PARIS -- Christiane Taubira, a black French politician, ran for president here in 2002 and won just 2% of the vote. To her, Sen. Barack Obama's election is a global triumph -- and a reminder of how far France is from electing a member of a racial minority to its highest office.
"France needs to learn from what is happening with Obama," says Ms. Taubira, a lawmaker from French Guiana, a French overseas department located in South America. "The U.S. population has grown with Obama, they have overcome their prejudices. ...Such an experience is impossible in France."
Emphasis added by me.
What France used to be:
African American writers and artists such as Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, Paul Robeson, and other leaders of the 1920s "Negro Renaissance" felt they had found a refuge from racism in France.
Josephine Baker went so far as to become a French citizen!
And now France marvels at us.
So much for we Americans being a bunch of racist bastards.
For anyone who visits France after the Inauguration: It's your turn to look down your nose at them!
Additional:
For Blacks in France, Obama’s Rise Is Reason to Rejoice, and to Hope
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