The black mayor of Saint-Denis-Pierrefitte had barely started when he was already being treated in a crudely racist manner

Bally Bagayoko faces challenges during his first weeks of work as mayor of Saint-Denis-Pierrefitte. Since the 52-year-old politician from the radical left party LFI was elected mayor of these recently merged Parisian suburbs with around 150,000 inhabitants in mid-March, he has had to endure racism from many sides.

Bagayoko, van Malian descenthas a master’s degree in geopolitics, works as a manager for public transport company RATP and has been active in local politics since 2001 – first non-party in collaboration with the Communist Party that was in power for years in the multicultural and poor Saint-Denis, from 2012 for LFI. He served on the department council, among other things. In 2020, he already ran for mayor of the city where he grew up, but came third.

In this year’s municipal elections, he was elected in one round after a successful campaign. Candidates from LFI, a party that until now had little power at local level, also won in other cities. On March 21, Bagayoko formally installed – he celebrated his victory dancing.

‘Animal dehumanization’

The radical right seems to find it difficult to swallow that a black man will lead a major city in continental France. Someone who is also a member of LFI, a party that is seen as too extreme by many (radical) right-wing French people.

On the radical right television channel CNews, since last year the largest news channel in Francestatements were made in a broadcast about Bagayoko’s election last week that experts such as be labeled racist. For example, psychologist Jean Doridot made a comment in which he indirectly compared the mayor to a great ape. “It is important to remember that Homo sapiens are social mammals and belong to the great ape family,” Doridot said in response to a question about whether Bagayoko is “pushing boundaries.” “And consequently in every community, in every tribe . . . there is a leader whose role is to establish their authority.” A day later, essayist Michel Honfray said on the same channel that Bagayoko behaves like “a dominant male.”

These comments fit in with “classic racist ideas”, says anti-racism organization SOS Racismand can be classified as ‘animal dehumanization’. Another TV channel also made the mistake. On the news channel LCI, which is normally not regarded as radical right, presenter Apolline de Malherbe asked Bagayoko whether it matters to him that Saint-Denis is a “ville des noirs” (city for blacks). She was responding to an earlier TV broadcast in which Bagayoko had been misquoted when he spoke of Saint-Denis as ville des rois (city of kings, because many former kings are buried there). This fragment had taken on a life of its own on social media.

There are also endless rampant racist comments, photos and videos on social media and FranceInfo reports Thursday that the municipality of Saint-Denis-Pierrefitte has been receiving racist phone calls every day since Bagayoko’s election. Callers would ask about, among other things, “the black mayor” or “the city hall of the monkeys.”

Government is slow to respond

Bagayoko doesn’t give up and bites the bullet. On Saturday he will organize a demonstration against racism at his town hall, during which he will call to protect “the Republic and its values ​​of freedom, equality and fraternity.” On Wednesday he had one interview with AFP news agency called on the government to revoke CNews’ license. “Are we obliged to have a media offering that includes racist channels like CNews? I would say not,” the mayor said. CNews is fined every now and then by regulator Arcom for matters such as racism and hate speech.

Zoom in

Bagayoko receives support from left-wing politicians in particular. The Green parliamentarian underlined this Steevy Gustavewho has also been a victim of racism several times, said in the Assemblée Nationale on Wednesday that “someone can be black and French, that someone can come from a working-class neighborhood and become mayor (…) that in a democracy universal suffrage counts.” Gustave also said that “when an elected official is attacked because of the color of his skin or his origin, it is no longer politics, it is racism.”

The government initially kept quiet – probably due to the fact that President Emmanuel Macron and his political partners have also been portraying LFI as a danger for years. But Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez has now said he will investigate the statements made on CNews. Former police chief Nuñez underlined that “racism is not an opinion, it is a poison and (…) a criminal offense.”

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