How/What would explain Cesaire being given the honor? and earlier than Baker?
The island he's from, Martinique was, and remains part of France.
The argument is usually presented as whites giving/allowing/favoring a foreign Black over a native born Black.
Baker passed away over 30 years before Cesaire. Yet he was given this honor in 2011.
I'm not saying that French citizens of African descent don't receive these honors or that they are simply getting overlooked for Black folks from elsewhere.
My point is that the timing of this particular selection is purposive and serves as a defense of French colorblind multiculturalism at a moment when it is heavily challenged and juxtaposed to the US model, especially by local black activists. A Fanon, let's say, would not really be appropriate right now.
So it's not about competing with other Black folks for places in the French pantheon (I doubt any legitimate candidate would see it that way anyway), but more so about how white folks, wherever they at, will pick the example of some foreign Black people and dress it as a rebuttal to the Black locals' criticisms.
