Black Feminism and Transnational Solidarity: Mobilization against Police Violence in France

Abstract

In July 2016, the editorial board of the New York Times published an op-ed entitled "Black Lives Matter in France, too", 1 detailing the death of Adama Traoré after being arrested by the police, and the ensuing protests in Beaumont-sur-Oise, a Parisian suburb. On July 19 2016, Adama, a 24-year-old born in France to Malian immigrants, died after being arrested by police in Beaumont-sur-Oise on what was also his birthday. The police have provided differing explanations for his death, including heart failure or asphyxiation, and ever since Assa and her family have pursued justice, including punishment for the officers involved. 2The New York Times article discussed how the death was taken up under the banner of Black Lives Matter (BLM) and BLM France, and states the following: "There are important differences between the histories of race relations in the United States and in France, where racist attitudes have roots in France's colonial past. However, that the Black Lives Matter movement resonates in France should not surprise."

Oppressive Even As It Inspires

“…The move away from 'professional' Black (male) activists and individual political leaders to ordinary citizens and their everyday practices of resistance-whom Florvil (2020) calls 'quotidian intellectuals' and what in African American Studies became popularized simply as 'the local people approach'-helped expand notions of diaspora and activism. A growing body of work is filling in the blanks on the politicization of (and cultural influences on) Black European women next to and before learning from, and about, Black American powerhouses like Audre Lorde, and informing their engagement with today's Movement for Black Lives from their perspective (Beaman 2022;Beaman and Fredette, 2022;Florvil 2017Florvil , 2020McCormack and Legal-Miller, 2019). The focus on the 'quotidian' additionally reveals the importance of non-traditional archival sources, like blogs and other digital spaces, book clubs, and festivals, for understanding the transnational flow of activist ideas and identities; the central role of women for sustaining Europe's Black communities and protests; and 'covert' practices like motherhood, self-care, and the private home as meeting space as legitimate and effective forms of activism (Beckles-Raymond 2019; Boom 2019; Ellerbe-Dueck and Wekker, 2015;El-Tayeb 2011;Guadeloupe 2022;Heuchan 2019;Mirza 2015;Ohene-Nyako 2019a, 2019bOthieno et al, 2019;Van de Velde 2019).…”