example for a supposedly full-fledged French territory: French Guiana did not have a rectorship for itself until 1994 students riots in the Guyanese streets.

 Last but not least, illegal activities such as gold mining, fishing, drug trafficking and so on, are the only times one can hear about French Guiana on the national news. Not only we are being underrepresented, but our image is also diminished to the one of insecurity and ‘jungle’.

Degree of your own awareness of racism in your everyday life?

In French Guiana, I never experienced racism. However, I’ve been living in Reims for eight months. There, I’ve met amazing people as old as me who frequently did experience racism. Being a young Black man and from French Guiana, I still did not experience racism in France. To me it is just a matter of time, until there, I just feel like I’m an exception.

How has anti-racist activism been received both where you grew up and where you now live?

France being the country and French Guiana being the region and department, the current anger and indignation are also felt in French Guiana, especially on the matters of historical negation of the black figures that contributed to the abolition of slavery and to the French history in general, and on the presence of colonial and oppressing colonial symbols such as statues (i.e. Schoelcher), streets and facilities names.

Moreover, this Corona crisis highlights important disparities between this territory located 8,000 km away from France and the other national departments, such as the twenty-five years of infrastructural underdevelopment at every levels of society (i.e. sanitary system).

How are both working to resolve racism?

Right now, while France welcomes incredible protests for legitimate causes and in times of the pandemic, the main preoccupation in French Guiana is the reducing of the spreading of coronavirus among the population. 

Nevertheless, I strongly believe that to solve a problem implies to recognize its very existence. Until then, regarding the current politicians’ speeches sanctifying the status quo, many more protests are yet to come.

About the Article

A forward glance, reflecting on racism in France and French Guiana.

Racism

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