The National Front in France has suspended a politician who called Christiane Taubira, the country’s Black justice minister, a “monkey” who she would “rather see in the trees than in the government.”
According to a report in the National Post, the racist outburst by Anne-Sophie Leclere, a mayoral candidate in Rethel, in the Ardennes, north-eastern France, is an embarrassing blow to Marine Le Pen, the leader of the party, who has threatened to sue anyone who describes them as “extreme right.”
On her Facebook page,Leclere, 33, who runs a fishing shop, posted a montage of photographs placing a picture of a baby monkey, with the caption: “At 18 months” next to one of Taubira, with the caption: “Now.”
Quizzed by Envoye Special, an investigative television program that unearthed the pictures, she said that it had “nothing to do with racism.” But she went on to say: “To be honest, I’d rather see her in the branches of a tree than in the government. Quite frankly, she’s a savage when she arrives with a devilish grin. But it’s not racist.”
According to IBT: “The treatment of Taubira in France follows a similar campaign of racial hatred that has been directed at Italy’s first Black cabinet minister, Congolese-born Integration Minister Cecile Kyenge. Kyenge has been called an ‘orangutan’ by far-right Italian lawmakers and even had a banana thrown at her during a public appearance.
“Kyenge was named to the government ministry by Prime Minister Enrico Letta in April, making her the first Black Cabinet member in the country’s history. The 49-year-old doctor has endured a steady stream of abuse from extreme right-wing Italians, and even anonymous death threats, underlying the country’s deep divisions over race and immigration.”
