Building bridges with benevolence to deconstruct prejudices and to humanize Afro-descendant communities: this is the objective that the designers of “Pa t’mentir”, the new TOU.TV magazine, have set themselves.
A title that refers to a popular expression within the Haitian community pronounced as a guarantee of conviviality and authenticity.
Animated with dynamism and lightness by actress and designer Schelby Jean-Baptiste (“L’Échappée”, “Piégés”), host and entrepreneur Keithy Antoine and actor Irdens Exantus (“All life”, “L’Échappée” ), “Pa t’mentir” is a toolbox full of words and expressions to add to your vocabulary to name things as they are without clashing and without maintaining prejudices. It arrives in time for Black History Month.
An inclusive conversation that feels good
The chemistry between the three hosts is undeniable and contagious. She invites anyone who witnesses it to take part in the conversation, which revolves around topics as vast as they are diverse, ranging from Afro hair to mental health, including colorism and representativeness in Quebec hip-hop.
Not to mention racial profiling, toxic masculinity, mixed relationships and feminism, which are also addressed this season. Topics carefully chosen for their importance in society and their recurrence in “street corner conversations”, mentioned Keithy Antoine in particular.
It was also important for the trio to approach them in an uninhibited way, without judgement, without accusation and without looking for the culprit, but above all to be oriented towards the search for solutions.
“It was a conversation that we mightn’t have just between us, because we already have it between us. The idea was to have it between us, but to involve the whites too, so that things would move forward. That everyone can participate in the conversation by listening and bringing their point of view a little on certain realities that we live, ”bounced Schelby Jean-Baptiste, who designed the program with journalist Béatrice Gravel.
Thus, each of the guests was chosen with care, assured the co-creator. “We also wanted them to be luminous and solution-oriented humans, who have lived and who are close to the subjects”. These include Varda Étienne, Didier Lucien, Fabrice Vil, Imposs, Kiari Gerba, Sarahmée, Edy-Claude Okalla, Nicolas Ouellet, Preach and Pierre-Yves Cardinal.
An echo of George Floyd
The creative process accelerated with the death of George Floyd, “which is somewhere the apogee of the dehumanization of a black person”, said the actress on the poster in the film “This house”, selected at the Berlinale.
She then wondered how to humanize someone: “by going to meet him and simply introducing himself,” she told the QMI Agency.
The eight episodes of “Pa t’mentir”, produced by Trio Orange, will be available on TOU.TV on Wednesday.