Small Town Delicacies and Canada's 150 Birthday

Canada 150th and Port Stanley's Shawarma
The Chordekars via Israel and India

CTV News had yesterday a "Canada 150 success story" (150 years of Canada's confederation) about a family that came from Tel Aviv to Port Stanley, a town on the shores of Lake Eerie. They are touted as immigrants who shunned the big city lights of Toronto and got themselves to a smaller town instead. Well they were in Toronto for several years before they made it to Port Stanley, so they are not the Third-World-Country-to-Small-Town-Canada type at all. Their move is really not much different from immigrants who slowly move their way out of congested cities to other more pleasant locations, which they once again exit to other more secluded, pleasant small towns.

Below is the television story:



So, they opened up a "shwarma" place in this pretty town. Not some fancy French restaurant, or a lively Irish pub, or a menu-rich American Diner.

No. It's just another meat-wrapped-in-a-pita place. That is, a Middle Eastern fast-food joint.

And modesty runs shallow as they talk about opening another place:

The Chordekars are working on plans to expand their business and hire locals to work at their restaurant

says the eulogizing CTV reporter.

Of course all this money comes from government subsidized new business (and immigrant business) start-up funds, which means the ordinary Canadian tax payer is invested in yet another corner shop "venture" whether he wants to or not.

They appear to be professional re-locators. They stress their Tel Aviv connection (they lived there eight years ago) but they originally came from India (Mumbai, as Bombay is now called). They give no concrete reason for why they left India or Israel. The Israeli relocation seems more for financial reasons than personal safety, as does their move to Canada. The CTV news narrator says cryptically:

Living in Tel Aviv, Mumbai before that, the family longed for a country where safety wasn't a concern. Canada promised good education and opportunity. Eight years ago they moved...

They met in Israel where:

Gabriel had experience in the Hotel industry in Eilat, a resort city on the Red Sea with hotels and beaches packed with thousands of tourists from around the world, where Gabriel and Doris Chordekar met and married in Israel before emigrating to Canada.

I believe that the ultimate goal for both of them has always been to get to North America (Canada, the United States, it's all the same). Like most Third World immigrants, they will have a plethora of connections on both sides of the border which they will use constantly - for travel for business an even for future re-locations.

Here is a 2017 reprt which describes their business thus:

Shebaz’s Shawarma & Falafel is owned and operated by Gabriel and Doris Chordekar. Gabriel and Doris had previously resided in the Greater Toronto Area and settled in Port Stanley in 2012. They arrived in Port Stanley armed with a master’s degree in business, training in Middle Eastern Cuisine, and a passion for customer service. It was not long before they decided to follow their dream and open a Middle Eastern themed take-out restaurant. The local community quickly embraced this venture and continues to support the business. The Elgin Business Resource Centre and the County of Elgin Economic Development team are proud to have supported these entrepreneurs through the planning and launch phases of their business. Not only have the Chordekars enhanced the culinary landscape of Port Stanley but their young family has been a great addition to the community.

Well they made it.

If you listen to them talking, it is clear that they are not destitute refugees who might have genuine reasons for running across the globe. They clearly come from some kind reasonably secure segment of their native society where, among other things, they have learned to speak good English and procured an MBA between them.


William Road in Port Stanley:

From left to right:
- Shebaz Shwarma and Falafel "[has] delicious Middle Eastern flavours awaiting you, just minutes away from the main beach."
- Succs On The Beach "is all about showcasing succulents in natural and/or reclaimed vessels, put together with skill and love."
- Sushi Punk "is a hip new sushi/noodle bar & coffee house located in Port Stanley. There's a lounge for you to kick back in with a latte, bubble tea or smoothie and dig the vibes." (Sushi Punk is more an "eclectic" place run by what looks like a former punkrocker-type who is now into food, coffee and antiques). No Japanese there.

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Sushi Punk


Emily Sheeler from Sushi Punk
From an ad for a cooking (sushi) presentation at Pepper Tree Spice Co.,this past May.

NEW! SUSHI WORKSHOP

Thurs. May. 18th , 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm, $60

We are positively thrilled to have Sushi Punk join us in Port and we want to share! Welcome Emily Sheerer from Sushi Punk to our kitchen as she leads you in this fun sushi workshop. Prepare to roll up your sleeves and learn the secret to making perfect Sushi Rice, Futomaki (Sushi rolls with multiple fillings, seaweed on the outside),

Uramaki (Inside out sushi rolls, seaweed on the outside), Nigiri (individual hand formed sushi pieces) and finally Chirashi, scattered sushi. In addition you will all be taking home your own Sushi making tool kit ($20 Value). Vegetarian & Vegan options are a cinch to create once you have the basics.

Sheeler is clearly an expert. But she doesn't just stop there. Her vintage furniture bring some history into this shopping block, and "Canada 150" would do well to visit her collections.

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Succs on the Beach



Elgin County Tourism:

[Succs on the Beach]...is a magical nature filled Artisan Gift Shop, abundant with locally handmade crafts and an array of beautiful Succulent arrangements.

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Identity

Blue Nile Falls

This is an email I sent to a correspondent:

My cousin...was here the other day with her children as well as her brother and his wife.

It is interesting. She stopped her memoir as she entered Canada. I was right about her reticence to write about her Canadian "experience."

[...]

She told me she is [now] writing a "fiction.

[...]

She brought up "identity" as part of her concern in her book...

I told her that "identity" in Canada was always going to be an issue for her (and people like her, although didn't say that).

"Ethiopia is going through some kind of renaissance. Why don't you and your family figure out a way to return? To go 'back home?' You came here through the most difficult way possible (they crossed deserts and countries before reaching Djibouti and finally coming to Canada as "refugees.")

Don't worry about culture and language. Both, especially for Ethiopians who live the culture daily, are easy to regain. Your children (they don't speak Amharic but understand it) will easily pick it up.

A country is a big thing. Everyone needs one."

She (and her brother) were listening to me intently.

I am glad I attended the dinner. I was curious to see what she would do after her "memoir."

[...]

I also said that in general that people like my father, important people ("big people" in the Amharic literal translation) could set an example and make the exodus back home. My parents have bought two houses from the inheritance house (which they sold at a fantastic price to high-rise developers) in Addis Abeba. They go back now every few months. They have invited me again in November but I have declined the invitation.

They could set an example for all these destitute, culturally bereft Ethiopians by returning (to Ethiopia). A courageous exodus.

Ethiopia is undergoing a "renaissance," I told them at the dinner. "After famines, revolutions, communist governments, ethnic wars, it still stands. Ethiopia, and Ethiopians and specially the Amhara, is resilient. It has withstood incursions and invasions through the centuries. The Amhara are still Amhara. Ethiopia is still Ethiopia. You could be part of this renaissance."

My father was quiet but I could see that he was stunned. He didn't expect me to say these things openly, although he knows my views.

I didn't plan this either. It was as though I HAD to do this. And I'm glad I followed this direction.

My cousins left without rancor or ill-feelings. I have told the truth, and they know it.

Interestingly, the last part I said, "Ethiopia, and Ethiopians and specially the Amhara, is resilient," is almost a direct quote from what her father said to them as they started their journey across the desert, which she discusses in her interview with the CBC. I hadn't listened to this part of the interview until today.

She says about her father (my father's now deceased brother):

He grew up hearing about Ethiopians defeating a common enemy and keeping Ethiopia independent for centuries. Ethiopians were very proud people then and I'm sure they still are. So he has that in him. This desert wasn't going to defeat him. He's done it. His ancestors have done it before. And that kept us very strong, because he was 100 per cent sure we would make it.

I am simply telling her to make that journey in reverse, so much easier now that they have so much more than those clothes on their backs when they crossed that desert.

Then they can be Ethiopians once again.

Re post: Indians Will Be Indians

Bad Eagle, ancestor of David Yeagley

(Original post: My Time with the Indians, December, 16 2016)

Below is a forum discussion on the late David Yeagley's Bad Eagle website. Yeagley would write articles or commentaries and leave it up to a registered group of commentators (many of whom became friends) to "trash out" their arguments. I was part of that group. Yeagley was lenient, but he would occasionally ban hecklers. More often than not, we all came out a little wiser.

The comments section is especially entertaining - and serious - which is a good combination to keep discussions lively. Again this was thanks to Yeagley's vision. But he never convinced me of his vision of the "question of Indians," American or Canadian.

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From: The Best on Bad Eagle
By: David Yeagley
August 31 2009

BadEagle.com was recently noted by an Ethiopian artist on her website, Camera Lucinda [sic]. Her remarks about BadEagle.com are a milestone, and deserve serious consideration. Why?

Kidist Paulos Asrat, known as “She Designs,” is a highly educated and elegant woman, who expresses herself beautifully in words, as well as in textiles, graphic arts, film, and photography.


Kidist Paulos Asrat,
woman of the world.
[My reaction later in the discussion:
I am a Canadian citizen, not a “woman of the world.”]

Asrat is a native of Ethiopia, but was educated in Canada, and has lived most of her life there. She studied textile design at the Ontario College of Art and Design, and also studied drawing and painting under Toronto artist Michael Jenzen and botanical artist Leslie Staple. She studied film and photography at Ryerson University under two of Canada’s most renowned artists, Bruce Elder, an experimental filmmaker, and Don Snyder, a photographer.

Asrat’s films and photographs have been exhibited in Toronto, Montreal, Prague and Lille (France). She has served on the Board of Directors for Trinity Square Video, a non-profit video art organization.

As a young child, Asrat was trained in ballet and piano. More recently, she has been a performing member in several dance groups, including a modern dance ensemble. She has also given many public piano performances.

Kidist Asrat was attracted to BadEagle.com.

That in itself bespeaks her sense of adventure, experimentation, and creativity. Not that every conversation on BadEagle.com was something worthy of her interest, but Asrat’s view of the American Indian patriot website is most worthy of our interest.

She says, in “Indians Will Be Indians,” that BadEagle.com has failed to work the magic it professes. She admits that, in her fascination with the scope of the site, she often forgot that it was in fact an “Indian” site. When considering the purpose of BadEagle.com, American Patriotism, she reflects:

“Is there really an Indian who is at peace with America and willing to swallow the bitter pills of defeat? I thought so for a while at Bad Eagle, but I think I was asking for a superhuman feat.”

“Despite a professed love for America, I think David, naturally, loves Indians first—and best. So he has to find ways to incorporate the defeat of his people with their uncomfortable and humiliating lives in modern America. Hence, his strange and constant discussions of the subliminal effects of Indians on America, and even the world.”

Asrat, as indeed the world, sees Indians as a defeated people. However, she is not a liberal, so she doesn’t see Indians as victims. Rather, she sees in Indians the failure to respond to the modern world. She sees my attempts at reinterpreting these present circumstances as a failure to address the problem. BadEagle.com works no ‘medicine’ for Indian people, therefore.

Asrat, as indeed the world, sees Indians as a defeated people. However, she is not a liberal, so she doesn’t see Indians as victims. Rather, she sees in Indians the failure to respond to the modern world. She sees my attempts at reinterpreting these present circumstances as a failure to address the problem. BadEagle.com works no ‘medicine’ for Indian people, therefore.

“I’m afraid that David, cleverly and sincerely, is using psychological tactics to give Indians the importance they don’t have. We have some magical properties, we can heal your ills, he says.”

Yet, BadEagle.com doesn’t spend time addressing the obvious problems Indians have.

“Unfortunately, David seems more interested in giving Indians a false sense of their position in the world based on feelings and emotions rather than provide recourse for actual achievements. He is acting like any other (leftist) Indian in this case, who professes magical, spiritual qualities, which unfortunately have not been proven yet.”

Unfortunately, perhaps, Asrat does not understand the value of being Indian, to an Indian. Indians chose to be Indian, rather than adapt to a new culture they did not value. In a sense, Indians are the one people whom America has never and will never defeat, psychologically. To make this Indian mind set applicable to the modern world is the point of BadEagle.com. Ethnicity and nationhood are one, in the Indian. Indians cherish our nationhood. The problem in much of the world today is the fact that ethnicities do not value their nations.

The leftist craze for immigration, integration, and intermarriage is precisely what Indians eschewed, historically, and why Indians still exist as Indians today—beleaguered as we are by white leftists and leftist-trained Indians. I am ever the opposite of a leftist.

Now, the issue of the treaties is related, but only as the historical foundation of the blood-bought right to be separate, or, to be Indian, forever.

But I can’t really expect any non-Indian to understand this. The only thing that really singes me about Kidist is the fact that she trashes Ilana Mercer! Ilana was the first noted writer to take the Bad Eagle Interview. But Kidist sees things I don’t see. Therefore, I take note when she “sees” BadEagle.com.

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The comments, lively and insightful, start here.

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I have been cited in three books...

Nicole Kidman, as Lady Ashley in Australia
Arriving in Darwin

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I have been cited in three books:

1. Little Mosque on the Prairie and the Paradoxes of Cultural Translation
By: Kyle Conway
University of Toronto Press, Feb 10, 2017

(From my article in American Thinker: How Canada's Little Mosque on the Prairie is Aiming for our Souls)

In Chapter 1 : Sitcoms, Cultural Translation and the Paradox of Saleable Diversity

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2. Women and Comedy: History, Theory, Practice
Ed. Peter Dickinson et al.
Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, Mar 27, 2014

I am referenced in Chapter 16 in an essay by Regina Barreca: Layla Siddiqui as Holy Fool in Little Mosque on the Prairie:

Baber and his continual critique of Canadian morality no doubt inspired the claim of columnist Kidist Paulos Asrat that the show's intention is to convert North Americans to Islam.

This is once again based on my article How Canada's Little Mosque on the Prairie is Aiming for our Souls, but it is an incorrect interpretation of what I wrote. This is the usual hyperbole of multiculturalists who wish to find a demon in any critic of multiculturalism.

What I wished to communicate was that the show's intent was to make North Americans sympathetic towards Islam, and not to convert them. Little Mosque on the Prairie was still an exotic sitcom then. The show came out in January 2007 as Canadians were learning about it, and was cancelled in April 2012 as the novelty wore off, and not because of "Islamophobia."

Barreca is a feminist academician (no oxymoron there) who also wants to be funny. She quips:

“I used to assume my students were feminists,” she says. “It seemed like everyone got my jokes and laughed. Now I have to explain myself.”

For more on Baber (and his daughter Layla) see their character descriptions on Wikipedia

Layla Siddiqui (Aliza Vellani) is... a portrait of an average teenage Muslim girl struggling to find the right balance between her desire to be a good Muslim and her desire for the lifestyle of a regular Canadian teenager who's into music, clothes and boys. She can be rebellious and sarcastic, especially at her father's foibles (she refers to their home as "Baberistan"), but is also very perceptive and insightful. [

The book is a compilation of lectures at symposium at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia in 2011. The essays collected in Women and Comedy: History, Theory, and Practice, originally presented and discussed at a 2011 symposium held at Simon Fraser University.

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3. Baz Luhrmann
By: Pam Cook
British Film Institute; 2010 edition (July 6 2010)

I am cited in the end notes (104) of Baz Luhrmann, which I presume is in reference to my article: Australia: Whose Land is it Anyway, by Austral filmmaker Baz Luhrmann, in American Thinker. I write about the difficult integration of aboriginal mysticism with British pragmatic colonialism. I come in favor of Nicole Kidman's austere but brave femininity, and her kindly adoption of an aboriginal orphan, rescuing him from being interned in a mission school.

Pam Cook tells us in her "welcome page":

I have been thinking, writing and teaching about moving image culture since the 1970s, and these pages are a record of my work up to the present. Since 2006 I’ve been Professor Emerita in Film at the University of Southampton [UK].

The Astonishing Arrogance of Obama's "We"

[T]he single most powerful word in our democracy is the word “We.” We The People. We Shall Overcome. Yes We Can. It is owned by no one. It belongs to everyone. Oh, what a glorious task we are given, to continually try to improve this great nation of ours.

(Excerpt from President Obama's speech on March 7, 2015 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of "Bloody Sunday" Selma to Montgomery Civil Rights march that took place on on March 7, 1965)

Extraordinary.

It's odd that no journalist, or humble blogger, has picked up on this repetitive "we" other than Jeannie DeAngelis at the American Thinker, and then only briefly. I did two days of google searches in all possible combinations to try to find this "we" scrutinized, but to no avail.

Here is what DeAngelis wrote:

Before suggesting that “Yes We Can” belonged in the same context as “We the People… [and]… We Shall Overcome,” the Mt. Rushmore hopeful mocked those who revere an iconic American identity when he said that America is “Not stock photos or airbrushed history or feeble attempts to define some of us as more American than others."

Obama equates his failed "Yes We Can" presidency with the Constitution's "We the People," and Civil Rights' era "We shall overcome."

This is extraordinary because it came right after Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel had come to the United States, brave through his humility, to plead America for assistance against a force that is ready to annihilate him and his people, and without a doubt the rest of the world, if given the chance. I have to conclude that there is deep-seated anti-Semitism in Obama, which manifests itself at crucial, existential moments.

How can people not see this huge, glaring, hypocrisy, where the annihilation of Jews is less important than the freedom of blacks? How can people follow a president who behaves in this manner?

Perhaps Americans are indeed smart and they will wait him out, find as many ways to stall his maneuvers, and quietly rid themselves of this president.

But maybe they simply don't know what to do.

But, the time for wavering is over. This astonishingly arrogant president tells us clearly time and time again his intentions, and he has started to transform these intentions into policies, mainly because Americans are unable, and unwilling, to challenge him with the truth.
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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat

Title Change: Are Black Americans Serious About Separation?

I changed the title of my previous post from A New Black Nation to Are Black Americans Serious About Separation? I made this change since I don't think there will ever be a "new black nation" chipped off America because the American nation wouldn't allow it and blacks wouldn't seriously want it. But, there is a small group of Americans which is considering separating from all these grievous groups - blacks, Hispanics, liberals, and the large array of immigrants who identify themselves as non-whites. Rather than giving blacks, and these other groups, their own nation, they are considering siphoning off their own.

I don't know how this will work out. But it is becoming more of a reality than a few years ago.

Addendum:

I initially wrote A New Black Nation (whose title I changed as I indicated above) referring to this post by Laura Wood at The Thinking Housewife. The discussion has grown there with a comments on a separate black nation.

Laura writes:

You write:

Black re-settlement in Africa is out of the question.

Of course, it is out of the question today and anytime in the near future, just as a separate black nation in North America is out of the question today and anytime in the near future. But you can’t predict the future. You can’t forecast what kind of changes there might be. It is not out of the question because it is physically possible. To work for any such goal now would be patently ridiculous.

I think that as I wrote above, blacks wouldn't seriously want a separate black nation, or if they did, they would demand all kinds of conditions in order to gain as much benefit from the white America as they could.

I think David J., who is a black American commenting at Laura's post, is a clear example of that, although he is civilized and thoughtful with how he expresses it. But, it is strange to find someone expect to stay within the white culture while talking of "my people" as a separate and irreconcilable group. His praise of white culture may be genuine, but his support for unity is opportunistic.

I say this based on my observations of blacks who declare, antagonistically, that they have very little in common with white America, yet expect all the benefits of white America to be passed on to them.

This is similar to what is happening in Quebec, which has talked about separation from Canada for decades, which has come close to separation from Canada at least on two turbulent occasions. But at the moment of decision, it always opts to stay with Canada. And with each return to "unity" comes a list of conditions that benefits Quebec culturally and financially, giving it the best of all worlds.

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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat

Are Black Americans Serious About Separation?

I think not. I think they just want the best of all worlds: a place which they can call their country, but which will have the perennial benefits of a white America. But they will keep rumbling on, making all kinds of demands, using a stealthy weapon of discrimination to get their way, since to be racist (well, to be called racist) is now one of the deadly sins.

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It is interesting that the standards for art remain Western. We have tried Chinioserie, Japonism, Orientalism, Primitivism, and many more non-Western "inlfluences" on Western art. I put influences in quotes because the trajectory is more Western art picking up styles from the non-Western world and applying it in a new way to Western art.

Laura Wood of The Thinking Housewife writes about the celebration of African-American History Month here:

As the annual observance of African-American History Month comes to a close, it is worth noting one of the most compelling reasons why African-Americans, or blacks, should have their own nation in North America: Blacks view themselves as a separate nation — a nation with its own distinctive history, its own heroes, its own literature, its own folklore, its own popular culture.

There is no Irish-American History Month, Italian-American History Month or German-American History Month. There is no White History Month. The Irish, the Italians and the Germans are not clamoring for these observances. That’s because they do not view themselves as separate to the same extent. They are not a separate nation. Look at the uniformity with which blacks approach politics. Almost all blacks vote the same way. No group in America has such a strong collective identity.

Here are her posts and the ensuing discussions:
- A Black Nation in America
- A Healthy Black Nationalism and its Benefits for Blacks

I went to the African-American History Month website that Laura directed us to, and looked up the link provided for African-American artists' collections at the National Gallery of Art. As I went through the collections' highlights, it became clear that these were works which emulated, if not mimicked, Western art standards, and even the "black" references could not disguise these origins.

The one that stood out for me was the African Nude by James Lesesne Wells. It was clearly after Henri Matisse's odalisques (of which there are dozens), which Matisse got from Ingres' Grande Odalisque, which itself was influenced by several centuries of Western artists, as well as Greek and Roman art. The leaf-like shapes in the background are also from Matisse's well-known leaf-like cut-outs he did much later in life when he could no longer paint.

Other resemblences are the "flattened surface" which Matisse explored and experimented with throughout his life: "Matisse used his curvilinear forms and bold decorative patterns to emphasize the flatness of the canvas surface." [Source]

Matisse worked with various print-making techniques, partly to get this "flattened surface" that he finally perfected with his cut-outs.

And Wells' African Nude is a the printing technique linocut, which is a variation of a woodcut.


James Lesesne Wells
American, 1902 - 1993
African Nude, 1980
Color linocut on Japan paper

The National Gallery of Art, where this painting is exhibited, says this about Wells:

James Lesesne Wells was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1902 and received BS and MS degrees from Columbia University, New York. He had a long career in printmaking, first participating in the Federal Arts Project, which encouraged the development of the art in the United States during the Great Depression, and then teaching at Howard University in Washington, DC, for almost four decades. Wells was active in the civil rights movement and often depicted the struggles of African-Americans in his work. African Nude, which Wells created late in life, reflects his printmaking skill, interest in traditional African aesthetics, and commitment to representing African-American history and experiences.

And this about his African Nude:

The woman in African Nude, wearing only a large necklace, reclines on an overstuffed settee. Her alluring position is similar to the pose found in classic images of odalisques—female slaves in the Ottoman Empire whose identities became sexualized and popularized during the nineteenth century. Yet unlike the seductive odalisque seen in Western art, whose gaze challenges by staring directly at the viewer, the nude in Wells' work, with eyes downcast, appears unhappily submissive and ill at ease amidst the oversize lush plants and gala colors of the background. The viewer is thus left unsettled, as if unwelcome despite the outwardly inviting scene.

I cannot leave this biography without commenting on the National Gallery of Art's description of African Nude.

I like the modesty with which Wells portrayed his image. But I think it is as much a commentary on modesty as on submissiveness. This leads me to the question: "Why is this black nude 'modest' while the Arab or white odalisques are so confident? Is Wells telling us not of submission but of the oppression of blacks? As is often the case with black American art, the language revolves around race conflict, and blacks always come out "losing."

Here is a 1990 New York Times article where the commentary says something similar to my point above, and written with the usual "aggrieved blacks" angle.

Below are odalisques by Matisse and Ingres.


Henri Matisse
Odalisque à la culotte rouge, 1924-1925
Oil Painting
50 x 61 cm
Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris


Henri Matisse
French, 1869–1954
Reclining Odalisque, 1926
Oil on canvas
15 1/8 x 21 5/8 in.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York


Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
French, 1780 - 1867
La Grande Odalisque, 1814
Oil on canvas
91 x 162 cm
Louvre, Paris

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Finally, all decisions, especially in the media world, count. Why did the website African-American History Month chose to use a .gov as its domain (http://www.africanamericanhistorymonth.gov), rather than the much more common .com?

As with the politicized black artists, everything is race-relations with black Americans, i.e. the politics of the oppressed.

The domain name .gov is:

derived from government, indicating its restricted use by government entities in the United States. The gov domain is administered by the General Services Administration (GSA), an independent agency of the United States federal government. [Source]

As Laura wrote:

There is no Irish-American History Month, Italian-American History Month or German-American History Month. There is no White History Month. The Irish, the Italians and the Germans are not clamoring for these observances. That’s because they do not view themselves as separate to the same extent. They are not a separate nation. Look at the uniformity with which blacks approach politics. Almost all blacks vote the same way. No group in America has such a strong collective identity.

And she asks:

Can Americans ever amicably come to the conclusion that blacks should have their own nation and make this happen in a peaceable way?

It seems that blacks have already decided, no matter what everyone else thinks, or does. And I saw it in the simple suffix to the website African-American History Month, which is used for website's address andtitled, as though the whole of black American life is subsumed by that one month of "identity."

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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat

Beck's Grammy, and the Black Artists Who Want it for Themselves

This is the song Heart is a Drum from Beck's new album Morning Phase.

There was drama at the Grammys, which I no longer watch because of the coarse behavior, the ugly outfits, the juvenile performers, and the unmusical music. And sure enough, the untalented, aggressive, entitlement-fed black rap performer Kanye West hijacked Beck as he was receiving Best Artist award.

Everyone thought it was a joke, including his pathetic wife, Kim Kardashian, who is part of the Kardashian enterprise which puts on a "reality" show on television. Her mother was also married to Bruce Jenner, the now freaky creature who decided to become "female."

Such is the level of our artists these days.

I've posted above the song which Beck sang at the Grammys, Heart is a Drum, from his deserved win, Album of the Year, Morning Phase.

It is a textured, layered piece, which reminds me a little of the Simon and Garfunkel rendition of the English folk song Are You Going to Scarborough Fair.


Simon and Garfunkel in Central Park,
Singing Are You Going to Scarborough Fair in 1981

Below is Beck performing Heart is a Drum with Chris Martin, of the group Coldplay, at the Grammys. Perhaps they are the next Simon and Garfunckel?


Beck and Chris Martin, of Coldplay, performing together at the Grammys

And here is Beck startled as West moves on stage, interrupting his Grammy acceptance.


"This is NOT a Joke!!!!!!!"

And here is West declaring he was very serious about jumping on the stage to interrupt Beck. BEYONCE WAS THE TRUE WINNER! West did the same thing in 2009 when Taylor Swift won Best Female Video at the Video Music Awards. That true winner, Beyonce, was robbed of her prize!

Such is the aggression of anti-white blacks, who declare their own standards and we better agree, or else.

Kim Kardashian, who was next to West, is realizing what she's in for with her life with West, whom she married in 2014. Below is her startled expression at West's tirade.


"That was NOT a Joke!!!!!!!"
[Source: Screen capture from Youtube]

Below is how Beyonce ended her performance at the Grammys with the now much referenced but false narrative "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" of the Ferguson shooting. Several other black performers also did the same "hands up" motion at the end of their performances. Pharrell Williams went one step further and added "hoodies" on his multicultral/multiethnic/multigendre background performers. We are ALL Michael Brown, and Trayvon Martin.


Beyonce on stage at the Grammys singing "Take My Hand, Precious Lord"

Here (youtube) is Beyonce's rendition.


Pharrell: Hands Up Don't Shoot in Hoodies as I Wear My Monkey Suit

There is a message Pharrell is trying to convey, I guess:

- He's an organ monkey
- He's NOT a monkey
- This is a joke
- This is NOT a joke
- White people think we're monkeys
- Let's play at monkeys

Another idiot on stage.

The song Take My Hand, Precious Lord is from the 2014 movie Selma, which is based on the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches. It was performed in the film by another singer.

Selma is a gospel song written by Rev. Thomas A. Dorsey in 1956 (a black man), but performed with genuine spirituality by a white performer, Tennessee Ernie Ford, who sang in the "country and Western, pop and gospel musical genres."

Below is Tennessee Ernie Ford's rendition, with a full, white, choir which he sang in 1965, right in the middle of the civil rights era.


Tennessee Ernie Ford singing Take My Hand Precious Lord in 1965

So what do Beyonce, Pharrell, Kanye and all those spoilt, contemporary blacks think about this? I assume Beyonce has seen it, given the close resemblance of her big Grammys choir to Ford's original. She is, then, a great hypocrite.

Beyonce is no doubt a talented singer and songwriter, but her insistence on the riffs and improvisations (known as melisma [pdf article]), overloads and drowns the melody. The Grammy judges made the right call, if only for her and other blacks to listen to Beck's album, in some moment of curiosity and humility, and learn from it.

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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat

The Ferguson Riots

Left: The burnt down Fashion R boutique
Right: Bertha Ewing (left) manager, and Juanita Morris, the owner of Black-owned Fashion R boutique
The interview with CNN is here
Laura Wood at The Thinking Housewife has posted an intelligent commentary on the Ferguson Riots.

Interestingly, Ben Carson, who is getting ready to start his run for the presidential race, said something very similar on Hannity's Fox News program a couple of nights ago. I've been looking for the direct quote, but he essentially said that he wants more information on why the police officer (Wilson) had to shoot and kill Michael Brown.

Hannity was a little bewildered by this comment. He said something to the effect that as this giant of a man was charging at the officer, then the officer had no choice but to shoot. I think Hannity missed the point (he finished off the interview right after that and didn't let Carson explain further). I think that what Carson meant was why it had to be a lethal shot, rather than an incapacitating shot.

I think Hannity didn't post the video because he was surprised by it. He expected Carson to say that Wilson was cornered, and shot in self-defense (Hannity made this "explanation" himself as he wrapped up the interview).

I have a slightly different take on this.

There is no doubt that Brown was an imposing man. Wilson had also heard about the robbery earlier, and the description of the thief fit Brown's physique.

Wilson described the approaching Morgan as "demonic." I think Wilson was temporarily "blinded" by this large, approaching figure. Combine that with the prevalent racial tensions everywhere in America, where whites have always to be super-cautious and blacks can be belligerent even towards the police, then I can see where Wilson behaved the way he did.

I watched the Fox News report on the riots (it is hard to call them demonstrations).

I just kept thinking how sad it all was. Was this all that there is left, complete mayhem?

My sadness was justified, since many of these businesses were actually owned by blacks (see top image and corresponding CNN story). So, the riot, which was supposed to protest racism of whites against blacks, ended up with blacks destroying the hard-earned buildings (often one-room businesses) of other fellow blacks.

The whole thing was also fascinating to watch, how an entire city was hijacked by something outside reason, as though some evil force was flowing through like thick lava spilling through the streets as it engulfs and destroys everything along its way.

And even as lucid and astute as Carson may be, he still is reacting within this hyper-saturated racial atmosphere, which led to the incredible two nights of unchecked mayhem of fire and rocks and a demonic environment.

But, as usual with this stories on race, there is more.

According to the journalist Debbie Schlussel, the owner of the convenience store which Morgan robbed used the store as a front for laundering money and arms to the PLO.

She writes:

When I learned that the market Michael Brown robbed was called “Ferguson Market & Liquor,” the name rang a bell. And one of my twitter followers (follow me on Twitter) reminded me that I’d written about its owners’ 2008 indictment for laundering money to and financing of Palestinian Islamic “entities” after an FBI Terrorism Task Force investigation, using the store as a front for that operation. They later pleaded guilty to the scheme. Here’s a flashback:

Fourteen people have been indicted on charges of using convenience stores to trade in stolen goods and contraband cigarettes, sending the profits to groups in the Palestinian territories. Five stores were raided Tuesday as part of an alleged racketeering organization and at least nine people were arrested, authorities said. The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force was involved in the investigation.

The indictment . . . said that since 2000, the organization profited from bank and wire fraud, receipt of stolen property and sales of contraband cigarettes. The organization, led by 33-year-old Bassam Hamed, operated convenience stores that were used to sell stolen goods, Hanaway said. He and two of his brothers were among the 14 people charged.

The indictment . . . said members of the “Hamed Organization” transferred money to “entities” in the Palestinian territories. Officials would not disclose those entities but said they were not individuals.

As I noted then, the “entities” probably had names like HAMAS, Islamic Jihad, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, etc. Sadly, the men got very light sentences after pleading guilty to racketeering and money-laundering.

It is no wonder that Wilson felt the evil of this incident.

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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat
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Malebolge: The Eighth Circle of Hell

Early in Canto XXIV, Dante clarifies the geographical structure of Malebolge (the Eighth Circle): it slopes continuously downward, so that, after the Tenth Pouch, it runs right into Hell’s central pit. Virgil and Dante have thus not been simply progressing around the underworld’s circumference but descending deeper and deeper into the Earth’s core. [Source]

In Dante's Inferno, Hell is described as having 9 different levels, or circles, each lower than the last. As one descends into the depths of hell, he comes closer to the 9th circle where Satan himself resides. Each level of hell is reserved for different types of sinners, and different punishments are inflicted on the damned depending on the nature and severity of their sin. The greater their sin, the lower the level to which they are condemned to spend eternity.[Source]

The Eighth circle:

Panderers and seducers, flatterers, sorcerers and false prophets, liars, thieves, and Ulysses and Diomedes. [Source]

More on the Eighth Circle:

In Dante Alighieri's Inferno, part of the Divine Comedy, Malebolge is the eighth circle of Hell.

[...]

As the eighth of nine circles, Malebolge is one of the worst places in hell to be. In it, sinners guilty of "simple" fraud are punished (that is, fraud that is committed without particularly malicious intent, whereas Malicious or "compound" fraud — fraud that goes against bond of love, blood, honor, or the bond of hospitality — would be punished in the ninth circle). Sinners of this category include counterfeiters, hypocrites, grafters, seducers, sorcerers and simonists. [Source]

William Blake
British (London, England 1757 - 1827 London, England)
The Circle of the Thieves
Buoso Donati Attacked by the Serpent , from Dante's Inferno, Canto XXV
Date: ca. 1825–27
Medium: Engraving
Dimensions: plate: 9 5/16 x 13 1/4 in.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

About the print:

This print illustrates lines from Canto 25 of Dante’s Inferno. It shows a thief named Cavalcanti in the guise of a serpent ‘all on fire’. He is preparing to attack another thief, Buoso de’ Donati. The serpent and Donati eye each other while ‘One from the wound, the other from the mouth Breath’d a thick smoke, whose vap'ry columns join’d’.

In the next scene, which Blake also illustrated, Donati is transformed into a serpent and Cavalcanti into a man. Their punishment is to suffer this transformation from man to snake and back again for eternity. [Source]

William Blake
British (London, England 1757 - 1827 London, England)
Donati Transformed into a Serpent; Francesco de'Cavalcanti Retransformed into a Man (from Dante's "Divine Comedy"), 1824-1827
Alternate Title: Buoso Donati Transformed into a Serpent; Francesco de' Cavalcanti Retrans...
Series/Book Title: Dante, "The Divine Comedy"
Drawing
British, 19th century
Watercolor, black ink, graphite, and black chalk on off-white antique laid paper
37 x 52.3 cm (14 9/16 x 20 9/16 in.)
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop, 1943.434
Department of Drawings, Division of European and American Art
Cambridge, MA

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Surveillance video of Ferguson Market and Liquor,
which was recorded on August 9, 2014
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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat
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Auster/Asrat Interaction: Saving the West and Other Urgent Matters

In my last post, I wrote of my first posted interaction in November 6, 2008 with Larry Auster's View From the Right. I did a search at VFR's site to see if I was correct, and in fact, my first posted comment was as an anonymous KPA, in the article Minority Female Republicans For Diversity, written on May 9th, 2006. That is a couple of years earlier than what I thought.

Here is what I wrote in 2006 as KPA, commenting on the article:

KPA writes:

Mr. Auster,

I admire your fairness and generosity towards all types of people. Those who may have called you racist are using the term erroneously. Racial pride does not equal racist.

I had noticed your staunch support for Hirsi Ali, when I could see months before that she had no intention to really help the Netherlands, but was focused on her own status as female, Muslim (and I suppose black too).

Malkin seems also intent on vociferously asserting herself. I always find that such passionate self-justification (maybe to feel a part of the rest) is a symptom of insecurity and dare I say, inferiority.

Perhaps all these non-white women need to do is to have a certain humility. To agree and accept the fact that America was founded by other white nations. That a Philippino or a West African population could never have created what the British did.

And if that becomes too difficult, then stay away from public life, rather than eventually become hypocrites.

Although, one final thing that I may add. Race is war in a sense. Each one wants supremacy over the other. Rice may very well envision a land full of powerful blacks, and Malkin may lapse at times into a vision of a world of powerful browns.

Well, we certainly are headed for interesting times!

I commented on this interaction, again at VFR, which I wrote on June 19, 2012:

It was fun to go through your search engine to find my first emails to you. I used my initials KPA then, and I think I identified myself as being from Canada since the beginning.

From what I can find, my first email to you was on May 9, 2006. The thread was on how nonwhites, even the “conservative” ones, push for the advancement of nonwhites at the expense of whites, as well as on Hirsi Ali, Islam, Western culture, gender, and what I thought were race “wars.” Quite a post! And I declared myself your ally!

My second comment, in the entry, “The enemy is not jihad,” deals with more pressing and tangible material, namely: Islam’s incursions into Western society, from cultural strongholds to actual preparations for jihad. This was in September 2006. I am surprised that I understood (I think) the problem so well so far back, when few people were talking or writing about the reality of Islam.

It is interesting that Laura Wood, in her first email to you, was also concerned about religion (or the loss of Christianity).

It seems that spiritual and religious matters are at the forefront of the West’s problems, and the decline of religion makes it easier to dismantle the civilization.

Larry added the article I had written for VFR, Christian Tolerence, Islamic Jihad:

Also see the article Kidist wrote for VFR in 2007 (when she still was ID’d as “KPA”), in which she told how the Christian kingdom of Ethiopia’s tolerance toward its Muslim minority in the 16th century enabled the Muslims to launch a jihad.

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Addendum: The View From the Right search engine, in the right margin of the VFR website provides shortcuts to the posted articles.
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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat
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#Biracial And PROUD

Michelle Malkin's Biracial Children

The useless Michelle Malkin is in an uproar because someone called her racist. Or rather, someone tweeted on MSNBC about a new Cheerios cereal ad which depicts a white mother and a black father, and a biracial young girl who I suppose is meant to be their offspring.

The tweet on MSNBC says (about the ad):

Maybe the rightwing will hate it, but everyone else will go awww: the adorable new #Cheerios ad w/ biracial family.
on.msnbc.com/1dpgQEU

Then there's a whole lot of twitching going on at Malkins #myrightwingbiracialfamily, which is at "Twitchy," a custom made twitter type of site made for Malkin. She has her latest hashtag as: #myrightwingbiracialfamily. It should be #biracial and PROUD.

There is nothing wrong with the instinctive (perhaps knee-jerk, and thoughtless) reaction of the MSNBC guy, who is only saying what he sees. True conservatives are ambivalent about inter-racial marriages, and will not put it in the focus of others' attention if there is one (in their own marriage, or a family member's marriage). They understand the difficulties of inter-racial marriages, and that such families' dynamics are distorted, often incurring split family loyalties.

Generally, if the offspring resemble the dominant culture (whites in America) these children often ambivalently follow and support that culture, but they are always on unstable ground, having to refer all their lives to the non-white member of their family. If the offspring don't resemble the dominant culture, then these children begin a long life of rejecting this dominant culture, some vociferously, others tamely. But still, rejecting it. In any case, nobody's life is easy with inter-racial marriage.

Malkin could have been humble about her family situation by saying that somehow she and Jesse Malkin made the leap to get married and raise a family, but that it was a difficult step, and is a difficult ordeal.

But perhaps it isn't so difficult for her. With her high-volume opinions, she must either intimidate or brain wash her friends, family and now political audience, into believing that her way is just fine, and that is what America is all about now.

But the fact that she's getting so worked up shows that it is still a big deal, and people (left, right, old and young) will notice such couples and families, and some might even comment on it. Theirs is not a racist reaction. It is a human reaction.

I've posted below the screenshots of Malkin's back-and-forth twitches because they are likely to be taken down by Twitchey et al. And here a the link to a site which has screen-shot the posts.




















Malkin's Twitchy site even has a "biracial,"
"bi-gender" - is that the right term? - couple.
Such is the extent to which she will take her
conservatism to defend a legitimate point.


Jesse Malkin, from a 1991 photo.
He is Malkin's husband, and the father of her two children.
I don't see any resemblances between him and his children.
This is part of the tragedy of mixed race children.
They often look nothing like one of the parents, and often have a
slim resemblance to the other. They are true orphans.

How will Malkin's Philipino-looking children behave when they grow older? I would wager that they try to be as "Philipino" as they can, and given that they are thousands of miles away from the country, this will be quite a feat. So instead, they will stick to an amorphous "non-white" narrative, even as their own father is white, and elect people like Barack Obama, and all else that follows from there (and has followed)...

Malkin's amalgam of a family has long-range consequences, least of all changing the consvervatism (and liberalism) of America.
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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat
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Bianca Stigter: Sinner

Director Steve McQueen with his wife Bianca Stigter and daughter Alex attend
the Accenture Gala ahead of the premiere of "Twelve Years A Slave"
during the 57th BFI London Film Festival at the Langham Hotel
in London, England, in October 2013
[Image source]

In my previous post "The Obama Effect": "Depicting Slavery as a Horror Show" I wrote about the black director of the recently released film, 12 Years Running:

...what a disgusting human being this director is, and how pathetic people are to allow themselves to be manipulated by him not just in this film, but in other guilt-filled and exaggerated, and often false, depictions of the lives of blacks as slaves.

What is actually more shocking than the shock effects of this director is that he's married to a white woman! But he's not actually married to her, although they have a daughter and a son together. She is addressed as his "longtime partner" in various sources. She is referred to as a "cultural critic" and is apparently Dutch. Here is a referral to a Bianca Stigter, placing her in Amsterdam, with a photograph of a girl/boy that very closely resembles the photograph of the girl above. And according to a 2010 New York Times article, McQueen left England for Holland in 1996. It makes sense that he settled down in super-liberal Holland, with a "partner" who is a "cultural critic" who probably advocates that all "culture" is good, and that honesty in art is the most important thing - i.e. that an artist should show all the sex, violence, horror, and demonism he thinks is necessary to get his artistic "message" across. And marriage is unecessary, in their world of "free" love

How does this "partner" reconcile her husband's hate for whites (that is what it boils down to) with his with his partnership with her, a white woman? What does their partnership consist of? How do they discuss his film projects?

Male Partner: I have this idea for a film.
Female Partner: Oh, that's great!
Male Partner: It is about slavery.
Female: I'm sure you'll have a lot to say about that.
Male: Well, it's about the evil whites who loved every minute of humiliating their slaves.
Female: Oh, yes...
Male: I'll add a lot of beautiful cinematography, to accentuate the evil.
Female: OK. Mmmm. I'm sure you'll do a great job.

Stigter's cultural criticism includes works such as:

Gold from Straw: The Human Body as an Adventure which is a book about:

Gold from straw is a book about people are in straitjackets and about people who are burst out brilliantly, about people who adhere to standards, or people who paint. Everyone is born with a body, but virtually no one is satisfied. In this book, there are stories about women who want to be men, about robots who want to be human, pigs that talk and elephants who listen to music. [I constructed this English translation of the synopsis from various online translations]

And a book she co-wrote titled Fransje Killaars, where she does reach out to Third World, or at least to the non-white of the world, as she reviews the works fellow Dutch textile "artist" Fransje Killaars, who makes "installations" of textiles she reproduces based on Indian carpets and rugs.

Stigter was the one who gave the book 12 years running to her husband, probably suggesting that it could be made into a film. She is the ideal, white wife (or partner, in this case) for this black man. She subjugates herself, and her race, in expiation for all those sins she has been told, and will continue to be told, she has performed in the name of her white superiority and inherent desire to harm blacks. It is an exorcism that she needs, and part of that involves endlessly seeing, reading and discussing this great sin. And her exorcist, to her great luck, is her "partner."
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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat
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Alain Delon, French Film Star Turned Racist

The election of the new Miss France continues to bring interesting stories.

Alain Delon, French heart throb and film star, and chief judge for the Miss France contest, resigned as lifetime president back in October. He is a member of the Front National, "known for its strongly anti-immigrant agenda."

...[M]ovie star Alain Delon quit as honorary president for life in October in a row over his backing of the far-right National Front party.

Organisers of the contest had berated Delon for comments supporting the anti-immigration Front National, its founder Jean-Marie Le Pen and his daughter, current party leader Marine Le Pen. [Source]

Here is more on Delon's association with the Front National:

...[L]e président d'honneur à vie du comité Miss France Alain Delon faisait en effet scandale en expliquant dans une interview au Matin qu’il trouvait la poussée […] du Front national « tout à fait édifiant[e] ». « Édifiant parce que les gens en ont marre qu’on leur parle comme on le fait. Ils veulent de l’action, ils veulent autre chose. » « Voilà pourquoi le Front national, […] prend une place très importante et ça, je l’approuve, je le pousse et le comprends parfaitement bien », avait-il ajouté. [Source]

------------

...The honorary President for life for Miss France Alain Delon created quite a scandal when he explained in an interview to the Matin that he found the direction of the Front National "completely uplifting." "Uplifting because people have had it with the way they're talked to. They want action, they want something else. That is why the Front National has taken such an important place, and I approve of that, I support it, and I understand it perfectly well," he added.

Delon is not the only French film star to take on this "right" position on immigration and race. Brigitte Bardot, whom many derided as the "Seal Goddess" for her fight against the killing of seals for fur coats, has also been in the news denouncing immigration, and specifically Muslim immigration.

I am not surprised that Delon joined the judging committee for Miss France. Another article linked to the one above says:

Alain Delon regrette que "les femmes soient devenues des hommes."

Alain Delon regrets that "women have become men."

Below is an excerpt from the article:

"De plus en plus de femmes sont devenues des hommes », alors qu'elles devraient incarner la "féminité absolue" sur le modèle de Miss France, a déclaré Alain Delon dans une interview au Figaro Magazine. Quant aux hommes, l'acteur regrette qu'ils ne passent plus par l'armée, qui enseignait les "valeurs nécessaires à la construction d'un homme jeune".

------------

"More and more women have become men," while they should be embodying "supreme femininity" modeled after Miss France, declared Alain Delon in an interview with Figaro Magazine. As for men, the actor regrets that they no longer go through the army, which used to teach the "values necessary for the formation of a young man."

It is not surprising that Delon joined the executive committee for Miss France. Whatever the ideas (and ideologies) behind the competition, it is still primarily about beauty, and the election of the most beautiful woman.

Plus, Delon personally knows something about beauty (besides the beautiful women he met during his film career). He is the male version of beautiful: handsome. At least he was so in his younger days.
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Posed By: Kidist P. Asrat
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Flora

I went through my post on the new Miss France, Flora Coquerel, to review the photograph I posted of her with her African cousins.



I made a small error (well, big in the context of the analysis I later make), but I think I missed it because of the re-writes I did of the post to get to the core meaning of the words and images.

Flora says:

...je pense que beaucoup de personnes peuvent se retrouver en moi.

I translated "se retrouver" and "en" as:

...I think that many people can identify themselves with me.

Later on, in an analysis of this statement, using the correct pronoun for "en" and a different, but more precise phrase for "se retrouver," I wrote:

"find themselves in me"

I think finding oneself is an existential quest. There is only one self to find. Whereas to identify oneself is a fluid, changing, and less traumatic quest. One's identity can be linked to a family, to a gender, to a culture, to a country, to a region, and so on. If my family's link is not solid, then I always have my cultural links. If that is not enough, there is always my country, and so on.

Flora instinctively realizes that there are many like her in France, and although she may not be able to articulate this, in the West as well, who are "finding themselves." Her example, and her candid declaration, may help those others, lost and searching, who cannot feel comfortable with the France they grew up in, but who can still fight to reach the pinnacle she has reached. She is truly "Miss France," but for the disenfranchised, as she has pronounced in her unsophisticated, but sincere, language.

And later on, as she gains more confidence, and without doubt becomes more political, she will try to forge a new "France" where the metisses, the neglected offspring of Africa and Europe, can win more than decorative titles. Why not from Miss France to Madame La Presidente?

Flora's quest is serious and deep. She may have won Miss France, but who is she, really?

Back to the photographs. Flora's parents took her to Benin as a young girl, and from my understanding, took her there regularly. Her mother is very dark-skinned (and I think attractive with her high cheek bones and very dark, ebony skin), so it is not surprising that these cousins also have this blue-black skin color.

Flora seems at ease in the photograph, and is even leaning slightly on the cousin to her right, in a kind of loving gesture. These are family, after all.

But look at the scowls of the boys. And look at how the one on her right is pushing into her, squeezing her between him and the other cousin. It is as though she is to be protected by them, but that she also belongs to them. This beautiful, light-skinned, half-white cousin of theirs is like a trophy. Even the cousin at the far right is vigilant, forming a bodyguard of boys around the girls. I would think the other girl is also a cousin, and she looks like another mettise, although perhaps not as favored as the French Flora. I have to speculate that this other metisse cousin has a difficult life in Benin. Metisse may be good coming from France, but black Africans would most certainly not tolerate such a different looking "relative" in their midst, and would treat her as an alien. That could be the reason for her slightly dejected, and vigilant - in her own way - look. She does look like Flora, but isn't as pretty. And that could be another reason these dark African boys flocked around Flora in their protective/aggressive manner.

Flora is not at all frightened. Her father (whom I assume is taking the photograph) is there after all.

I wonder if Flora were left alone with these boys and the other metisse girl for an extended period the protectiveness of the boys would turn to violence? I think the metisse girl would be an accomplice with the black boys, since she has to deal with them when Flora is gone. She is not Flora's ally. For these black boys (and metisse African girl), Flora is the pretty French cousin who comes from that far-off white world which they see on television and which the whole world admires. She is a trophy, and an enemy. To have her in their midst, and to claim her, would give them prestige. And no-one in their community would denounce them.

This is the volatile world in which Flora lives, as she happily and innocently claims her trophy in the name of her metissage.

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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat
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"Je pense que mon métissage est une force"

Miss France 2014 being crowned

We think that through our multicultural mind-set, other cultures will follow our (pious) example.

Well, people don't want to change.

The new Miss France is a metisse: the offspring of a black mother and a white father.

I've tried to find a current definition (and translation) of "metissage" but have decided to keep the word in its French. Tiberge from Gallia Watch has come to the same conclusion, and explains her decision here. She writes:

Here is my rendition of his words. It is far from perfect, because his grammar seems a bit off at times. Except for two places, I have retained the French word "métissage" (crossbreeding), and it's various verbal and adjectival forms, since "crossbreeding", "racial mixing" and other similar terms don't always convey the right meaning. "Crossbreeding" sounds too scientific, as when farmers crossbreed crops. "Miscegenation" is too technical and refers to marriage. "Mongrelization" and "bastardization" are too graphic. It looks as if "métissage" will join "laïcité" and "communautarisme" as French words that are so troublesome, it's better to just leave them.

This Metisse Miss France says:
"I think that my metissage is a strength."

Which is a variation on "Diversity Our Strength."

She says about her "metissage":

Je pense que mon métissage est une force. Ca montre que la France d’aujourd’hui est une France mélangée où il y a toutes les cultures. Et je pense que beaucoup de personnes peuvent se retrouver en moi, que ce soit les Français de souche ou les Français d’origines diverses.

--------------------------------------

I think my miscegenation is a strength. It shows that today's France is a mixed France, which has all cultures. And I think that many people can identify themselves in me, whether they are "les Français de souche" or those french from diverse origins .

Some notes on the translation:
- "find themselves in me" implies a deep, even ancestral identification rather than through skin color or looks.
- "Les Français de souche" is a difficult phrase to translate, and Tiberge has given a brief definition here, where she writes: "[I]n French the word "souche" means "root", a "Français de souche" being, therefore, an ethnic Frenchman."
- Rather than say "French of diverse cultures" Miss France goes one step back and says French of diverse origins, as though these are not French people - i.e. les Français de souche - but other peoples of the world. But more specifically, she means French of diverse origins who come from non-European countries.

Miss France is pretty. I thought she was Arab when I first saw her photo, and that her "metissage" was white and Arab. But, here are her parents:


Miss France's parents

Her father is from Orleans, the heartland of France, in the beautiful Loire Valley, in whose town center stands a statue of Joan of Arc.

Her mother is from the west African country Benin.


Statue of Joan of Arc in the city square of Orleans


Statue of King Toffa in Porto Novo, Benin

She looks nothing like either of them. How does she identify with her parents? Children often resemble at least one of their parents, and if they have siblings, the resemblances would be distributed amongst the two parents. They can say "I come from that family," which of course leads to the bigger identification of "I come from that culture," and eventually "I come from that country."

Although Miss France's mother speaks fluent French, she has a slight accent. French is the official language of Benin, which also has a plethora of indigenous languages. Most African countries which were colonized by the British or the French use these European languages as their official ones, but also speak one or more other native language.

I wonder how Flora reacted to her mother's accent growing up? Young children are very discerning of differences. This must have accentuated her mother's "otherness" to her even more. Her father, like her, speaks French like a Frenchman.

Miss France has to invent an identity for her amorphous and difficult-to-identify mixed-parentage of such different racial and national backgrounds. Even countries where metissage is common in the core identity of the country, like Brazil, for example, the strong and confident groups are not the metisse, but those who claim a particular racial group, like blacks or whites. In Canada, there is a racial group called Metisse, but they have never forged alliances either with the "Natives Canadians," i.e. those with Indian ancestry, or with whites. Their cultural and political, and even personal, strength is minimal.

I don't know how strong metissage will prove in France. I don't think it is a strength, as Flora says above. Whites may be having a hard time identifying their whiteness with strength, but there is a group which is not at all shy of doing so, and it is growing in strength and in numbers: Muslims. And this group doesn't tolerate any kind of metissage, either in racial or religious terms. It jealously guards its religious, and cultural, identity. And it eventually seeks to put everyone within its own religious identity, possibly with hierarchical categorizations of Arab Muslims at the top and with white and black Muslims at the bottom of the ladder. The religious superiority of Islam is mandated through their religious book, the Koran. Muslims show this repeatedly throughout history in whatever country they have amassed numbers any strength. Why should France be any different? Where would the black and white metisse like Flora fall under this categorization?

Here is Flora's more specific association with her African roots:

"Je suis franco-béninoise. Je mets en avant mes deux origines. Mes parents ont une association au Bénin, qui vient en aide aux enfants et s'occupe du forage. Au cours de mon année, je souhaite soutenir l'insertion des femmes dans le travail et l'alphabétisation", a-t-elle expliqué après son sacre.

Below is my translation:

I am Franco-Beninese. I give equal importance to both my backgrounds. My parents have an association in Benin, which helps children and drills wells. During my reign, I hope to provide work and literacy for women [in the Benin project, I presume].

In the Wikipedia definition of Beninese (the English translation for Béninois) such a person is:

From Benin, or of Beninese descent.

Flora thus identifies with the culture (or racio-culture) as well as the nationality of Benin.

Her metissage does not place her white and black backgrounds on an equal level: she is more black than white. Her diversity does not put all cultures on an equal footing: she is more Béninoise than Française.

Whenever a mixed-race child with one parent who is white and the other Asian, African or Hispanic, is asked to chose his identity, he will always identify with the non-white parent. This seems to be the rule of racial identity.

This of course also leads to identification with the non-white parent's cultural and national background, even as this mixed-race child lives, and benefits from, the culture, civilization and accomplishments of whites.

I will try to refine this and coin a definition (or definitions) in the manner of: First Law of non-whites' racial and cultural identification.


Flora in Benin as a small girl, visiting her cousins, as Mr. Coquerel informs us in this video.
Her parents kept her in direct contact with her mother's country from an early age.

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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat
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