A note on the French "African" team

There's quite a bit of racism from non-French around the internet and the bars about the French World Cup team. Much of it echoes the racist and fascist politician Jean-Marie Le Pen's pronouncements on the team not being white enough and thus truly French to his line of thinking. The basic claim is that the French team is comprised of Africans and so is not really French, but a team of imports. Apart from the Africa claim being geographically wrong, the basic assumption is that being white is a prerequisite of being French.

Here's a sample of the more extreme form of racism from ESPN's soccer blog (via SuperFrenchie):

well ,unless a sincere, serious efforts r not made to scout and develop programmes to attract the whites into the soccer programme, there will come a day when soccer will lose its great tradition and aura and will lose a sizeable amount of its supporters including ur very truly ..No wonder already, millions r getting attracted to Formula 1, MotoGP, Tennis and so on..The only reason why iam watching soccer and am still loving it is because the country of my grandparents, yea my heartbeat , yea the country to where my bloodline can be traced, yup , the one and only Italia is in the final..
FORZA ITALIA AND BEAT THE ***** OUT OF THE AFRICAN TEAM OF EUROPE(FRANCE) AND SEND THOSE APES SCATTERING UP THE TREES..
QUESTO E LÁNNO NOSTRI!!!!SI!!!
ITALIA!!ITALIA!!ITALIA!!ITALIA!

Here's another:

...iam sure u r a black cuntt just jealous of Italians..for ur info, iam pale, with brown hair and grey eyes and it is normal to find such guys in North Italy..And any way we dont have apes and gorillas playing for our country..Gallas((goodness me!!), Thurram(what a beauty..oops),makelele(he should be on the trees in Senegal), Viera(wow his mom made a handsome..heheh)..henry(with that fat lips ..oops)..so go and eat ***** u black bastard...

[Note the curious fact that both posters deleted the word "shit," as if that's the only unacceptable language here]. But I'm not talking only about this blatant racism, and that of the sort that leads Spanish fans to make monkey noises and throw bananas on the pitch at the French team prior to the start of the France-Spain match this World Cup. Or the Spanish coach Luis Aragones calling Thierry Henry a "black little shit." I mean also the sort that leads anyone to question the skin-color makeup of the French team or their French nationality.

We could simply write all this off as the work of idiots. It is so pervasive, however, that I'm compelled to post on the issue, especially since the more benign form is widespread.

Allow me to dispel this racist stupidity.

1. We can ignore those who call people of African descent "monkeys" or "gorillas." This is angry, stupid racism and unworthy of discussion except in contexts of how much society wishes to sanction them for their language and behavior. This language is illegal in France, for example.

2. All of the players, of course, hold French citizenship. Six of the 23 French players were not born in the French mainland.
- The great Patrick Vieira was born in French-speaking Senegal, a former French colony, to a Cape-Verdean family and moved to Paris with his family when he was 8 years-old. He only recently - in 2003 - returned for a visit to Senegal.
- Reserve Jean-Alain Boumsong was born in Cameroon, also a former French colony.
- Midfielder Claude Makalele was born in Zaire (République Démocratique du Congo, a former Belgian colony) and moved to France at something like the age of 4.
- Florent Malouda was born in French Guiana, a French department (DOM - Département d'outre-mer). The official flag is the French national flag.
- One of the all-time great defensive players, Lilian Thuram, was born in Point-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, which is also a French department.
- Pascal Chimbonda was also born in Guadeloupe.

All of them have lived in France since they were young, although three of them do not have French citizenship by birth. These three are African by birth. All of the other team members were born and raised in France except for striker David Trézéguet, who was born in Rouen, France but raised in Argentina until the age of 17 by French immigrant parents.

So, three players on the French national team are not French by birth, in terms of citizenship. Comparatively, the current US national team has two players who were not born in the US: Pablo Mastroeni (Argentina) and Carlos Bocanegra (Mexico). It will soon include Freddy Adu (Ghana). Many former US players were also not born in the US or to American parents. Two Italian players were also born abroad. Germany's two biggest young stars - Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski - are both Polish by birth. Oliver Neuville is Swiss. Another, Gerald Asamoah, was born in Ghana. So, four German players are naturalized German citizens, compared to France's three.

Note, however, that the six French players mentioned above are all black.

Note, also, that Thierry Henry, born and raised in France, has been one of the main targets of Spanish racism and started an anti-racism campaign, Stand Up Speak Up.

None of this discussion matters, however, if one defines nationality in terms of citizenship. So, those who insist on calling the French team non-French or "African" must be basing this thought on something else.

3. Ten percent of the French population is minority. 17 of the 23 players on the French team are minority. Clearly, the percentages - if we're thinking in terms of ratio quotas - do not match up. Why should they? Most American basketball and football players are black, including the national basketball team. Two of the top three US women tennis players - the Williams sisters - are black. Arguably the best American golfer (a usually lily-white sport) is part African-American, part Thai: Tiger Woods.

Is this important information? It is, perhaps, if it is used to compare percentages of minorities in other positions in society (boardrooms, etc.) and ask questions about social obstacles to better representation in other sectors than sports and entertainment.

As with basketball, one of the lovely things about soccer is that it's a game that anyone can play regardless of economic status. The Beautiful Game is also the Egalitarian Game. Most soccer/futbol players from around the world played in the street. Access to the sport is much easier than access to other social positions (such as corporate and often political positions in the US, which are often held through legacy or other socio-economic advantages - George W. Bush, for instance, is an unexceptional man save for his family's economic and political ties). Look at Brazil, France, England, the African nations, Mexico, Italy, etc., etc.

4. How about blood? This is a common way of judging nationality - that there's some special quality to "bloodlines" that makes one French or Italian or Japanese or whatever.

If bloodlines are what matter regarding nationality, then we still have to draw a historical line somewhere, not to mention political borders. Within the current borders of France you find people of German descent, Celtic, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, African, etc., etc. The main wave of immigration to France before the 1960s and 70s influx of northern African, Sahelian, and sub-Saharan immigration as well as Southeast Asian immigration was Portuguese. During the Franco period, many Spaniards fled to France and elsewhere to escape fascism. Before that, it was Italian immigration. Chinese have been moving to France for over a century. 25% of Marseille, where the great Zinedine Zidane ("Zizou") was born, is North African (mainly Algerian and Tunisian) by origin.

This is to say that, like all countries on the planet, France is affected by immigration. Furthermore, since all countries are affected by immigration, then immigrants from one country to another are likely to have come at some point in their genetic history from somewhere else (which may even be the country they're now immigrating to!).

What is a bloodline, then? The myth of the bloodline seems to rest on another myth: the denial of genetic history and evolution. If not, those who wish to make such distinctions create an arbitrary historical cutoff point or snapshot for determining national "blood" origin. If you need to know, there is no mystical quality to blood or genes.

5. Religion? Religion usually isn't mentioned in these things. But, for a bit of anecdotal information, note that Franck Ribéry, who is white, is a converted Muslim. Lilian Thuram, who is black, started his career wanting to become a Catholic priest.

6. Culture? Yes, if we turn culture into a cliché. White French guy, black and white striped shirt and a beret, baguette under the arm, Gitanes hanging from the lips, rude as a waiter, intellectual but filled with l'angoisse, food and wine loving, and don't forget smelly! I lived in France for three years and have been there many other times, and I've never encountered such a composite person. I know, however, that I smelled bad (from smoking Gitanes and not washing) some of the time, but I'm American.

French culture is diverse. The Le Pen wing with his 15-18% of French supporters likes to say that there is a one true French culture somewhere in there. It's white and Catholic and uses proper French. Like racists everywhere, the claim is that others are not (X) because they are not like me (Y). There is historical basis for this claim only if one uses an exclusive lens through which to view history; perhaps the wrong end of the binoculars.

It is true that integration is a problem in France, as it is in most pluralistic societies. The riots this past fall made big news and allowed other countries to ignore their own faults at integrating minorities into the full life of society. It is a concern in France nonetheless. What a wonderful thing that soccer is so accessible regardless of economic situation!

7. What then? What encourages one to state the more subtle claim that the French team is not French? Perhaps intellectual laziness? How about racism?

8. Allez les Bleus!!!!!!!!!!!!!