A request that this article title be changed to Black French is under discussion. Please do not move this article until the discussion is closed. |
Black French also known as French Black people or Afro-French (Afro-Français) are French people who are of African (including Malagasy people) or Melanesian ancestry. It also includes people of mixed African/Melanesian and French ancestry.
Total population | |
---|---|
Approximately 3–5 million (2009 estimate);[1]it is illegal for the French State to collect data on ethnicity and race. | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Martinique, Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Saint Martin, Réunion, Mayotte, New Caledonia | |
Languages | |
French, French Creoles, New Caledonian languages, African languages | |
Religion | |
Majority Christianity or Islam, minority Irreligion and Traditional African religions |
Although it is illegal for the government of France to collect data on ethnicity and race in the census (a law with its origins in the 1789 revolution and reaffirmed in the constitution of 1958),[2] various population estimates exist. An article in The New York Times in 2008 stated that estimates vary between 3 million and 5 million.[3] It is estimated that four out of five black people in France are of African immigrant origin, with the minority being chiefly of Caribbean ancestry.[4][5]
Some organizations, such as the Representative Council of France's Black Associations (French: Conseil représentatif des associations noires de France, CRAN), have argued in favor of the introduction of data collection on minority groups but this has been resisted by other organizations and ruling politicians,[6][7] often on the grounds that collecting such statistics goes against France's secular principles and harkens back to Vichy-era identity documents.[8] During the 2007 presidential election, however, Nicolas Sarkozy was polled on the issue and stated that he favoured the collection of data on ethnicity.[9] Part of a parliamentary bill which would have permitted the collection of data for the purpose of measuring discrimination was rejected by the Conseil Constitutionnel in November 2007.[2]
There have been dozens of Afro-Caribbean, Kanak, and Afro-French MPs representing overseas electoral districts at the French National Assembly or at the French Senate, and several government members.