He was right:
So, I was on hold with the French secretariat of Overseas Territories the other day.
A quick global history recap: France still has its tentacles in a number of relatively sexy islands scattered across the Caribbean, Indian and Pacific Oceans, and has its linguistic imprint on half of Africa. Roughly.
So, the hold music is a pleasant classical symphony, and after 30 seconds, a voice tells me:
"You're listening to the Violin Concerto in G major of Chevalier de St. Georges... otherwise known as, "The Enlightened N----"*
I almost dropped the phone. Surely, I must have misunderstood. I mean, in a country with as many very obvious racial problems as France, they wouldn't consciously use this word on the hold service FOR THEIR (former) COLONIES. But, they did.
"So here's how it's gonna work: We'll keep you as a territory, give you the euro, and improve your economic conditions, but we get to use the name we did 300 years ago when we first enslaved and colonized you. Sorry!'
It gets better.
A trip to Wikipedia reveals that Joseph de Bologne, Chevalier de St. Georges, 1745-1799, was a hottie:
..And, "the first European composer of African origin." So, the son of a white plantation owner and a slave was freed and came to Europe and dominated in fencing and composing in the court at Versailles. Pretty sweet. But wait, you say, did he sign his works, "the Enlightened N----" ?
Nope. Quelle surprise!
The hold service simply needed to specify that he was otherwise known as "The Enlightened N----", for no determinable reason. There's a biography coming out with this title; a bunch of biographers seem to think it's appropriate. That's it.
I'm just saying I'm willing to guess he didn't go around calling himself that.
*the word, technically speaking, better translates to "Negro" and not the N word, but I think the point remains the same.
3 comments:
Amazing - I'm glad to know that someone else is as shocked as I am. I was once dining at La Petite Cour in Saint Germain des Près, when the waiter brought us our check he came with two delicious looking chocolate truffles. When I asked what they were he said "Une tete de Nègre" -I didn't know quite how to respond...
Ma chère Francseca, je me permets de répondre à ton article qui va, je trouve, un peu vite en besogne et qui fait le procès de l'histoire de France et non des comportements actuels (bien que je trouve que le racisme en France soit particulièrement fort ces derniers temps).
Le Chevalier de Saint Georges est un personnage assez connu de l'histoire de France car il fut, et tu l'as bien décrit avec l'article issu de Wikipédia, l'un des premiers hommes noirs à avoir une position prépondérante (ou du moins une certaine reconnaissance) au sein d'une société française alors dirigée par Louis XVI. Le terme de "enlighted negro" ou en français de "nègre cultivé" est à remettre dans son contexte du 18ème siècle, car c'est à cette époque que le surnom fut donné, et non pas de nos jours. La différence est de taille, car la signification et la force du mot n'étaient en aucun cas équivalentes à celles que le mot porte aujourd'hui. L'utilisation du mot est aujourd'hui très limitée, si ce n'est inexistante, mais à l'époque l'esclavage était très développé et encouragé par une église qui considérait l'Homme Noir comme inférieur. Dès lors, l'apparition d'un noir (ou d'un afro-européen, un mulâtre) à la Cour a fait beaucoup parler. Les gens furent alors probablement secoués dans leurs convictions et lui donnèrent ce surnom, aujourd'hui proscrit.
Il convient par la même occasion de préciser que l'esclavage fût en France aboli, le 16 pluviôse an II (4 février 1794), alors qu'il ne fût aboli qu'en 1865 aux Etats-Unis d'Amérique, et je ne parle pas des lois ségrégationnistes. On peut alors s'interroger sur la persistance d'un état/mode de pensée/ raciste dans un pays par rapport à la fin de l'esclavge dans ce même pays afin de définir les comportements racistes potentiels... Ce qui joue en défaveur des USA malheureusement. L'effet Obama est là pour prouver le contraire, mais c'est l'exception qui confirme la règle j'en ai bien peur. Et je suis néanmoins bluffé par cette leçon d'intégration que nous les USA.
Je terminerai par un cours de pâtisserie (http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C3%AAte_de_n%C3%A8gre), qui revient encore à s'interroger sur l'époque de création du nom et donc des raisons potentielles d'appellation. Et c'est très bon les têtes de nègre. Et je ne suis pas raciste, ou du moins je ne pense pas.
PS: On peut aussi faire le procès de "lèvres négroïdes", ou encore de la "négritude", mais ce serait faire du mal à Césaire (il va se retourner dans sa tombe le pauvre).
PS2: Nothing personnal Francesca ;)
My dear,
Cloaking your comments in French will get you nowhere:
Je me permets, également, quelques précisions:
1) Yes, Slavery was abolished in year II of the revolution, and then it was REESTABLISHED, under Napoleon. You may have heard of hm? There are a few things named after him. I wonder where I could find his burial place? Hmm.
NOTE: At the time of its restitution, equally all of Chevalier de St. Georges' works were burned.
2) I wasn't going 'trop vite en besogne', I didn't feel like hashing out all the reasons why my perceptions of the title in this way are correct. CLEARLY I am aware this is a term that has its roots in the 18th century.
HE LIVED in the 18th century, obviously, and no I do not think there were loads of freed slaves wandering around Versailles, thus earning him this moniker.
Be that as it may, this does NOT legitimize it's use on a GOVERNMENT service, when it is necessary. Why? En trois parties:
1) It is fundamentally unnecessary to one's understanding of the composer in the 30 seconds you listen to it; it would have been more precise and more interesting if they had said 'guadeloupien' or even 'Le Mozart noir' ...THERE ARE plenty of other titles that could have been used to describe his exceptionalism.
2) WHEN YOU PROVIDE A GOVERNMENT SERVICE, one of your obligations is not to isolate and/or offend your citizens. Even if the chance of offense is slight.
Do you know any French black person that would enjoy being called 'nègre' ?
Even if EVERYONE who listens to the message understands the context of the appellation, as an authority in France, you bear an obligation to err on the side of political correctness/caution in attempt to NOT offend, to NOT separate, to NOT distinguish your service by race or class of citizen.
ESPECIALLY in a country of France that so adamantly insists on its 'colorblind' equal treatment of its citizens.
IT is not because I am American that I find this offensive, and I find the idea of racist relativism utterly absurd.
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