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| Rokhaya Diallo |
"French white people should accept minorities that were born and are living in France as regular French citizens with the same rights as the white ones," is the opinion of Paris born activist/writer Rokhaya Diallo.
Rokhaya Diallo is the founder and president of Les Indivisibles, a French organisation that uses humour and irony to fight racism and stereotypes. By raising awareness of these issues, Les Indivisibles seeks to engage the French public as well as government leaders in creating an alternative discourse.
Challenge harmful views
She created Les Indivisibles because of offensive statements made by politicians and other public figures during the French riots in 2005. "Only a few people responded to them", she says in an interview with Euromight. "And this is one of the reasons why I created Les Indivisibles. The riots provided a credible reason for some people to become Islamophobic. I believed we needed to balance the debate. I never thought I would become a commentator, challenging the views espoused by people who I consider harmful."
Diallo regularly contributes to RTL, the main radio station in France. She is also a columnist and commenter on the TV channel Canal Plus. She is the co-author of L’Appel Pour une Republique Multiculturelle et Postraciale (Respect Magazine editions). And in 2011 she published her book "Racisme Mode D'emploi" (A Racism User Guide).
Also see on Afro-Europe: "Noirs de France" ("Blacks of France”) - The history of Black people in France