Ep 35: Je suis noir

In this episode we meet Deborah from Brooklyn, who’s about to pack her bags and move to  Paris. It's a place she’s always adored, along with the likes of other famous African Americans; Richard Wright, James Baldwin, and Josephine Baker to name of few. Many black Americans have moved there for a particular reason, many were exhausted by the racial dynamics and conversations in the U.S. , just like Deborah,  who feels these are conversations that go in circles. France has prided itself on its citizens being “French” before identifying with an ethnicity and this is something that appealed to Deborah who’s chosen not to “lead with her blackness”. In this episode we go to France to talk about how black people are identifying and discuss some of the tensions behind a word like “noir” that can be seen as an insult for some and pure pride for others. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices