Breh, most blacks in France are Muslim so they won't make any differentiation between you or an Arab.[...]
There are roughly two types of black people in France :
- West Indians (Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyane, Réunion)
- Sub-saharian africans (Mali, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Cape Verde etc...)
The first ones are christian for 99%, the second one are either muslim or christians.
West Indian blacks were always more integrated than African blacks. Mostly because there is that tropical/créole folklore of the french west indies where they drink rum, dance all day, it's all sunny, the life is slow (unlike the metropole where everybody's in a hurry), and obviously, that "sexualized" carribean lifestyle. That's where you go to vacations and that's where you have fun.
Many west indian bands/artists are famous in the french metropole (ie France in the Europe area) : Kassav', La Compagnie Créole, Francky Vincent, Zoul Machine, St Eloi etc... because the main music ("zouk") is positive, easily danceable and always brings a tropical touch to a party (and "zouk love" is basically french R'n'B). And even if you don't speak it, french créole can easily be understandable and the creole accent is kinda funny to the metropolitan french people. The creole "pa ni pwoblem" phrase ("il n'y a pas de problème" in French, "there's no problem" in English) is the phrase that symbolizes the west indian lifestyle and is known by every metropolitan french (non west-indian I mean).
On the opposite, African blacks always symbolized the immigration. West Indians and Africans are both migrants really, the first coming from "central america" and the second coming from Africa, but considering that Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyane and La Réunion are overseas french departments (therefore are a part of France, like Hawai being a part of the US), they were always welcome. Not necessarely with open arms but as they share the same culture (mostly), the same religion (mostly), the same money, the same historical references, there is a bond.
The most important shared trait is religion IMO and that's why there is no real fear from metropolitan frenchies. West Indians are like black people in the US, extremely christian (I remember my grandma forcing us to pray each night before bed as youngins when we were on vacations... I escaped that by telling her to give me a bible so I could pray alone... Bible that I never read !). It's crazy when you think about it : both former enslaved people taking the religion of their ex-masters and endorsing it even better than them.
And if you consider that Joséphine de Beauxharnais, Napoleon's wife was a martinican (well, she was the daughter of a rich white martinican family of sugar plantations owners and not really representative of Martinique but still, she was a martinican), you'd understand that French West-Indies are historically part of France and therefore (black) frenchies from west indian descent have a way more positive reputation than (black) frenchies from african descent.
What I mean is simple : yes, there is some kind of fear of black people (France like Europe is mostly white) but mostly for those from african descent. And, yes, that fear is higher if you're also muslim unfortunately. But that fear is not by everyone and most people don't care that much about complexions... There may be a suspicion at first maybe but it's cleared when people try to know each other (the key point to clear racism really). I've been victim of racism only a few times in my life and that was from old white women (I remember well that woman with her german shepherd always releasing it to bite our balls when we were playing football as youngins...).
But you black americans (men or women) ain't got to worry about anything. And I say anything.
A good "Bonjour" with an american accent will melt every hearts. Remember, if you want to be good with the french, always try to talk the language even if it's disgustingly bad. And if it's that bad, just say "Banjoor" and you'll be good. Americans always assume that France hate the US. Well, that's kinda true, but it's not the people who are hated, it's the state. And the conservatives.
For example, every Christmas they would have a black faced, white man dressed up as Santa Claus show up at school to give us candy. They called him the word for '******' in Dutch. They paraded him around all over the city and on the news. It was cray. These ppl actually thought this was okay to do.
. Clubs were poppin (they party hard in bcn, it ain't for rookies. Need a lot of energy), and the vibe was mad cool. The beach was nice as well.
