“In France, we have a very different relationship in terms of defining blackness. I’m not called black — I’m called a Frenchwoman.”

Posted in Excerpts/Quotes on 2019-05-13 15:45Z by Steven

[Mati] Diop’s father (jazz musician Wasis Diop) is from Senegal and her mother is French. Diop was born and raised in Paris, although she visited Senegal often as a child. In France, we have a very different relationship in terms of defining blackness. Im not called black — I’m called a Frenchwoman, she says. “But I have noticed that in America, as soon as you have a little — even 10 or 20 percent of blackness — you become black. Being black is not something I think about every day when I wake up. I don’t think of myself as white or as black. I just think about me as me.”

Meet the First Black Female Director in the Cannes Competition, The Hollywood Reporter, May 9, 2019. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/mati-diop-being-first-black-female-director-cannes-lineup-1208189.

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