Rokhaya Diallo: Race, Religion And Feminism In France

Rokhaya Diallo is a French activist, feminist, filmmaker and writer. A long-time anti-racism campaigner, she has found herself at the centre of a debate about racism and free speech in France. Last year, she was forced to step down from the government's Digital Council - an incident that only served to reinforce her belief that France has a problem with state-sponsored racism. 'The government was asked by people who disagree with my views to evict me from the council,' Diallo says. 'The fact that I was tackling racism, state-sponsored racism, that I was supporting Muslim women who wanted to wear the hijab..., basically it was those views and the way I frame my views on racism in France [which led to the removal].' Diallo has been very vocal about police profiling and the fact that not all French citizens are treated equally by the state. 'The state doesn't even deny the fact that the police is over-controlling black people and Arab people and Muslim men. So to me that means there is nothing that is done to prevent that.... France isn't doing anything to protect its citizens of colour from police brutality and police profiling,' she says. 'When I say there is racism from the French institutions, I am not saying that all the French people are racist, I am just saying that the state should implement measures to stop that.' Despite her dismissal from the Digital Council, Diallo still believes French President Emmanuel Macron could affect positive change in the country. 'I think that he does have a more inclusive vision of France because he belongs to a different generation, compared to the former presidents, so the way he sees France is actually very different because he is used to see[ing] France with a more diverse face,' Diallo says. As a Muslim and the daughter of Senegalese and Gambian parents, Diallo says that her prominence as an activist and journalist, frequently featured on French television, has been an exc