Black American Expats in France
In 2020, both me and my father moved from our native American land and across the ocean to Europe. He landed in London, England and I settled in Lyon, France. My fathers’ reasoning for leaving the only home he’d known was rooted in the everlasting, however heightened racial tensions in the United States with the death of George Floyd in May. My father felt so unsafe, disregarded and unheard as a Black man that he made the decision to move somewhere he thought would give him personal freedom to simply exist. These feelings of untrustworthiness towards the United States and actions towards leaving are not new for Black Americans at times of racial turmoil in the States.
In fact, James Baldwin had almost the exact sentiments as my dad when asked why he – like my father left New York and moved to Europe. Simply put, Baldwin says, “I left because I didn’t think I could survive the race problems…” Seeing and experiencing racism firsthand in restaurants, shops, and in police interactions left him socially drained. Not only that, Baldwin says the overarching institutional systems enhanced the everyday discrimination which put him on edge. He felt deeply that it was time to go.
Leaving the US in search for a different status-quo as a black creative James Baldwin, was not the first nor the last. He joined the ranks of performer and activist Josephine Baker who left as a result of not being able to dance in segregated clubs in America, poet Langston Hughes who didn’t necessarily enjoy his time in Paris, fellow writer Richard Wright, singer Eartha Kitt who was blacklisted by the US government for making anti-war statements and singer Nina Simone who didn’t do as well as she hoped upon arrival in France. Although all of these expats had different experiences, each one of them discussed the different ways of life they encountered whether they loved it or hated it, it was new. Sometimes all we need is something new to understand the old clearly.
The Black American Experience in the United States is shaped by a long and deep history; that history is all we know. To make the conscious choice to leave the only land we know is an act of empowerment for ourselves and for our ancestors who never had the choice. It’s also an act of rebellion to the state of being that makes us feel small in this great big world. To my brothers and sisters this Black History Month, think about exploring a new land, finding a new culture and creating new connections. There is so much more to see and experience, find it, live it, share it.
