Black people in France

Thierry Henry, Christiane Taubira, Michael Pietrus, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Rama Yade, Chevalier de Saint-Georges
Total population
No official data Estimates vary
Regions with significant populations
Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Lille, Nantes, Strasbourg, Overseas departments and territories of France
Languages
Common French with various native languages such as African languages, French Creoles and others. Those from Cape Verde speak Portuguese and Kriolu. Arabic is also used by the Muslims.
Religion
Islam, Christianity

Black people in France are French citizens or residents who are of Black African or Caribbean ancestry.

[edit] Population statistics

Although it is illegal for the French state to collect data on ethnicity and race, a law with its origins in the 1789 revolution and reaffirmed in the constitution of 1958,^[1] various population estimates exist. One source states that there are 1.5 million Black people in France,^[2] while another states 1.865 million, equivalent to just under 4 per cent of the population,^[3] with another still suggesting that the Black population is in the order of 3–5 million.^[4] It is estimated that four out of five Black people in France are of African descent, with the remainder being of Caribbean ancestry.^[5]

Some organisations, such as the Representative Council of Black Associations (English: Conseil représentatif des associations noires de France, CRAN), have argued in favour of the introduction of data collection on minority groups but this has been resisted by other organisations and ruling politicians,^[6][7] often on the grounds that collecting such statistics goes against France's secular principles and harks back to Vichy-era identity documents.^[8] During the 2007 presidential election, however, Nicolas Sarkozy was polled on the issue and stated that he favoured the collection of data on ethnicity.^[9] Part of a parliamentary bill which would have permitted the collection of data for the purpose of measuring discrimination was rejected by the Conseil Constitutionnel in November 2007.^[1]

[edit] Visibility

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For many years several blacks immigrants were mostly of West Indian descent. Their achievements and contributions to European culture were not put forward. But since the 80's, they can be seen in different areas such as entertainment, sport, but aso politics and journalism. Rama Yade, the state secretary in charge of the human rights is the first black woman of Senegalese descent to work at this occupation. In sports, Patrick Vieira, Marie Jose Perec, Lilian Thuram are prominent, and in entertainment, actor Aïssa Maïga, singer Henri Salvador, and rappers Joey Starr, Kery James and MC Solaar are also distinguished.

[edit] Notable individuals

• Booba
• Doc Gyneco
• Marcel Desailly, former French international football team captain, currently football pundit
• Thierry Dusautoir, current captain of the French national rugby union team
• Thierry Henry, current captain of the French national football team
• Cheick Kongo, professional mixed martial arts heavyweight currently involved with the UFC
• Noemie Lenoir
• Gaël Monfils, tennis player
• Joakim Noah, basketball player and son of:
• Yannick Noah, tennis player and entertainer
• Tony Parker, basketball player
• Audrey Pulvar
• Harry Roselmack
• Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, tennis player

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Cape Verdean French