Black female politician depicted as a slave in chains in France
BUZZ Fam, what’s that saying that our grandmothers would utter sometimes? “The more things change, the more they remain the same.” We probably don’t want to believe that this is how the world is, but today we’re handed a very unwanted reminder.
Forty-year-old, Danièle Obono, a black female politician in France has been depicted as a slave in chains in a right-wing magazine.
The magazine, Valeurs Actuelles (Current Values), is now facing a criminal racism inquiry for the seven-page illustrated feature Obono.
The feature, titled ‘Obono the African’, gives a fictional account of Obono returning to 18th century Africa.
Il paraît ‘Qu’on-Peut-Pu-Rien-Dire’ — Députée Obono (@Deputee_Obono)
Il paraît ‘Qu’on-Peut-Pu-Rien-Dire’ — Députée Obono (@Deputee_Obono) #BienPensance. Heureusement on peut encore écrire de la merde raciste dans un torchon illustrée par les images d’une députée française noire africaine repeinte en esclave… L’extrême-droite, odieuse, bête et cruelle. Bref, égale à elle-même. pic.twitter.com/EupKSXZ207August 28, 2020
It includes a cartoon where she is pictured with an iron collar around her neck.
Obono, who is French-Gabonese, said she was sickened by the cartoon and branded those responsible as ‘odious, stupid and cruel’. She said the detailed strip cartoon was an example of institutional racism in France.
The magazine, however, defended its publication saying it was part of a ‘summer fiction feature’ in which public figures ‘travel through time’, but apologised to Obono for hurting her.
