We denounce social violence. IVRY-SUR-SEINE, France - Assa Traoré has been fighting for justice ever since her brother Adama died in the custody of French police on his 24th birthday four years ago. In 2020, organizers and activists pushed their fellow citizens to connect the dots and understand just how much is tied to systemic racism. Assa Traoré had long demanded justice for her half brother, Adama, who died in police custody. Assa Traore (centre), sister of Adama Traore takes part in a rally outside Paris on July 18, 2020. More. Police impunity in France. Her younger brother Adama also died in police custody, in 2016, reportedly uttering those same dying words. "[52] Refusing to exclude, for example, white people from her struggle, she declared before the Paris judicial court, at the appeal of the Truth and Justice for Adama Committee on June 2, 2020: "No matter where you come from, no matter what color of skin you have, no matter what religion you have, no matter what sexual orientation you have, you must not remain a spectator in the face of injustice, in the face of murder, in the face of police impunity".[53]. Today we denounce police impunity in the death of Adama Traoré. But for me, it is a way of denying that it is a French story, even more hidden here than in the United States". [12] She grew up with 17 siblings. [11], Traoré was born in January 1985 to a polygamous family, wherein her father had four wives. The Adama Committee is often compared to Black Lives Matter. [8] Her father, Mara-Siré Traoré, had emigrated from Mali at 17,[13] before marrying his respective wives, and dying of lung cancer in 1999,[14] due to his frequent exposure to asbestos. The sociologist Michel Wieviorka also minimizes the influence of identity theories: "The postcolonial or intersectional movement supports the current mobilization, but it is not itself the fuel for it. This movement is above all a demand for justice. IVRY-SUR-SEINE, France (AP) — Assa Traoré has been fighting for justice ever since her brother Adama died in the custody of French police on his 24th birthday four years ago. Because this is a global fight. [47], The committee has succeeded in getting intellectuals such as the writers Annie Ernaux and Édouard Louis, as well as the philosopher and sociologist Geoffroy de Lagasnerie,[48] involved on a long-term basis, what the movement had failed to do in support of young people from Villiers-le-Bel who were being prosecuted on suspicion of shooting at the police after the death of a mini-motorcycle in a collision with a police car in Mushin and Laramy on November 25, 2007, despite the participation, in June 2010, of Benjamin Rosoux - the grocer from Tarnac close to Julien Coupat - in a demonstration in Pontoise. The Adama Committee is open to everyone. They decided that Adama Traore would die, that he would die on his 24th birthday. [2] In 2020, she was named one of Time Magazine's "Guardians of the year". Chanting "No justice, no peace!" The New York Times revealed that after September 11, 2001, the US became interested in sponsoring the global race debate. Her father, Mara-Siré Traoré, had emigrated from Mali at 17, before marrying his respective wives, and dying of lung cancer in 1999, due to his frequent exposure to asbestos. Times of Oman is not responsible for the content of external internet sites. Thus, it is leading the procession during the unitary demonstration "Popular Tide" against the policy of Emmanuel Macron launched at the initiative of La France insoumise on May 26, 2018. Assa Traore, sister of Adama Traore, a 24-year-old Black Frenchman who died in a 2016 police operation, attends a gathering in front of a fresco in memory of Adama Traore … Since 2016, Assa Traoré, a … Traoré once said that although French society is critical of polygamy, she had a very comfortable upbringing. [30], In 2017, Traoré co-wrote "Lettre à Adama"[31] (Letter to Adama) with Elsa Vigoureux,[32] in which she delineated the story of her brother Adama and his struggle, as well as the struggle of minority ethnic groups against police violence. Starting with Act III of the Yellow Vests, the Truth and Justice for Adama committee gave its support to the movement and took part in the demonstrations: "We recognized ourselves in them". There are historical similarities, France also has a history of slavery, there are cities in France which were built on slavery, I think for example of Bordeaux, or Nantes, cities which have were built on the operation of the slave trade. Especially after the movement following the death of George Floyd in 2020 in Minnesota, the committee is closer to the American Black Lives Matter movement and to concepts forged in the United States such as institutional racism or intersectionality as a tool for analysing discrimination. Several thousand protesters marched through the town of Val-d'Oise, outside Paris, on Saturday to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the death of Adama Traore, a Black man who died in police custody. Published . His family demands that the officers involved be held to account and thousands This issue tells that story, in part, through our 2020 Guardians of the Year: racial-justice organizers like Assa Traoré in Paris and Porche Bennett-Bey in … Medical experts differ on whether Traore died because of the restraint or because of an underlying medical condition. French judges ordered a new inquiry earlier this year, with results expected in early 2021. Traore's case has become a symbol for the campaign against discrimination and police violence in France and has gained new momentum in the wake of the Floyd-inspired anti-racism protests. [12], Traoré is a mother to three children,[17] and was a special education teacher,[8][18] until 2016, when she became an activist full-time. Assa Traoré started by fighting for justice for her brother Adama, who died in police custody on his 24th birthday four years ago By ARNO PEDRAM and … [1], The cause of Adama's death was at first unclear, and the officers who arrested him claimed he died of a heart attack[25] at Persan police station. In a tribune at Parisien-today in France, the companion of a gendarme, "anti-racist and disgusted by the abuse of authority", app. In France, the family of Adama Traoré, took advantage of this racial focus on Africans to relaunch the 2016 affair of the young black man’s death. He had been cycling[23] on a birthday outing with his brother, Bagui. Assa Traoré is the sister of Adama Traoré, who died in 2016 while in police custody. WHY YOU SHOULD CARE. [8] On July 18, 2020, in the wake of the George Floyd protests, she participated in the "Marche pour Adama" (March for Adama),[9] and called for the prosecution of the gendarmerie who had killed her brother. No one has been charged over the death, and the case is still under investigation. ", "Assa Traoré, l'anti-racisme en mode combat", "Family of Adama Traoré snubs talks with French justice minister", "Assa Traoré attaquée en diffamation par trois gendarmes : "Nous ne lâcherons jamais, "Adama Traoré: trois ans après, appel à une marche "historique" contre les "violences policières, "De Mélenchon à Assa Traoré, une cinquantaine de personnalités appellent à manifester contre l'islamophobie", "Un appel à marcher contre l'islamophobie, à Paris : « Il en va de notre unité à tous »", "BALLAST | Angela Davis et Assa Traoré : regards croisés", "« Nous sommes dans un système qui protège la police »", "L'idéal «intersectionnel», succès manifeste", "Boycott, censure : ce que dit vraiment Geoffroy de Lagasnerie dans son livre", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Assa_Traoré&oldid=1018036802, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Activism, Leader of the Truth and Justice for Adama Committee, This page was last edited on 15 April 2021, at 23:40. 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