Page - 131 - in Media – Migration – Integration - European and North American Perspectives

Souley Hassane | Mainstream Media vs. Ethnic Minority Media 131 blacks, Africans and their descendants, and other non-whites is perceived by many groups of intellectuals, journalists, politicians and the makers of opinion as a form of humiliation. An indignity to which, as though pushed on by a higher mission, they do not hesitate to respond, hardly hiding a hypersensitive racism, a hierarchy of suffering, and an unconscious attitude of individual and racial superiority. All this for the worse of the country, dissertating the length and breadth of their editorials. History and its interpretation would remain one of the main issues for protest at Afrikara. A further text there reads (ibid.): “In France, some of the best- respected journalists advance insane and injurious theses regarding the history of blacks without any strong media or political reaction.” Many utterances in the media have specific ideological functions and promote a specific way of thinking. On 17 November 2005, the philosopher Alain Finkelkraut said the following about the French soccer team: “They say that the French team is admired because it is black, white and Arab […]. In fact, today it is black, black, and black, and we are made fun of all over Europe.” His words were to travel around the globe, and to start a compilation of racist statements made by media intellectuals. This was certainly a premedi- tated act. The philosopher alluded to the words of Georges Frêche, who thought there were too many blacks on the French team. Staging information constantly follows the same pattern, in which the media are used to pass along the message. Media such as Afrikara consider such utterances to be an expres- sion of Negrophobia. Many African/Caribbean sites express similar views and also ask: Why now? One is surprised to hear comments like that of Roger Hanin, who was invited to speak on Europe 1 by Jean-Marc Morandini (Akamayong 2006): Roger Hanin: What drives me nuts is to hear: ‘There aren’t enough blacks!’ Enough already! Stop crying! When I look at TV, all I see are black singers! I don’t give a damn. It’s fine! But don’t tell me that blacks are penalized. Morandini: But there is a problem after all in terms of visible access to TV for minorities. Roger Hanin: That’s a load of bull: why not stutterers, homos or dwarfs. […] When they say that blacks can’t express themselves it’s a bunch of bull! Look at soccer, they can express themselves. If you look at it that way, what about the whites, they can’t express themselves. There are 8 blacks out of 11 and that’s fine! You could