“A Paris that doesn’t look like “Emily in Paris” or “Amélie Poulain”: in the capital, guided tours are becoming politicized

In front of the steps of the National Assembly, which an artist has repainted in rainbow colors, about twenty people listen reverently to their guide. Tablet in hand and cap on his head, the latter is not there to talk about the architecture of the Palais-Bourbon or the colonnade erected under Napoleon, but about one of the four illustrious stone figures guarding the entrance. In this case , Jean-Baptiste Colbert , Comptroller General of Finance under Louis XIV and author of the Black Code , a text governing slavery, which "introduced for the first time into French law the idea of a racial hierarchy." Welcome to "a Paris that does not resemble Emily in Paris , nor Amélie Poulain ."

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Kévi Donat has been leading tours of Black Paris since 2013. Born and raised in Martinique, the young man became a tour guide in the capital somewhat by chance, in a moment of uncertainty after studying political science in Rennes. He spent two years in the mold, giving "very traditional tours." At the time, "I didn't talk about race," he jokes to the group, "I wasn't there to put