Black beauty stirs up the racial angst of France
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WHEN Miss France was crowned in Paris last weekend, the
usual tiara-clad scenes of bouquet-waving ensued, with a
disbelieving winner in tears. But the election of a routinely
glamorous French beauty queen has provoked a series of unusual upsets.
Sonia Rolland, representing Burgundy, is not only the first
woman of mixed race to win the Miss France title, she is also a
Rwandan refugee who has suddenly been drawn into an
awkward debate about nationality and race.
The tears were still streaming down Rolland's flawlessly
sculptured cheeks when Genevieve Fontenay, organiser of the
contest, proudly proclaimed that the result had sent an
unmistakable message to Africa: "France is not racist."
A similar note was struck by the proud mayor of Cluny,
Rolland's adoptive home town in Burgundy. "We are hanging out
the flags," said Robert Rolland (no relation). "Sonia has become
a magnificent symbol of the success of racial integration."
It did not take long for the gloss to wear off. Within days of
Rolland's coronation there were mutterings in television circles
that the result had been rigged to improve the image of TF1, the
leading French television station, which has been under fire for
the conspicuous absence of any black actors or journalists from
most of its programmes.
Rolland, 18, barely had time to change out of her ballgown
before a rival Miss France outfit questioned her eligibility for any
French beauty contest. "She wasn't born in France and she has
lived here for less than five years," said Antoine de Villejoie,
whose committee recently chose a blonde from Calais as its own beauty queen.
Anti-racism campaigners were portraying Rolland last week as
an example of France's willingness to airbrush over the harsh
realities of a society where casual discrimination is still routine.
"In France today the colour of a skin or the sound of a name
often influences a person's chances of success in school, in
finding a job or looking for a place to live," Le Monde concluded last week.
According to SOS-Racisme, a pressure group, the most
frequent victims of French discrimination have much in common
with Rolland - they are teenagers of African or mixed-race
parentage who find doors closed the moment their background is revealed.
The group recently began "testing" cafes, restaurants and clubs
where black clients have complained of discrimination.
A tribunal in Le Mans heard this month that a local bar operated
"quotas" to prevent too many black people from entering. A
barman said: "When 10 blacks are inside, we are not going to let more in."
SOS-Racisme claims north African youths have been refused
entry to clubs on the grounds that they were drunk, though they
were teetotal Muslims. On the other hand, a nightclub disc
jockey said he did not like Muslims because they did not buy
alcohol. "In short," observed one Paris newspaper, "either
blacks drink too much or they don't drink enough."
One volunteer telephoned a Renault subsidiary to apply for a job
under different names, Muhammad and François. He gave
identical credentials. François was given an interview, Muhammad was not.
For Rolland, the fuss is threatening to obscure an otherwise
poignant story of recovery after fleeing genocide. Her French
father and Tutsi mother were forced to leave first Rwanda and
then neighbouring Burundi after Hutu militias went on the
rampage there in the early 1990s.
"The country was full of fire and blood," she said last week.
"Those days were the hardest of my life." The Sunday Times 19 Dec 1999
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