Star Academy – Ebony confides to Brigitte Macron that she was a victim of school bullying: “I was the only black person”

A very special guest… Tuesday November 5, the students of the Star Academy received a surprise visit from Brigitte Macron in person. The First Lady made the trip to the Château de Dammarie-les-Lys for a particularly important reason: to raise awareness of the fight against school bullying.

Emmanuel Macron's wife sat in the castle theater to discuss this subject with the students. “For me, it was the first subject that arrived on my desk. When Emmanuel became president, perhaps because I am a teacher, I had a lot of letters from students saying: 'Go on this subject, talk about it', that's how it all started”, she explained to the academicians before inviting them to share their experience.

Ebony, 20, then confided that she had been the victim of harassment since kindergarten: “In the junior section, I was happy to go back to school and meet new people, but I was the only black person, and I was I had a very bad experience.” The young woman remembered a situation that had caused her unhappiness: “We always played 'the witch' and the witch was always me and never the others. I told myself that I didn't “I was reduced to just that, to being the villain of the story.” Ebony was deeply affected by this painful experience: “I think that this thing has followed me a bit throughout my life, because growing up I always had the impression that people didn't like me. I think that in reality, people should be made aware of the difference.”

School harassment punishable by law since March 2022

Unfortunately, after kindergarten and primary school, Ebony again suffered school harassment in middle school, but in another form: “They created a fake account of me on social networks, the person who ran the account engaged in conversations and made advances towards several boys in school and it created a lot of rumors around me Every time I walked in a corridor I said to myself: Ah this person thinks that of me'”, she explained to. Brigitte Macron. At the time, young Ebony did not know how to react to this situation or who to alert: “I only turned against my harassers, but at no time did I have the impulse to talk about it to adults “, she lamented.

School bullying has only been punishable by law since March 2022. A student who is the victim of school bullying can now file a complaint and criminal sanctions can be imposed against the perpetrator.