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Journal of African American Studies ISSN 1559-1646 J Afr Am StDOI 10.1007/s12111-013-9269-y

A “New” Black Nationalism in the USAand France

Felix Germain

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ARTICLES

A “New” Black Nationalism in the USA and France

Felix Germain

# Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013

Abstract This essay examines the relationship between Black Nationalism and demo-graphic change in the Black population of the USA and France. It shows that, unlikeprevious generations, most Blacks in France are born in France and share commonsociopolitical and cultural reference points. As a result, this Black French populationdeploys new Black Nationalist expressions advocating that Blackness is an integral partof the French nation and that Black citizens are entitled to the same opportunities asWhites. Subversively, people of African descent are inserting Blackness into a suppos-edly color-blind nation. In contrast to France, the African Diaspora in the USA isincreasingly diverse. But due to the misrepresentation of African-American identitiesand cultural differences, many Black migrants seek to distance themselves from AfricanAmericans, a relationship that ironically mirrors intra-Black relations in France of the1960s and 1970s. Like France, however, demographic change within the Black popu-lation in the USA has also reconfigured the parameters of Black Nationalism. I contendthat Black Nationalism in the USA is increasingly transnational in character. Indeed, inthe post-civil rights era, the Caribbean and African migration has expanded the scope ofBlack Nationalism from primarily focusing on empowering Black America to offeringCaribbean and African countries a better place in the global village. In the process, as theactivities of the numerous African chambers of commerce reveal, not only do these“new” transnational Black Nationalist expressions flirt with neoliberal policies but theyalso adopt a color-blind perspective.

Keywords Black Nationalism USA–France . Black immigrants . African chambers ofcommerce . Black French . Representative Council of Black Associations (CRAN) .

Neoliberalism

Oppression and roadblocks to achieving real equality of opportunity has engendered anationalism that is distinctively African American, a nationalism which since the earlynineteenth century has promoted self-determination in politics, economics, religion, andeducation within or outside American society (Stuckey 1972). From its inception, thiscomplex sociopolitical phenomenon, which scholars refer to as Black Nationalism, has

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F. Germain (*)Africana Studies Department, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 9201 University CityBoulevard, Charlotte, NC 28223-0001, USAe-mail: fgermain@uncc.edu

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promoted separatist doctrines as well as the radical empowerment of African Americanswithin the fabrics of American society (Walker and Turner 1993; Mudimbe 1988).Melanye Price, a specialist in Black Nationalism, argues that the foundational principlesof Black Nationalism include “Support for black self-determination through control ofhomogenous black institutions, support for black economic and social independence inthe form of self-help programs, psychological and social disentanglement from whitesand white supremacist notions of black inferiority, and support for a global or Pan-African view of the black community” (Price 2009, p. 4).

As a political philosophy and ideology, Black Nationalism flourished in the USA, yetits ideals find parallels throughout the African Diaspora, particularly in the “FrenchAtlantic.” 1 Historically, Black Nationalist expressions of the “French Atlantic” alsosupported self-determination in politics, economics, and religion and promoted Blackempowerment within and outside the French empire. Indeed, as the African independencemovements reveal, Blacks under French rule protested to obtain their own autonomousnation-states, a quest that had typically been on the agenda of most Black Nationalists.Moreover, as the departmentalization of the old French colonies of Martinique, Guade-loupe, and French Guiana suggests, Blacks in the “French Atlantic” also strategized toempower themselves within the French nation. 2 That being said, since FrancophoneAfrican countries obtained their independence in 1960, certain parallels between BlackNationalism in the USA and the former French colonies may be reconsidered.

1 Black Nationalism has roots in the nineteenth century, whenAfrican-American abolitionists and religious leadersdeployed strategies to uplift their people out of slavery. As David Walker's appeal demonstrates, early BlackNationalists argued that Blacks were entitled to the same privileges as their White counterparts. In fact, hecontended that, by virtue of their labor and suffering, Blacks were more worthy of American citizenship thanWhites (Walker and Turner 1993). But David Walker's political philosophy contrasted sharply with other BlackNationalists, notably those who believed that African Americans should establish a state in Africa to lobby againstslavery and civilize their “pagan” brothers and sisters (Mudimbe 1988). This kind of Black Nationalism grewextensively after the passing of the Fugitive Slave Act (1850), which mandated states to return runaway slaves totheir “owners.” Wilson Moses, who identifies the period between 1850 and 1925 as the golden age of BlackNationalism, suggests that, during this era, Black Nationalism was absolutist, civilizationist, elitist, and based onChristian humanism (Moses 1996). AfterWorldWar I, new relativist, culturalist, proletarian, and secular tendenciescharacterized Black Nationalism (Moses 1996). Still, the emigrationist characteristic of Black Nationalismremained, asMarcus Garvey popularized such ideal via the Universal Negro Improvement Association movement(Clark 1973; Barbara and Hill 1988). By the 1960s, Malcolm X became the new symbol of Black Nationalism.Drawing much inspiration from Garvey's UNIA and Elijah Muhammad's Nation of Islam, Malcolm X advocatedfor self-determination through group solidarity and self-defense against an allegedly White supremacist system(Marable 2011). All and all, by the 1970s, much to Malcolm X's credit, the notion that African Americans shouldbe self-sufficient and build their own institutions, as well as develop their own African-centered intellectual andcultural tradition made up the backbone of contemporary Black Nationalism. But as you shall see in the essay, inthe 1990s, Black immigrants complicated the notion of nation and institution building in the Black “community.”2 Departmentalization (1946) is a process by which the old colonies of Martinique, Guadeloupe, and FrenchGuiana became an integral part of France. In 2003, Ramon Grosfoguel (Chair of the Ethnic Studies Departmentat UC Berkeley) and I interviewed the late Aimé Césaire, one of the founders of the negritude movement andformer mayor of Fort-de-France. Césaire had been a staunch proponent of departmentalization. Thus, we asked ifhe saw a contradiction between his work and advocating for departmentalization. We found that he vieweddepartmentalization as a mean to secure the flow of capital from France to the French Caribbean. For Césaire,departmentalization was subversive because it forced the French to transfer funds to the French Caribbean; as hesaid, France had to “aboule le fric” (hand over the money). Simultaneously, Césaire believed in asserting theAfrican roots of his island by creating institutions allowing French Caribbean people to define themselves as theysaw fit, an initiative which is in accordance with the tenets of Black Nationalism. Accordingly, one can refer toCésaire's view of departmentalization as “radical integration,” a process wherein integration into the mainstreamis a political and economic strategy that does not preclude Black Nationalist ideals from thriving in society.

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To be sure, similar to any political ideology and philosophy, the contours and idealsof Black Nationalism in the USA have also changed over time. Today, very few BlackNationalists in the USA endorse emigrationist views. Instead, they emphasize strength-ening African-American institutions to remedy socioeconomic marginalization. Blackactivists and intellectuals also define Black Nationalism in broader terms—Black femalecommunity activism in the inner city, for example, may be considered a Black Nation-alist expression (Price 2009; Hill Collins 2006; Alexander-Floyd 2007). Moreover, formany contemporary Black Nationalists, empowering the community through self-helpand government programs are not mutually exclusive survival strategies, leading one tobelieve that “integration” also encompasses a Black Nationalist dimension (Daniels2012). Likewise, similar to their African-American counterparts, the relationship thatBlacks in the “French Atlantic” have fashioned with the foundational principles of BlackNationalism has evolved over time. In fact, the very concept of the “French Atlantic” haschanged over time, from one describing a large empire to one referring to France and itsoverseas departments in the Caribbean. Thus, this comparative essay analyzes theevolution of Black Nationalist ideals in the USA and the “French Atlantic,” particularlyin France. Most specifically, the essay explores the ways in which demographic changeswithin Black America and France are restructuring the parameters of Black Nationalism,which as stated previously is not a static political philosophy or ideology.

In the last 50 years, there has been a huge demographic change in the Black populationof France and the USA. In France, unlike previous decades when most Blacks came fromthe French Caribbean or West Africa, today, most Blacks are from France. Not only istheir identity firmly rooted in France, but they also claim to be a racialized minority in acountry, which ironically endorses color-blind social policies. Conversely, for the past30 years, a large wave of Caribbean and African migrants has increased ethnic diversity inBlack America, particularly in the major urban centers. Many Black migrants residing inglobal cities such as New York, Boston, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Miami, or Chicago oftensee their identity through the prism of nationality, class, color, and ethnicity. In otherwords, they do not embrace the US construction of Blackness. Thus, aiming to bettergrasp the relationship between ethnic diversity and Black Nationalism in France and theUSA, the essay raises the following questions. How has Black Nationalist expressions inFrance changed over time?What are the social factors spurring BlackNationalist reactionsin contemporary France? How do African, Afro-Caribbean, and Afro-Latino relationswith African Americans affect the White/Black dichotomy that has characterized racerelations in that country? How do Black migrants expand the foundational principles ofBlack Nationalism? Addressing these questions, I suggest, helps evaluate how Blackmigration and processes of “indigenization” 3 are influencing contemporary BlackNationalist expressions in France and the USA.

Black Nationalist Expressions in the “French Atlantic”: A Historical Background

Toussaint Louverture truly gave meaning to the French republican ideal of liberty. Hebelieved that, as long as Blacks were free, his beloved Saint Domingue should remainpart of the French empire (James 1989). Describing Louverture as the ancestor of

3 Here, I define indigenization as the process of becoming native to the land.

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human rights and the father of decolonization, Aimé Césaire notes that the Haitianleader never uttered the word independence (Césaire 1962). Indeed, only whenNapoleon decided to reestablish slavery did other Haitian military leaders such asDessalines, Christophe, and Pétion seek to establish a Haitian nation. In heroicbattles, they defeated the French and ultimately established the first Black republicin the Western Hemisphere. Ironically, while most Haitians draw pride from such arevolutionary past, like their counterparts throughout the French empire, the actors ofthe Haitian revolution would probably have settled for French citizenship andequality for all over bloody battles for freedom (Adelaide-Merlande 1994).

By 1848, slavery in the French Atlantic was finally abolished. In the process,natives of Martinique, Guadeloupe, French Guiana, and of the four communes ofSenegal (Saint Louis, Dakar, Gorée, and Rufisque) became French citizens, a statuswhich most French Caribbean individuals and the residents of the four communeswelcomed with open hands (Aldrich 1996). But after the demise of plantation slavery,the French intensified their colonization efforts in Africa, successfully controllingnearly a quarter of the continent's land and people at the turn of the twentieth century.Yet the tale of successful conquest is not the most distinctive characteristic of Frenchcolonialism. As Frantz Fanon notes, the French convinced Africans that Frenchculture and society was “superior” to theirs (Fanon 1967). For that reason, the desirefor national sovereignty did not blossom in the French colonies, as most African andFrench Caribbean individuals—willingly or not—looked to France for guidance andleadership.

Pledging allegiance to France was particularly attractive for certain French Carib-bean and African people because she offered protection against threatening elementsof their respective society. For instance, in Guadeloupe and Martinique, Franceprotected Blacks from the local planters' class still craving for free labor; she alsoopened avenues of political empowerment for educated Blacks and Mulattoes, whohad been living in the shadow of the White Creole elite (Adelaide-Merlande 1994). InWest Africa, particularly Senegal, where the French had established a trading postsince the onset of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, many people welcomed Francebecause she abolished slavery and kept a previously threatening military autocracyin check. For example, in his writings Abbe David Boila (1814–1901), a priest andintellectual from the Senegalese upper classes, praised France as a great emancipatorand bearer of democratic values. Yet, figures like Boila were not simply mimic menwho sold their souls to France; they also praised local African cultures, displaying anascent version of Black cultural nationalism (Mouralis 1995).

Toward the end of the nineteenth century, as illustrated by Alexandre Isaac, aGuadeloupean senator, Blacks in the “French Atlantic” developed a sense of criticismvis-à-vis France's treatment of its colonies. In the 1890s, Isaac frequently denouncedthe appropriation of African land and the code de l'indigénat, which disenfranchisedand forced most Africans to comply with arbitrary rules (Menchuelle 1992).4 While

4 Gregory Mann wrote a very important article on the Code de L'indigénat. He describes the code as “A‘regime of exception’ based on rule by decree, enacted in often arbitrary and sometimes spectacularpunishments, and concerned primarily with asserting administrative power, the indigénat was firstestablished in Algeria in 1881. Its use spread across the empire of the Third Republic: a regime ofadministrative sanctions based on the Algerian model was extended to Senegal in 1887 and to the newlycreated federation of French West Africa (AOF) in 1904” (Mann 2009, p. 333).

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Isaac never called for independence or the formation of associated nation-states, hisharsh criticism of the colonial system represents one of the foundations of the BlackNationalist tradition in the French Atlantic. In fact, this trend would become moresalient after World War I, when the French failed to extend French citizenship toAfrican colonial soldiers who fought for/with them. The soldiers, who had beenpromised citizenship, believed France had not paid its debt, or what they referred to asla dette de sang (the blood tax). Led by Black intellectuals such as Kojo Tovalou,Lamine Senghor, and René Maran, they accused France of abusing her power andmaking empty promises (Miller 1998). Still, Blacks from the French colonies did notadvocate for independence; the soldiers and intellectuals merely wanted colonialreforms. In other words, Black Nationalism in the French Atlantic translated intoempowering Blacks within the boundaries of the French Republic.

By the mid-1920s, Black intellectuals began embracing a more internationalistperspective. Kojo Tovalou, a prince from Dahomey, invited other African and FrenchCaribbean individuals to found Les Continents, a journal promoting the interest ofcolonized people and fostering dialogue and unity between people of African descentthroughout the world. These sorts of initiatives sparked new Black Nationalistexpressions, as Black intellectuals and activists increasingly demanded colonialreforms and developed global transnational connections, hoping to control the destinyof the “Black world” (Egonu 1981; Edwards 2003; Sharpley-Whitting 2002). In thefollowing decade, as the number of Black intellectuals and students in Paris grew, theFrench capital became a hub for Black Nationalist expressions. It is in this contextthat negritude, a literary movement spearheaded by Jeane and Paulette Nardal, twosisters from Martinique, and Aimé Césaire, Léopold Senghor, and Léon Damas, threemen from Martinique, Senegal, and French Guiana, respectively, was born. Negritudepraised Black cultures in a revolutionary fashion (Sharpley-Whitting 2002; Kesteloot2004). The movement triggered a major intellectual leap in the French Atlanticbecause the negritude writers not only praised Black cultures and demystified thenotion that Africa had nothing to offer to humanity but they also highlighted thehypocrisy of the French Republic.

After the Second World War, France had lost much credibility in the eyes of itsAfrican colonial subjects. Moreover, French labor unions had gained a foothold in theAfrican colonies, offering activists an avenue to fight for workers' rights, whichultimately evolved into full-fledged independence movements (Cooper 1996). Thequest for national sovereignty consumed Africans throughout the 1950s. The Africancolonies were punctuated by strikes and protests. Under the leadership of youngintellectuals such as Cheikh Anta Diop and Solange Faladé, the founder of FEANF,5

the largest African students' organization in France, most Africans living in France nolonger endorsed any kind of assimilationist project (Dianné 1990). Thus, by 1960,following agreements with France, all the sub-Saharan African French coloniesbecame sovereign nation-states, supposedly achieving the ultimate goal of “the BlackNationalist project.” Nonetheless, as you shall see in the following paragraphs,African independence only ushered new forms of Black Nationalist expressions inthe “French Atlantic.”

5 The Fédération des étudiants d'Afrique noire en France (FEANF) was created in 1950.

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Black Nationalist Expressions in France: From the 1960s to the Twenty-FirstCentury

In the early 1960s, economic stagnation in the overseas French Caribbean depart-ments and the former sub-Saharan African colonies spearheaded a large working-class migration to the Parisian region. Throughout much of the 1960s and 1970s,these people lived in France as transnational migrants. Most French Caribbean andAfrican individuals earned their livelihood in France but imagined their future inAfrica or the French Caribbean. Politically speaking, their center of gravity remainedin their homeland. Hindered by citizenship, Africans in particular, paid closer atten-tion to governance, democracy, and economic development in Africa as opposed toissues of social equality and economic empowerment in France. Likewise, even ifthey are French citizens, most French Caribbean people displayed more interest inGuadeloupean or Martinican sociopolitical issues rather than French sociopoliticalissues. In fact, during the 1960s and early 1970s, many French Caribbean migrants,especially the students, aspired to severe political ties with France (Germain 2008).Their political rhetoric displayed much similarities with the Black power movementof the USA, which rejected Western values, opposed “integration,” aspired to havinga Black state, and sought to develop various kinds of Black economic, political, andcultural institutions (Robinson 2001; Joseph 2007). Thus, Black Nationalist expres-sions in France of the 1960s and 1970s were transnational in scope. In other words,Black involvement in nation building and community empowerment focused onAfrican and Caribbean countries, not France.

The demographic change that occurred in Black Paris of the 1960s and 1970s alsocreated new modes of social relations between African and French Caribbean people.Indeed, in previous decades, African and Caribbean individuals in Paris—usuallyintellectuals, officers, students, and professionals—often crossed national and ethnicboundaries to participate in a variety of social, intellectual, or political events(Sharpley-Whitting 2002; Edwards 2003). But in the 1960s and 1970s, Black mi-grants from the lower classes had no impetus to work across ethnic and national lines.Unlike the soldiers, students, and intellectuals of the interwar period, who shared acommon political agenda (colonial reformism in the 1920s) and developed a dis-course seeped in notions of Black essentialism (negritude in the 1930s), the Blackmigrants of the 1960s and 1970s had different personal and political interests.Additionally, they also viewed each other through French lenses. In other words,they often endorsed French colonial notions of Black identities depicting Caribbeanpeople as superior than their African counterparts, which ultimately prevented Afri-can and Caribbean migrants to develop social bonds and a common “oppositional”political voice.

But the characteristics of African Diaspora in France have changed tremendouslysince the 1960s and 1970s. For one, the number of Blacks in the French Republic hasincreased exponentially, evolving from a few thousand people living in Paris andMarseilles to a distinct minority, which harbors around 8 % of the total population. In1999, L'Institut National de la Statistique et des Études Économique, France'sequivalent of the USA census bureau, calculated that 357,000 French Caribbeanpeople lived in France; in 2004, it estimated that 570,000 sub-Saharan Africansresided in France. Allison Blakely, an expert in Black Europe, and a recent study

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conducted by the New York Times estimate that close to five million Blacks live inFrance (Kimmelman 2008; Blakely 2009). This means that most Blacks in France areactually born and raised in France; they are the children or grandchildren of migrantswho usually settled in French cities after the 1950s. Thus, the Black French popula-tion is relatively young, and most importantly, unlike their counterparts who migratedduring the interwar and postwar period, they are firmly rooted in France. To be sure,Black French people are not transnational subjects constantly crossing bounders; theirsociocultural and political reference point is France, especially urban France.

In many ways, the presence of this new Black minority had serious ramificationsfor France, a country that has always imagined itself as White and Christian. Indeed,such rapid increase in the Black population (and Muslim North African population aswell) invited a number of public figures to flirt with socially conservative ideals andpreach the gospel of xenophobia, usually emphasizing that Islam, North African, andBlack identities are antithetical to French culture and national identity. Even moderateconservatives made a number of incendiary comments suggesting that Blacks areleeches of the state. For example, Jacques Chirac, the former mayor of Paris andFrench president who was elected on a center-right ticket, affirmed that Africanstended to spoil their neighbors' quality of life by constantly playing loud music andliving in smelly dwellings. During a speech, which has been deemed a disgracefulmoment of his career, he stated:

Imagine a hard working Frenchman and his wife, who together make about15,000 Francs. The neighboring family, which comprises a man, three or fourwives, and about twenty kids, earns about 50,000 Francs from the governmentwithout working. If one thinks about the noise and smell, which the Frenchfamily must also endure, then it is easy to understand the source of theirdiscomfort (Blanchard and Gélas 2011).

While the center-right uttered xenophobic and racist comments on an occasionalbasis, the far right, especially the Front National (FN) political party, began a crusadeagainst immigration and diversity. To say the least, the FN painted North Africans andBlacks in derogatory terms. 6 According to FN's rhetoric, Blacks and Muslimssymbolize(d) foreigners who cannot integrate into France and take precious jobsaway from a struggling French working class; Blacks and North Africans alsoembody(ied) the unproductive, lazy, and criminally prone “citizens” populatingFrench banlieues (in France, certain banlieues (suburbs) are the equivalent of theAmerican inner cities).

In the face of such blatant anti-Black racism, many Blacks born and raised inFrance reacted swiftly to claim their place in French society. In the 1980s, HarlemDésir, a charismatic young man of French Caribbean and White French origin,created S.O.S. Racisme, a civil rights organization fighting for people of color andimmigrants. S.O.S. Racisme sought to raise consciousness about discrimination andbuild a coalition between racialized minorities and the French left; it used culturalevents such as large musical concerts to popularize its ideals and staged numerousprotests against a number of issues, including racism, xenophobia, and the

6 InMuslim Girls and the Other France: Race, Identity Politics, and Social Exclusion, Trica Keaton showsthat North African and Black identities are not always mutually exclusive.

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criminalization of the sans papiers (undocumented immigrants), who are fromvarious parts of the world, yet are often stereotyped as sub-Saharan Africans (Désir1985). Smaller organizations which had a more defined goal also sprouted throughouturban France. For instance, hoping that the French government would finally declarethe trans-Atlantic slave trade a crime against humanity, in the mid-1990s, the Comitéde Marche du 23 Mai, a French Caribbean organization, began a campaign to raiseconsciousness about France's role in this atrocious chapter of world history. Iteventually achieved its goal, as Christiane Taubira, the Guianese representative inthe French assembly, introduced a law (la loi Taubira) that recognizes slavery as acrime against humanity and forces the French educational system to include thistragic episode into its curriculum.

Essentially, organizations like S.O. S Racisme asserted that racialized minoritiesare an integral part of the French nation. Other organizations, which like the Comitéde Marche du 23 Mai focused on correcting the historical record, suggested thatracialized minorities, in this case Blacks, have been entangled with the French nationfor quite some time. But these organizations were not Black Nationalist organizationsper se. Although the organizers of the Comité de Marche du 23 Mai embrace theradical revisionist approach utilized by certain scholars in “Black Studies” programsthroughout the USA, they merely wanted to raise awareness about historical misrep-resentations and the omnipresence of racism and cultural diversity in France.

Only in 2005 did France see the creation of a major organization that clearlyembraced some of the tenets of Black Nationalism. Accordingly, The ConseilReprésentatif des Associations Noirs (Representative Council of Black Associations[CRAN]), the most influential Black association in contemporary France, was born inthe aftermath of the “riots” that ravaged certain Parisian suburbs during the entire monthof November 2005. From its inception, CRAN has worked assiduously to improve theBlack condition in France. It has sponsored a number of quantitative and qualitativestudies outlining the relationship between race and poverty; the organization has alsoraised consciousness about anti-Black racism in French culture; it has highlighted theprevalence of racial profiling in urban France and criticized the misrepresentations ofBlack identities by French media; CRAN organized rallies against police brutality andstaged cultural events celebrating Black cultures and history; it also advocated forreparations for slavery and developed its own “Afro-centered” media; finally, in thetradition of Black activism, CRAN has developed connections with legislators, hopingto draft a law that would remedy racial discrimination in the labor and housing market.

CRAN's political philosophy departs from the French republican ideals of liberté,egalité, and fraternité to assert that Blacks are entitled to all the attributes of Frenchcitizenship. In that sense, the organization echoes the vast majority of Black Frenchcitizens, who are merely asking for an opportunity to contribute to society (N'Diaye2007; Lozès 2011). Nonetheless, despite their French republican rhetoric, CRAN maynot be dismissed as an “integrationist” organization, as it also promotes communityempowerment through various mediums. This dual characteristic—namely, embrac-ing the French nation while supporting the creation of African-centered institutionsand the production of African-centered knowledge—elicits questions about theontology of new Black Nationalist expressions in contemporary France. For thatreason, I interviewed Patrick Lozès, the founder of CRAN. I specifically asked Mr.Lozès about CRAN's potential connections with negritude, truly the most prominent

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Black Nationalist manifestation in the “French Atlantic.” With much confidence, Mr.Lozès indicated that CRAN endorses the Black consciousness aspect of negritude, yetsimultaneously he claimed that the organization seeks to go beyond negritude byadvocating for Black economic and political empowerment within the French Re-public. Lozès stated:

Césaire, Senghor, Damas, and even Sartre, shattered conventional notions ofBlack inferiority and paved the way for demanding equality. From that per-spective, our work represents a new negritude in France. We are reconnectingwith that part of our history, and today, the equality that we are asking for isnothing less than what the elders were demanding—we want Black citizens toshare the same status as Whites—that's all. We are not asking for specialtreatment. Like Césaire, Damas, and Senghor we are fighting against differenttypes of exclusion affecting Blacks in France. We are combating a process ofinvisibilization (a process of erasing Blackness from France), especially in thehistorical and scientific discourse, in the economy and the labor market, and inthe media and in politics (Lozès January 8, 2010).

In the final analysis, the rise of organizations like CRAN speaks to the developmentof “new” Black Nationalist expressions in France. These expressions stem from theexperiences of Black French people who continuously assert their presence in Franceand claim their rights as full French citizens. In many ways, these new Black Nationalistexpressions suggest that, in France, “integrationist” strategies and the ideals of BlackNationalism—creating self-help and African-centered institutions—are not mutuallyexclusive. Essentially, by insisting that the national imaginary should mirror the mosaicof cultures and “races” present throughout the republic, these “new” Black Nationalistexpressions, which as stated previously results from the indigenization of the AfricanDiaspora, complicate notions of ethno-racial homogeneity and cultural and religiousuniversalism in French society. However, unlike France, where “new” Black National-ists expressions are firmly rooted in both the fabrics and politics of the nation, the “new”dimension of Black Nationalism in the USA is entangled with international socioeco-nomic and political issues; it is unmistakably transnational.

Black Migration in the USA: Effects on Intra-Black Relations and BlackNationalism

In the 1970s, the Caribbean migration to the USA increased exponentially. Immigra-tion reforms in the USA, poor governance, and stagnant postcolonial Caribbeaneconomies relying on tourism and cheap agricultural exports such as sugar, bananas,and pineapples pushed hundreds of thousands of young unemployed adults to USurban areas. As a result, certain cities experienced drastic changes. For instance,Caribbean migrants transformed Miami's landscape, opening Caribbean markets,stores, restaurants, and nightclubs in unexpected places. Likewise, one notices anunprecedented Caribbean flavor in Brooklyn, New York. In fact, there are so manyCaribbean people in the tri-borough area (Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan) that theannual West Indian Labor Day Parade has become the largest pan-Caribbean paradein the world, numbering more than one million participants (Nurse 1999).

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The African migration also increased exponentially. On average, since the turn ofthe 1990s, more than 50,000 sub-Saharan African migrants have settled in the USAper year. In the past two decades alone, more Africans have entered the USA thanduring the days of trans-Atlantic slavery (Roberts 2005). Finally, a smaller anddiverse group of Afro-Latinos from South America is also asserting its presence incertain American cities. These new Afro-Latino, Caribbean, and African migrants,whom scholars often refer to as the New African Diaspora (especially for Africanmigrants), are usually students, migrant workers, or trained professionals who bearmuch similarity with other groups of migrants. In other words, they want to achieveprofessional success, increase their income, invest, and offer their children (if theyhave any) all the advantages available to middle and upper class American children(Okpewho and Nzegwu 2009; Waters 1999).

But many Afro-Latino, Caribbean, and African people share different notions ofBlackness. For example, by American standards, most Dominicans look Black; theirskin tone ranges from the light brown complexion of certain Fulani or Igbo people toa dark brown skin tone, which is common among various African ethnic groups. Yetmany Dominicans do not consider themselves Black because, in the Dominican racialimaginary, Blackness embodies Haitian identity (Wucker 1999). Conversely, manyfair-skinned Haitians identify as mulattoes to draw space from darker-skinned Hai-tians and maintain a privileged position in their own society (Trouillot 1990). Africanmigrants' notion of Blackness also differs from the US construction of Blackness.Most people from sub-Saharan Africa tend to prioritize their national and ethnicidentity over their racial identity, a phenomenon that reflects social relations andstratification in many African countries. In other words, the notion of linked fate ofteneludes African migrants because anti-Black racism is usually not a social reality inAfrica (obviously, countries in Southern Africa offer exceptions). Moreover, similarto other migrants, many Africans fail to understand the complexity of structuralracism in the USA. Only in extreme cases—for example, when Amadou Diallo, aGuinean migrant, was shot 41 times by White police officers as he pulled out hiswallet—does the language of anti-Black racism in the USA become clearer to mostAfrican migrants (Fritsch 2000).

Black migrants in urban America give another meaning to the White/Blackdichotomy that has characterized American society since the colonial period. Asmentioned previously, Africans often privilege their ethnic identity over racial iden-tity and many Dominicans, Haitians, and people from Central and South Americawith African features may not choose to identify as Black, in the process challengingAmerican notions of racial identity (Frank et al. 2010). Still, the majority of Blackmigrants are nonetheless aware of their Blackness (Hintzen and Rahier 2003; Kasinitz1992; Reuel 2006). But as the insightful title of Carolle Charles' essay suggests, theyhave a problem with “Being Black Twice” (Charles 2003). Thus, one must interrogatehow do Black migrants who originate from societies where race relations and racialidentities differ from the US position themselves in their host society, especially whenthey are perceived as African Americans, an ethnic group supposedly plagued bypathological behaviors.

To be sure, the White gaze, or more precisely the notion that Whites' perception ofBlackness actually defines Blackness, encourages many Black migrants to distancethemselves from the African-American community. In other words, in a process that

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is not so new to American society—the Jews and the Irish have done it to a greaterextent (Ignatiev 1995; Berger 2000)—many African, Afro-Latino, and Afro-Caribbean migrants see African-American people through White lenses, consequent-ly drawing space from them to avoid stigmatization and climb up the social ladder. Atbest, Black migrants choose to accentuate their differences through a series ofsymbolic gestures. For example, in an interesting study of the Haitian Diaspora inthe USA, Flore Zéphir observes that, “Haitian flags on cars and in store windowshave become not only symbols of ethnic pride but also a message to the whitecommunity that articulate how they expect to be treated differently because theyare not African Americans” (Zephir 1996, p. 53). In that sense, similar to other Blackmigrants, not only do many Haitians feel as if they need to distance themselves fromAfrican Americans but, depending on the situation, they may also even compete withthem to move up the social ladder.7

In many ways, “competition” between Black migrants and African Americans hasperhaps been the fiercest in New York City, particularly in certain sections of theBronx and Harlem, which are now home to thousands of West African migrants. Asdevout Muslims, Catholics, or followers of various African belief systems, theseAfrican migrants embrace “traditional” values; they adhere to strict gender roles andplace much emphasis on respect for the elders and the community. As a general rule,they cannot identify with the economic lifestyle, survival strategies, family relations,as well as codes of femininity and masculinity that poor and working-class AfricanAmericans are constantly fashioning (Wilson 2009; Mora 2010). Consequently, WestAfrican migrants in the Bronx and Harlem often look at African Americans withcontemptuous eyes, a phenomenon breeding tension between both groups. Butcultural differences and stereotyping are not the only factors drawing space betweenthese two communities; xenophobia also plays a role in this process. Many AfricanAmericans in the Bronx and Harlem do not feel at ease with the rapid demographicand cultural change occurring in their environment. As a result, a number of WestAfrican migrants have experienced verbal abuse and even physical assaults from theirAfrican-American counterparts (Dolnick 2009; Abdullah 2010).

There have been, however, displays of solidarity between African Americans andWest African migrants. For example, African-American women extended a helpinghand to their “sisters” from the continent who struggled to make ends meet uponarriving to the USA (Mikell 2000). Collaboration, cooperation, and even cohabitationhave been particularly strong among Blacks from the middle and upper classes(Lacey 2007). A small percentage of African Americans from these social strata(about 4 %) intermarry with foreign-born Blacks (Jackson and Shaw-Taylor 2010).Moreover, church life has also smoothened social relations between Blacks, as newAfrican churches, which have sprouted in certain cities, spend much energy trying torecruit across racial and ethnic lines. While they have not been able to lure Euro-Americans into their congregation, certain African Americans and Caribbean mi-grants are gravitating toward these usually vibrant African churches (Wakin 2004).Nonetheless, as a general rule, the encounter between African Americans and foreign-born Blacks does not reflect the wishes and aspirations of Black Nationalists or Pan-

7 One should note that, inCulture and Stigma: Race, Ethnicity andClass in Black America, LorandMatory (2012)offers an interesting perspective on ethnic diversity and competition in the African Diaspora of the USA.

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African intellectuals and activists; in their imagination, Blacks across ethnicity andnationality should embrace their common origin, identify a common struggle, andwork for the advancement of the “race” (Asante and Abbari 1996). But Ira Berlin, anotable African Americanist, observes that the encounter did not translate into mutualappreciation. Instead, it has generated competition and sociocultural clashes, provingthat the biggest division within the African Diaspora in the USA is between nativeand foreign-born Blacks (Berlin 2010). For that reason, it is important to questionhow demographic change in the Black population affects Black Nationalism, perhapsone of Black America's oldest and most influential ideologies.

Demographic Changes and “New” Black Nationalism in Contemporary America

By the 1970s, influenced by the teachings ofMalcomX,many Black nationalists soughtto reclaim their “stolen” African culture to curtail the “negative” impacts of Westerncultures. For instance, Maulana Karanga, an activist and intellectual, invented Kwanzaa,an African-American holiday stressing the importance of family, community, andwealth, as well as preserving and promoting African and African-American culture(Brown 2003). Many Black nationalists also believed that Islam represented an antidoteagainst rampant poverty and drug abuse in the African-American community. But in the1980s, perhaps due to a growing Black middle class or the conservative Reaganadministration, Black Nationalist movements lost their steam. Yet, despite a somewhat“uneventful” decade, Black Nationalism went through a period of revival in the mid-1990s. In a period during which the crack cocaine epidemic led to a high incarcerationrate of African Americans, particularly African-American males, Louis Farrakhan, theNation of Islam's notorious leader, appealed to Black audiences by preaching the gospelof atonement, personal responsibility, and financial empowerment (Robinson 2001). Incollaboration with the National African American Leadership Summit and local chap-ters of the NAACP, his organization staged the Million Men March, truly a symbolicdisplay of Black unity and “Black power” in the USA (West 2002).

In the aftermath of the Million Men March, Black Nationalism still grew, asnotions of community development and empowerment still loomed large overAfrican-American activists, intellectuals, as well as community and religious organi-zations. African Americans highlighted how they contribute(d) to the socioculturalfabric of the nation and sought power in public and private institutions both withinand outside African-American communities (Brown and Shaw 2002). This trend hademerged from the long struggle for civil rights and the idea that African Americansare entitled to all the attributes of American citizenship. Thus, as an ideology andpolitical philosophy which is vibrant, adaptable, and fluid, one may associate con-temporary Black Nationalism in America to a series of efforts and initiatives aimed atbuilding the community and ensuring that African-American culture has its ownlegitimate space in an ethnically and racially diverse country. In a glaring fashion, thispost-civil right Black Nationalism—a Black Nationalism where Black leaders havebeen known to advocate for community empowerment—bares many similarities withthe “new” Black French Nationalism that I discuss in previous paragraphs.

Yet the presence of millions of Black migrants adds a “new” dimension tocontemporary Black Nationalist expressions in the USA. I contend that Black

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migrants complicate the notion of community empowerment. From their perspec-tives, community empowerment transcends US borders; their Black Nationalistexpression is transnational in scope and falls under the category of what Nina GlickSchiller and George Fouron refer to as long-distance nationalism. Schiller and Fouronexplain that, “Long-distance nationalism is a claim to membership in a politicalcommunity that stretches beyond the territorial border of a homeland. It generatesan emotional attachment that is strong enough to compel people to political actionthat range from displaying a home country flag to deciding to “return” to fight and diein a land they never may have seen” (Fouron and Glick Schiller 2001, p. 4). For thesescholars, transnational nationalism flourishes from the desire to maintain connectionswith the homeland as much as uplifting the homeland from conditions of poverty; it isalmost a quest for dignity. Thus, this new expression of Black Nationalism in theUSA, which focuses on the socioeconomic development of sending countries, isentangled with the Black migrants' attempt to claim a space as equal partners in theglobal village.

Michel Laguerre, a scholar who has written extensively on the Haitian Diaspora,addresses the temporal dimension of long-distance nationalism, suggesting that itcontinues with the children and grandchildren of Black migrants. Haitian Americans,he argues, maintain close sociopolitical and cultural ties with Haiti (Laguerre 1998).In fact, their political entanglement with Haiti is so intense that they helped changethe Haitian political landscape from one seeped in authoritarian values to one aspiringto follow democratic ideals. Moreover, Haitians and Haitian Americans arepressuring the Haitian government to reconfigure the parameters of citizenship sothat Haitians living abroad can have dual citizenship and participate in the nation-building process. Likewise, other Diasporic communities in the USA try to maintainmutually beneficial relationships with their government. These efforts are increasing-ly welcomed by sending societies, as government officials understand that theDiaspora is a gateway to many economic opportunities. For instance, in an effort topromote democratic values and secure the continuing flow of capital from Westerncountries to Rwanda, the Rwandan government encourages its Diaspora to vote innational elections. As the Rwandan experience shows, the process of granting thefranchise to citizens living abroad is a phenomenon spreading at a wildfire paceamong Caribbean and African countries. However, the process is usually not initiatedby the sending nation; by and large, it results from Diasporic lobbying, or as I arguein this essay, transnational Black Nationalism (I prefer using the term transnationalBlack Nationalism, as it acknowledges the racialization and dual identity of Africanand Caribbean people and the USA).

The blogosphere offers yet another example of transnational Black Nationalistexpression. Usually created by highly educated individuals residing in the USA orEurope, a number of African and Caribbean blogs have surfaced on the Internet. Asillustrated by Christophe Celius' Rapadoo Observateur8 and Alice Backer's kiskeácity9, these blogs function as “virtual embassies” of the nation, providing criticalinformation on politics, society, and culture. They also serve as a rallying force forthe Diaspora, informing them about local events such as concerts, film festivals, or

8 See http://rapadoo.com/.9 See http://www.kiskeacity.com/.

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community functions celebrating an event or holiday from their native land. Last butnot least, they promote economic development by informing the Diaspora and anyvirtual visitors about possibilities in their respective homeland. In many ways, thisform of transnational Black Nationalism is a reaction to the social and political forcesthat led to the uprooting or “diasporization” of Caribbean and African people in theUSA. Indeed, if unstable sociopolitical conditions and dire economic circumstancesoften forced Caribbean and African people to reside in the USA and other Westerncountries, these very conditions do not preclude them from participating in theirhomeland's political and socioeconomic affairs. In fact, one may argue that it stim-ulates interaction with the homeland, making the virtual world a much necessarymedium to participate in the affairs and development of the sending society. Thus, thevirtual world operates as an extension of the nation, offering the Caribbean andcontinental African Diaspora in the USA the much-desired opportunity to participatein the nation-building process.

In addition to using the virtual world as a means to empower Black nations, Blackmigrants in the USA exhibit “new” Black Nationalist expressions that are overtlycapitalist and surprisingly color blind. This trend can be measured by the growingnumber of African chambers of commerce in large US cities. Usually created byAfrican professionals seeking to foster business relations between the USA andAfrica, these chambers of commerce operate as nonprofit organizations. In thatrespect, they invite members of the business community or anyone with a remoteinterest in Africa to attend workshops and explore investment opportunities in Africa.As noted on their websites, and as I witnessed while attending workshops inCharlotte, North Carolina, the spirit of color blindness dominate these events; whatseems to be important for the organizers is the participants' allegiance to the continentor, more precisely, the ways in which members and potential members can contributeto spearheading some kind of African renaissance. In truth, the capitalist nature of theevents appears to be the main connection with Black Nationalist movements in theUSA. Specifically, their political philosophy shares common characteristics with theBlack Nationalism of the early twentieth century—especially Garveyism—whichgenerally posited that exporting Black intellectual capital to Africa, developingAfrican-centered trans-Atlantic commerce, and industrializing Africa translated intosocioeconomic growth and political power for Africa and the African Diaspora(Barbara and Hill 1988). Thus, similar to early twentieth century Black Nationalistlike Marcus Garvey, these contemporary Black migrants partake in transnationalactivities to empower their nation; however, to achieve their goals, they utilize themeans, resources, and institutions of the current capitalist system.

Consequently, many migrants who engage in transnational activities involv-ing investment and development projects, or what one may call transnationalBlack Nationalism, embrace the neoliberal ideals that have been highly criti-cized for weakening social structures in the Global South (Chomsky 1999;Harvey 2007). Illustrating this controversial approach among most Africanchambers of commerce in the USA, the Chicago-based African chamber ofcommerce affirms that it aims to bring the world of commerce to Africa; one ofits primary goals consists of assisting “African businesses in accessing theopportunities that exist in other parts of the world … [and organizing] trademissions, fairs and seminars where like-minded business and decision-makers

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can share ideas and MAKE MONEY” (http://continentalacc.org/home.html).Clearly, these African chambers of commerce hope to offer Africans andforeign investors an opportunity to increase their wealth. However, in a processthat resembles Reagan's trickle-down economics, they believe that private in-vestments will enhance the quality of life of most African people. Moreover, inaddition to promoting their nation and shedding lights on economic opportuni-ties for willing investors, it seems as if participants in the chambers ofcommerce's activities view foreign investment as an alternative to the state,which has supposedly failed to develop a proper infrastructure, particularly inthe realms of transportation, energy, education, health, and communication.Thus, to say the least, a neoliberal spirit looms large over the events sponsoredby these new African organizations.

Yet neoliberalism offers a set of challenges to developing nations. For one, thegood of the public often takes a backseat to profit margins. As Stanley Fish observes,in a neoliberal system “Individual entrepreneurs “freely” pursue their private goods,[but] values like morality, justice, fairness, empathy, nobility and love are eitherabandoned or redefined in market terms. Short-term transactions-for-profit replacelong-term planning designed to produce a more just and equitable society” (Fish2009).10 In the case of developing African nations, these entrepreneurial endeavorsmay just bring sweat shops or menial and service jobs that barely offer Africans asurvival wage. Thus, this new transnational dimension of Black Nationalism, partic-ularly when it embraces neoliberal values, stands in stark contrasts to the democraticand humanitarian principles, which had traditionally been associated with the BlackNationalist tradition.

Finally, in addition to bringing a remarkably transnational twist to the US BlackNationalist tradition and invigorating the Black community with different ethnic andcultural attributes, demographic changes in the African Diaspora of the USA has alsocreated new hybrid cultures. These new cultures have the potential to bridge theethnic divide between African Americans and foreign-born Blacks, as well as chal-lenge local and global misrepresentations of Blackness. For example, children ofBlack migrants, who usually have a foot in their parents' culture, often feel uncom-fortable about the representation of their parents' homeland. As a result, they fre-quently participate in conversation on Africa or the Caribbean, injecting informationabout culture, history, politics, or social relations that is usually more accuratethan conventional knowledge about these places (Okpewho and Nzegwu 2009).But many of these children are also socialized as African Americans; most oftheir friends are African Americans and they participate in the construction of

10 Fish also writes that, “Neoliberalism is a philosophy in which the existence and operation of a market arevalued in themselves, separately from any previous relationship with the production of goods and services …and where the operation of a market or market-like structure is seen as an ethic in itself, capable of acting as aguide for all human action, and substituting for all previously existing ethical beliefs.” In a neoliberal world, forexample, tort questions—questions of negligence law—are thought of not as ethical questions of blame andrestitution (who did the injury and how can the injured party bemade whole?), but as economic questions aboutthe value to someone of an injury-producing action relative to the cost to someone else adversely affected bythat same action. It may be the case that runoff from my factory kills the fish in your stream; but rather thanasking the government to stop my polluting activity (which would involve the loss of jobs and the diminishingof the number of market transactions), why don't you and I sit down and figure out if more wealth is created bymy factory's operations than is lost as a consequence of their effects?”

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African-American youth culture. One just needs to look at the origin of rapmusic and break dancing, impressive art forms which owe much to thepresence of Jamaican and Puerto Rican adolescents in New York City (Rose1994). Thus, on one hand, the children of Black migrants embody the coop-eration and cultural “métissage” that can arise from the African-Americanencounter with Afro-Latino, Caribbean, and African migrants; on the otherhand, by encouraging people to see their parents' homeland in a more positiveand “objective” light, they attest to the enduring characteristics of transnationalBlack Nationalist expressions.

Conclusion

Demographic changes in the US and France's Black population are affecting thesecountries' Black Nationalist expressions. In France, the rapid indigenization of theAfrican Diaspora has engendered new Black Nationalist expressions, which amongother things, advocate for community empowerment. Simultaneously, contemporarymanifestations of Black Nationalism in France actually contend that Blackness is anintegral part of the nation. A seemingly radical position in a country promoting color-blind social policies and cultural universalism, contemporary Black Nationalistexpressions in France also propose that Black citizens are entitled to the sameopportunities as Whites.

Whereas the indigenization of Black identities in France has affected socialrelations between Blacks—unlike previous generations, most Blacks in France sharecommon sociopolitical and cultural reference points and interact across ethnicbackground—in the USA, however, African and Caribbean migration poses chal-lenges to the notion of linked fate, which for so long has united Black people. Due tothe misrepresentation of African-American identities and cultural differences, manyBlack migrants seek to distance themselves from African Americans, a relationshipthat ironically mirrors intra-Black relations in France of the 1960s and 1970s. Yet,these migrants' children, in many ways the first generation of African Americans ofSouth American, Caribbean, or African origin, demonstrate that ethnic tension withinthe African Diaspora disappears after one generation, when Blacks of foreign originsbecome “natives.”

Similar to France, ethnic diversity within the Black population in the USA has alsoreconfigured the parameters of Black Nationalism. Black Nationalism is increasinglytransnational in scope and in many ways challenges “conventional” Black Nationaliststo see beyond the local. Indeed, in the post-civil rights era, Black Nationalists haveexpressed concern about the fact that “The Black dollar circulates away from Blackcommunities and reproduces itself in ways that produces wealth for others, not Blackfolks” (Van Horne 2007, p. 81). But in hindsight, contemporary Black Nationalism isnot merely about empowering the Black community and offering African Americans aseat at the national table. When examined through transnational lenses, Black Nation-alism is also about offering developing countries from the Caribbean and Africa a betterplace in the global village. Finally, as the activities of the numerous African chambers ofcommerce reveal, not only does this “new” transnational Black Nationalism flirt withneoliberal policies but it also adopts a color-blind perspective.

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