“American Confession”. By Eddy L. Harris. Translated from the American by Grace Raushi. Liana Levi. 95 pages. €12.
There's nothing like a certain distance to better discern the major lines of a painting. Having lived in France for around fifteen years, Eddy L. Harris uses this geographical and cultural distance to explore the demons of his native country. In 2016, he was one of those who did not see Trump's election coming. At a time when the latter has just won a new mandate, the analysis of the American writer digs into a misleading national narrative where the racial question is far from being resolved.
A question about the place assigned to each
Originally from Saint-Louis, Eddy Harris, who found his grandfather's emancipation certificate in 1796 in a Virginia court, claims full citizenship in the name of which he defines himself as black-American and not African-American.
From this non-hyphenated membership, he questions the place assigned to each person within American society, and more precisely that of black people. In support of his family history woven into that of the United States, but also of intellectual figures such as James Baldwin, he seeks the motives of a disordered political compass.
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From Reagan's America to Obama's, he notes how from one election to the next, the cement of living together remained an illusion. What can we expect from a nation where citizens still wave the Confederate flag in the name of their “heritage”? From the mandates of Barack Obama carrying necessarily disappointed hopes, to the current political landscape, the story of great lucidity lays bare the “bullshit” of the great unifying myths, starting with that of the “united” States.
France
