Uploaded October 2023 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
A conversation with Vivienne Walt, Rokhaya Diallo, Angelique Chrisafis, Roger Cohen, Mame-Fatou Niang at the American Library in Paris. Filmed on 03/10/2023 with a live audience both in person and on Zoom.
French republicanism demands the fair treatment of all citizens regardless of their background. Is refusing to name race creating a more equal society, or is it taking away the tools we have to discuss the problem?
This past summer, France saw mass protests following the fatal police shooting of Nahel M., a 17-year-old boy from Nanterre. This movement voiced an untreated wound at the heart of French society: the question of race.
This panel brought together a diverse, international group of journalists to explore the complex landscape of race in France, the US, and UK. From the very foundation of language to the bureaucratic systems in place, these experts examine how race is both acknowledged and erased in France, dissecting the clash between the values of republicanism and identity-based politics. We ask: how does France's historical commitment to universalism intersect with the complexities of addressing racial disparities? What is the status of racial justice in France, the US, and the UK? Each country bears a different social and historical relationship to racialization. How does this translate to the current political reality? Transcending borders, this conversation fostered a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities in discussing race in a country which, deeply committed to equality, often downplays or denies its existence.
About the speakers:
In 2023, Roger Cohen and a team of New York Times reporters were awarded a Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting and a George Polk Award in Foreign Reporting for their coverage of the war in Ukraine. Cohen is the Paris bureau chief for the New York Times, where he began working in 1990. He has also worked for the Times as bureau chief in Berlin and in the Balkans, where he covered the Bosnian war and received the Eric and Amy Burger Award from the Overseas Press Club of America. In 2021, he received the Légion d’Honneur from the French Republic for his work over four decades.
Rokhaya Diallo is a French journalist, author, and filmmaker known for her activism in the fields of racial and sexual equality. Her work has appeared in the Guardian, Al Jazeera, the Washington Post, Slate, Libération, and ELLE Magazine among others. She has published 10 acclaimed books, including a graphic novel, and has produced five activist documentaries.
Vivienne Walt is a Paris correspondent for TIME Magazine and Fortune Magazine. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, National Geographic, BusinessWeek, and more. She is governor of the Overseas Press Club of America.
Angelique Chrisafis is the Guardian's Paris correspondent. She has reported from France since 2006. She reported in-depth on the terrorist attacks that struck France from 2015 and has also written about social issues and politics, including the rise of the far-right vote. She has reported across Europe including in Ireland, Spain, Greece and Cyprus.
Mame-Fatou Niang, Associate Professor of French and Francophone Studies Carnegie Mellon University, author of “Universalisme” said on France 24: “Anybody who wants to critique, to highlight the weaknesses of the system, is now accused of being separatist. Because we’re in a country that doesn’t talk about race, about color, we’re in this weird rhetorical void.” Watch the interview.
Evenings with an Author is generously sponsored by GRoW @ Annenberg.
A conversation with Vivienne Walt, Rokhaya Diallo, Angelique Chrisafis, Roger Cohen, Mame-Fatou Niang at the American Library in Paris. Filmed on 03/10/2023 with a live audience both in person and on Zoom.
French republicanism demands the fair treatment of all citizens regardless of their background. Is refusing to name race creating a more equal society, or is it taking away the tools we have to discuss the problem?
This past summer, France saw mass protests following the fatal police shooting of Nahel M., a 17-year-old boy from Nanterre. This movement voiced an untreated wound at the heart of French society: the question of race.
This panel brought together a diverse, international group of journalists to explore the complex landscape of race in France, the US, and UK. From the very foundation of language to the bureaucratic systems in place, these experts examine how race is both acknowledged and erased in France, dissecting the clash between the values of republicanism and identity-based politics. We ask: how does France's historical commitment to universalism intersect with the complexities of addressing racial disparities? What is the status of racial justice in France, the US, and the UK? Each country bears a different social and historical relationship to racialization. How does this translate to the current political reality? Transcending borders, this conversation fostered a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities in discussing race in a country which, deeply committed to equality, often downplays or denies its existence.
About the speakers:
In 2023, Roger Cohen and a team of New York Times reporters were awarded a Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting and a George Polk Award in Foreign Reporting for their coverage of the war in Ukraine. Cohen is the Paris bureau chief for the New York Times, where he began working in 1990. He has also worked for the Times as bureau chief in Berlin and in the Balkans, where he covered the Bosnian war and received the Eric and Amy Burger Award from the Overseas Press Club of America. In 2021, he received the Légion d’Honneur from the French Republic for his work over four decades.
Rokhaya Diallo is a French journalist, author, and filmmaker known for her activism in the fields of racial and sexual equality. Her work has appeared in the Guardian, Al Jazeera, the Washington Post, Slate, Libération, and ELLE Magazine among others. She has published 10 acclaimed books, including a graphic novel, and has produced five activist documentaries.
Vivienne Walt is a Paris correspondent for TIME Magazine and Fortune Magazine. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, National Geographic, BusinessWeek, and more. She is governor of the Overseas Press Club of America.
Angelique Chrisafis is the Guardian's Paris correspondent. She has reported from France since 2006. She reported in-depth on the terrorist attacks that struck France from 2015 and has also written about social issues and politics, including the rise of the far-right vote. She has reported across Europe including in Ireland, Spain, Greece and Cyprus.
Mame-Fatou Niang, Associate Professor of French and Francophone Studies Carnegie Mellon University, author of “Universalisme” said on France 24: “Anybody who wants to critique, to highlight the weaknesses of the system, is now accused of being separatist. Because we’re in a country that doesn’t talk about race, about color, we’re in this weird rhetorical void.” Watch the interview.
Evenings with an Author is generously sponsored by GRoW @ Annenberg.
