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the city of defends the controversial name in court “this word is not insulting”

The city of defended the name of its historic district La Négresse this Thursday before the administrative court of appeal. Faced with it, the Mémoires et Partages association underlined the insulting nature of this name, a position followed by the rapporteur of the court of appeal.

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Will the city of Biarritz have to change the name of its district? For several years, the Mémoires et Partages association has been mobilizing to have the Négresse district renamed. In December 2023, after examining a first appeal, the administrative court ruled: the district could keep its name.
The court then ruled that this name had been given “from a memorial perspective“, and not “with the aim of presenting a black-skinned slave or descendant of a slave in a degrading, humiliating or demeaning manner.

Believing at the time that justice “had missed his appointment with history,“the Mémoires et Partages association appealed. On January 16, the debates took place before the Bordeaux administrative court of appeal.

The decision was reserved. But the rapporteur of the court of appeal, this Thursday, expressed an opinion going against that of the administrative court of Pau. She highlighted the racist and sexist connotation of the term “Negress”.

This is excellent newsreacted Karfa Diallo, founder of Mémoires et Partages and EELV regional advisor for Nouvelle-Aquitaine. This shows that the representative of public authority is aware that “La Négresse” is something derogatory, which undermines the dignity of the person.“.

Karfa Diallo, founder of the Mémoires et Partages association.

© France 3 Aquitaine

The activist, who had organized a rally in front of the court, returns to the legend which says that the Negress was the nickname given to a local innkeeper, black in skin, in the early 1800s.Dignity is priceless. Since the end of the 19th century, a black woman has been thrown out to pasture, this is not acceptable“, pursuit Cinnamon Diallo.

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We cannot believe that this is a tribute to this woman. There is a lot of bad faith in this matter.

Diallo's basket

Memories and Sharing


Will the Négresse roundabout in Biarritz need to be renamed?

© France 3 Aquitaine

For his part, Pierre Cambot, lawyer for the city of Biarritz, evokes regrets: “regrets that we are here, that we are not looking for an explanation and that we are stigmatizing the city of Biarritz and its inhabitants who are presented as clinging to a pejorative and insulting formula. But it's not just that.” he maintains. “Today, we are going to try to judge history, when perhaps we should understand it.”

We are in an indignation that I believe is legitimate, but which, I believe, is anachronistic.

Me Pierre Cambot

City lawyer of Biarritz

For the lawyer, this anachronism is linked to the evolution of the scope of the word negress. “When this term, which today is difficult to say, appeared in the city of Biarritz at the beginning of the 18th century, it had no pejorative or insulting value. It is a term which etymologically designates black people. It will only have its insulting meaning, which is not discussed, later“, defends the lawyer.
Me Cambot continues his argument by questioning the legend which is associated with the name of the district, evoking another explanation, toponymic this time and linked to the clayey soil of the place.

Whether there was a woman or not, this word is not insulting. And it is this sense that must continue“, insists the lawyer. And that is why the city of Biarritz intends to affix a commemorative plaque to remove this doubt and explain that no, it is not archaic provincials who cling to an insult, it is much deeper than That“.

The decision of the administrative appeal court is expected by the end of February.

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