“Do they speak French?” : Soprano victim of racism on board a train

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VIDEO – “Do they speak French?” : Soprano victim of racism on board a train

Alex Reed of C à vous on France 5, Soprano returned to a racist scene that he experienced several years ago and that he recounts this Tuesday January 18 in the documentary Noirs en France broadcast on France 2 from 9:10 p.m. this Tuesday, January 18.

Soprano is one of the personalities who have agreed to testify in the documentary Blacks in France broadcast at 9:10 p.m. on France 2 this Tuesday, January 18. He recounts having experienced a scene of racism several years ago at the very beginning of his career, long before being a coach in The Voice. “I remember it, with my group, the Psy 4 de la rime, we take the train to go to a concert, we are in first class, that we are all quiet and that we see the controller coming from afar, far from us », Explain the rapper, still shocked by the scene he experienced that day with the members of his group.

“He hasn’t even started that he says: ‘the second class is over there!’ (screaming, editor’s note) And who sees that our manager is white and who tells us. ‘Do they speak French? Do they speak French?’ », says the singer. The artist returned to this very strong sequence in It’s up to you on France 5 a few hours before the broadcast of the documentary directed by Aurélia Perreau where we also find the testimony of Yannick Noah. On the set of Anne-Élisabeth Lemoine’s show, columnist Pierre Lescure explains that the train controller had called the police “for an identity check, just in case”.

Being black in the France of 2022, what does it look like?

“Blacks in France”, a documentary broadcast on @France2tv this Tuesday at 9:10 p.m. pic.twitter.com/nGOWTbSZem

— Bangumi (@Bangumiprod) January 17, 2022

The controller only looked his white manager in the eye

« It was a bit complicated. And every time there was our security guard next door, whose name is Yves- I make a dedication to him- every time he said to him: ‘But sir, there’s nothing, there’s nothing no problem’, each time he had the impression of feeling attacked », recalled Soprano, specifying that the controller only looked his white manager in the eye. His manager was also shocked because he had so far only been confronted with racism from afar, whereas for the members of the Psy 4 of rhyme, it was a situation ” banal “ according to Soprano. So much so that they continued their day as if nothing had happened. The artist calls for attention to the trivialization of racism. “We must continue to move forward to break this cliché”, he estimated on France 5.

Article written in collaboration with 6Medias