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In France, Street Names Carry a Colonial Burden

Lisa Bryant

   PARIS - Throughout France, long-dead slave traders live on in French
   port cities like Nantes, Bordeaux and La Rochelle, where streets bear
   their names. Statues and schools still bear the monikers of Joseph
   Gallieni, a military commander who quelled rebellions in former
   colonies, and Jules Ferry, who is lauded for founding the secular
   school system, but who also believed in superior races.'¯

   Here, as in Europe's other former colonial powers, police violence,
   #BlackLivesMatter protests and toppled Confederate monuments in the
   United States are sparking attacks on colonial-era relics and soul
   searching in France --including how the country should move forward.'¯

   Some, including former socialist Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, want
   the names of at least some controversial historical figures to be
   scrubbed from streets and monuments, or to at least add contextual
   plaques. Others believe doing so offers a dishonest take on history --
   and still others claim today's French should not have to apologize for
   their forebears.'¯

   "With the slavery debate again out in the open in the U.S., it seems to
   me that militant groups are taking the opportunity to open it in
   France," said historian Nicole Bacharan.'¯

   "Despite very different pasts, both countries are confronted with the
   key question of 'do we have the right or not to revisit history?'"
   Bacharan added. "And I think we do."'¯

   National conversation

   If questions about France's colonial and slave trading legacy are not
   new, they have catapulted into the national conversation in recent
   days, amid swelling protests against police violence and accusations of
   discrimination against minorities.

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