black french congresswoman called “big black swine from africa”, received death threat

Politics are violently divisive around the world, it seems, as black politicians here and in the states find themselves receiving death threats for their work. This time its French parliamentarian Laetitia Avia, a member of France’s National Assembly from President Emmanuel Macron’s En Marche movement, a party that holds some pretty archaic neo-colonialism ideals, shared the letter she received on Twitter that stated: “We’re not going to let a fat black swine from Africa meddle in the lives of the French.”

28 février 2018. Aujourd’hui j’ai reçu une lettre d’un racisme inouï, ponctué d’une menace de mort.
Je déposerai plainte. #NeRienLaisserPasser pic.twitter.com/c0yuRNxLPu

— Laetitia Avia (@LaetitiaAvia) February 28, 2018

(You can find an English translation, here)

Yikes, they’re kiiiinda failing if that’s the goal.
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While the letter Avia received is flat-out racist and xenophobic, it’s ironic that the leader of her party has made similarly racist and misogynoir comments about African immigrant. President Macron has, on multiple occasions, pointed to “civilizational problems” on the continent, pushed for colonial currency (the Franc CFA), and even publicly talked down to the President of Burkina Faso. Between that and the assholes who sent that racist letter, it’s almost like Black women are still struggling to find room in French politics.