On Saturday, Team USA’s men’s basketball team won a thrilling gold medal game against the French team. LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Steph Curry were doing the most to go home with gold medals and they succeeded, largely because of Steph’s three-pointers. The French people were big mad though – mad at Joel Embiid for playing for the US, mad at “the devil named Curry,” mad at Americans for creating such an iconic dream team. Tons of people came out for the game – Draymond Green, Carmelo Anthony and Sha’Carri Richardson were all sitting courtside or close to it. Steph’s family came over too, including his wife Ayesha and their children. Ayesha just gave birth to their fourth child in May – a son, Caius, who isn’t even three months old. Ayesha kept Caius in a baby carrier on her chest throughout the game, and the baby was still in the chest carrier when Ayesha tried to leave Accor Arena on Saturday night. That’s when this happened:
As the video picks up, Ayesha is already visibly upset and she’s wiping away tears as the police refuse to let her go where she and the group need to go to get to their car. Draymond Green is in the background and he ends up stepping in towards the end and providing the clue for why Ayesha is so upset – he said: “So even after you hit the baby in the head, there’s still nothing y’all can do to get them out of here?” The cops hit the baby??? I wouldn’t even be crying, I would be in jail after knocking those cops on their asses. As for why Ayesha and her group were being held back… apparently, it had to do with President Macron’s presence at the game. As in, Macron and his security were leaving first and until they left, Ayesha’s group wasn’t allowed back to their car?
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- WEST HOLLYWOOD, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – NOVEMBER 11: Ayesha Curry wearing Alberta Ferretti arrives at the 2023 Baby2Baby Gala Presented By Paul Mitchell held at the Pacific Design Center on November 11, 2023 in West Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 821562786, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Ayesha Curry, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon
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- WEST HOLLYWOOD, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – NOVEMBER 11: Ayesha Curry wearing Alberta Ferretti arrives at the 2023 Baby2Baby Gala Presented By Paul Mitchell held at the Pacific Design Center on November 11, 2023 in West Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 821562791, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Ayesha Curry, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon
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- 25 July 2024, France, Paris: Olympia, before the Summer Olympics, Paris 2024, basketball, MPC, Stephen Curry (l) and Kevin Durant, US basketball player, take part in a press conference at the MPC.,Image: 892249485, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Michael Kappeler/dpa / DPA Picture Alliance / Avalon
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- 25 July 2024, France, Paris: Olympia, ahead of the Summer Olympics, Paris 2024, basketball, MPC, Stephen Curry, US basketball player, attends a press conference at the MPC.,Image: 892249540, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Michael Kappeler/dpa / DPA Picture Alliance / Avalon
It’s interesting how all these stories coming out of this dumpster fire of an Olympics seems to center around Black and Brown folks being mistreated and the victims of numerous micro-aggressions. France is racist AF and nothing people say can convince me otherwise because I have eyes.
Totally agree, Ameerah.
Yes, France couldn’t even hide their racism for a couple of weeks, while holding a global event.
Looking at two of the comments below, I know the comment section is going to be filled with some racist BS.
WORD.
This! France is racist AF.
100% racism
💯 Visited France multiple times with my ex, who is Black, and saw multiple instances of overt racism directed squarely at him. It was eye-opening. He speaks French fluently so he understood every word and translated for me (this was before widely available translation apps), and I could not believe my ears.
This video is awful but sadly unsurprising. Most POC have a story about racist encounters with French police. Absolutely agree with @Ameerah M about France being racist AF. Those who would disagree have not been listening to the POC who’ve been saying this for decades. Social media is giving visuals to what POC have always been saying about French racism.
As I mentioned in another post last week, it’s unapologetically a two-tiered society with POC on the bottom. French racism is structural/societal as well as individual, and made worse by some of these structural barriers:
1. ‘Liberté, égalité, fraternité’ national motto that pretends everyone is equal despite clear evidence and lived experiences of POC which prove otherwise;
2. Failure to collect any national data by race (which they inextricably claim would be racist(!!??) but would of course further evidence the racial inequalities & demand accountability);
3. Militarized French policing system, which leans into the warrior approaches (violence, alienation from communities) and is antithetical to and precludes community-based approaches or alternatives like defund, etc.
@TQ yes it is illegal to collect data by race in France. It is in the first article of our constitution: “It shall ensure the equality of all citizens before the law, without distinction of origin, race or religion.” Why is it so? Because Jews were arrested and deported during WW2. We don’t want that to ever happen again.
@Moondust – it’s also a great way to make sure that resources aren’t fairly allocated to POC and marginalized groups. Most countries have censuses that take race into account along with other factors. Using history as an excuse to not do so is an odd choice IMO. Because if the country has truly moved on from it’s colonizer and racist past that shouldn’t be an issue.
That’s Steph’s mom talking to the police. And looks like his sister is in the group too. Too bad they had such a disturbing end to their Olympics.
Doesn’t look like *micro* aggression.
@Ameerah M I agree to a certain extent. Collection of data by ethnicity could be useful. Yet evil is always at bay. The far right is gaining power everywhere and France is no exception. Imagine what they would do with such data. I’m glad that it’s impossible thanks to our constitution and feel like it’s for the greater good. 6 millions people exterminated is more than just history in my eyes.
@Moondust – and yet racism and white nationalism still runs rampant in France. Go figure. So yes you are right, for France it certainly isn’t history.
@Ameerah M sadly no.
@moondust and that six million were only the Jews that were exterminated another six million plus people who were biracial, Roma, Polish and disabled were also exterminated. Let us not forget that either. White nationalism is what should be addressed not these other “superficial” things. It’s like Europe and their descendants never learn that this isn’t the way to go instead they double down. France has been deplorable for quite some time but they consistently like Britain look down their noses at American racism . It’s the same sh*t honestly. Thanks for the explanation tho, I didn’t know some of that info
France is racist AF. My husband is french (not racist), and our kids were raised with French as a first language.
Whenever we go back to visit, I stg, they get treated differently depending on how tan they are. (My husband has african ancestry, the only indication of is that they tan really well.) So if we go in the winter, when they’re sporting their ‘tuberculotic victorian child’ white skin from my side, they get treated like natives. But in July, when they’re a lovely golden brown, it’s .. different. Not overt the way it is with black people, but there’s definitely a lot of colourism.
It’s still super racist and super gross. We only bother to go because his elderly parents live there and don’t travel well. (And we stay out of Paris, which despite billing itself as a progressive and metropolitan city, is actually racist AF.)
TBH, a lot of very white European men/journalists have been harassed by French police. A LOT of athletes as well. Not being able to get to their competitions. French police are d*cks to everybody. Just watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRwFyiF2JEk. This is French people with some authority.
I have heard alot of the same complaints from olympians about all americans and even other foreigners to france, ie. the British complaining about the treatment by french authority figures. This doesn’t discount the complaints about racism from poc by the police but I do think that all these complaints from everyone there should legitimately be taken into consideration. Personally, I think it may be more of a situation of anti-american and anti -british and anyone who is not french than it being specifically an issue tied to race.
I have a colleague who is Black and she said she will never travel in France and generally Europe ever again because of how racist they are. She didn’t get into specifics of what led to her making this decision, but I absolutely believe she must have experienced overt racism. In my own experience as a POC, my mom and I were once denied entry when we stopped at a store in Luxembourg, but they allowed a family of 4 with young kids and their dog into the store because the family was white. The store offered no explanation for denying us entry, just that we had to wait until the other members of our tour group exited (and no, the store was visibly nowhere near actual capacity, just their capacity for POCs). It definitely makes you realize that white supremacy is alive and well.
The French seem to have a hatred for the citizens of its territories in Africa.
Given their record in Algeria alone, no surprise there at all.
I met a woman in the Caribbean during Covid. I forget where she was from but they had settled in France because her brother was a pro footballer there (while black). He lived in an awesome hotel peculiar and his neighbors reported that he was a drug dealer. The police broke into his home wothout evidence and beat him so bad they ended his football career. He was only released from jail when the coach or manger of the team came to vouch for him.
This woman brought her gentle giant black sons to the Caribbean so they would be with other people of color and no longer experience the racism of France.
It was such a sad story.
That’s horrifying!
France is racist. Af.
Most of the world seems to be racist AF.
But France is really taking this moment to shine in this regard – from the film festival to the Olympics – I believe the people who are reporting these incidents and I believe their experiences to be racist.
Ehhhh…of course you can’t cross the street in front of a presidential motorcade. You wouldn’t even get that close to the President’s car in the US. In addition to crowd controlling over 20k people. This is giving me..don’t you know who I am vibes. You’re not the President of France so wait 5 mins.
Huh? A baby was hit on the head. That is not the vibe I’m getting.
They literally hit her child in the head. a three month old baby. Whose skull is still soft and who a hit to head could gravely injure. I would be more than crying if that had happened to my child.
For what it’s worth, the French cop apologizes many times and says it was not intentional.
We don’t know but I think many things could be true at once.
They assumed they could leave as VIPs where and when they wanted but have to wait for the presidential party to be cleared and were unhappy about it.
The police had to prioritise the President and do crowd control of a massive crowd at an Olympics at which there have been many threats. No exceptions.
The police were overzealous in their crowd control and managed somehow (accidentally or purposefully?) to hit the baby.
There may have been racist overtones to their treatment at the hands of the police. Many people have had to deal with racism in France and at the hands of the police, so this would not be surprising.
We didn’t see the initial event, we can only see them all arguing. This group has been blocked, which is actually understandable if they are moving the president – they need to be patient. However it appears the police did also manage to hit the baby, which is completely unacceptable.
French person here : it’s not news that the police force in France is a racist mess. Each election we have to go through you get polls with crazy numbers of people working in the police force or in the military actively supporting the far-right. We have meetings where politicians come and have to convince the police force to vote for them and it never ends well for the left-leaning parties.
Last summer we had massive protests and riots when the cops killed a kid because he wasn’t white.
I have read about this. Alot of this sentiment from my understanding has affected much of europe or at least that is the impression I have been given through newsreports. There was a wave of anti-immigrant mob violence in germany very recently wherein they burned down mosques. I’ve heard of upheavals amongst places in italy and everyone knows about the u.k. Due to much of the wars & political upheavals in their homelands, many of these brown and black people from many arab/muslim/african countries are emigrating to europe in the masses and this has become the backlash.
THAT’S your takeaway from this??
I wonder where are all those people who were so willing to last week to bend over backwards to excuses the racism that Serena went through . Calling Serena entitled there were a lot of whistles dog racist tone last week doing the most to blame Serena instead of the France business and now this happen to Ayesha and her baby .
How are people blaming the mother for this? She didn’t post this video. And the people involved didn’t even know they were being filmed. Everyone is calm and trying to work the situation. The only person I’m judging is the a**hole invading everyone’s privacy by filming this and then selling it!
You’re judging the person who filmed this incident and calling them a** hole but not the person who assaulted Ayesha’s baby?
It’s a good thing that they filmed it because otherwise, people will say it is made up
Yeah, agreed. If you watch all the way to the end, it’s some rando filming. The Curry party is asking them stop, saying they aren’t helping anything.
100% agree. This Olympics has been messy and full of unnecessary drama. I wish as much outrage was focused on the racism as it was on the last supper that wasn’t.
Holy crap … hitting a baby in the head should cost those cops their jobs and pensions … but we know they’ll be fine, no matter what, because of white supremacy. And it’s gross to blame Ayesha for any of this.
France has such a weird history of racism. James Baldwin lived there seeking an escape from the blatant racism he experienced in the U.S. only to be arrested and jailed on a false claim that he had stolen sheets from a Paris hotel.
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
Sorry if this is a sidetrack, but it goes with the theme. What is the deal with the French thinking Embiid would play for them??? The entitlement is astounding.
Joel Embiid has a dual citizenship and some people resent him for choosing to represent team USA and not France.
But he lived in Cameroon and the United States. Why would he choose to play for France? This happens all the time that athletes have multiple countries they can represent. The booing is ridiculous. France still lowkey think they own Cameroon is the subtext I’m getting.
Camaroon was a French colony/territory/whatevs From shortly after WW1 until the early 60’s. Embiid could have easily played for the Cameroonian team, but the French anger over him playing for the US probably has a lot more to do with the french still feeling ownership over their land and ppl.
The booing is more than ridiculous. It is disgusting. Embiid has been granted both American and french citizenship in 2022. He should be free to choose the country he wants to represent.
Joel Embiid actually wrote a letter requesting French citizenship because, if he got it, he would play for the French team in the Olympics…I think his reasoning was for family, because he himself did not live or grow up in France. So while I don’t think it was cool for the French to boo him each time he had the ball, it’s not like he didn’t deserve a bit of that. He has French citizenship only because of that exceptional reason.
But the man wanted to win a gold medal, so when he got US citizenship afterward, he played for Team USA.
Just going to add that I think those who commented above me really should have done the minimum of Googling to look that up before throwing out wild accusations about how France think they “own” him because he’s Cameroonian. That was not the issue here.
France is many things, others have voiced that in these comments and I agree with them on their points, but Joel is a particular case…He received French nationality and then acted in bad faith.
French are just mad they got played. He hedged his bets and ended up picking the US. Now the French just look like babies by constantly booing him and demanding his French citizenship be revoked etc. And you can’t tell me that France’s racist present isn’t informed by its racist colonizer past.
Embiid has both French and American citizenship. And was actually eligible to play nationally for France, Cameroon or the U.S. (he became a U.S. citizen after he became a French citizen). And there was hope that he would choose France. That’s all. It’s very common for players with dual nationalities to be booed when playing games against the side they didn’t choose. Happens all the time in futbol games. To players of all ethnicities and nationalities.
@nikkik and @lemons, I didn’t hear a single boo from the Americans when Mondo Desplantis won gold and broke Olympic and world records for Sweden in the pole vault. He’s not just a dual citizen, he was born and raised in Louisiana (American South).
Instead the US cheered his incredible feats, the silver medal winning American not only hugged him, the guy got the audience to clap and cheer when Mondo attempted to break the world record.
The Americans are displaying pretty great sportsmanship, in the face of some weird, petty, and very one-sided “rivalries” (looking at you Australia).
@lurker25 that’s because the US doesn’t actually deal with this very often. And good for the Americans for cheering on Desplantis, perhaps they should get cookies. Just because things don’t happen in Merica, a place where the most popular sports are typically played amongst their own fellow Americans doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen elsewhere and it doesn’t mean it happened because Embiid is Black, which is what everyone is trying to say without saying. Europeans also have no problems showing their casual racism, which is obvious and evident by the common practice of making monkey sounds when Black players are position of the ball in far too many Football Leaugues, it’s very common place in Italy and Spain in particular.
Basketball mom here who can shed more light on this- Embid specifically asked Macron for French citizenship a few years ago so he could play for France in the Olympics. Macron helped grant him citizenship, and then fast forward to now, when Embid saw the French lineup and that there were two other large Bigs who play his position and that he was likely going to be the third string lineup for France, he decided last minute to play for the US. It was mostly about playtime.
Guess the week in between the Serena article and this one gave the racists time to refuel because the dogwhistles are being made through bullhorns on this comment section.
Tell me you’re a racist without telling me you’re a racist.
I hope she and the children are all ok.. she had another child with her also. It had to be traumatic. The athletes were so inspiring to watch, but the host has left me seriously disappointed and angry.. you don’t host/invite Olympic athletes from around the world to your country to abuse (or their families and supporters) them. It could have been a wonderful experience that they have now ruined for so many.
That’s the truth! I saw that and was gutted! I also saw how they did Sha Cari Richardson and Shelly-Ann Fraiser Pryce. They would not allow them to go through the gate to practice before the 100; however, because they didn’t get to stay in the Olympic Village, even though they had badges) they allowed others (nonblacks) to do it. Shelly-Ann dropped, but Richardson had to walk a mile to the practice track.
Because she and her family are supporting her husband in what is likely the last Olympic game of his career. I’m sure her babies are getting much better care than you and yours, and if there was a risk, he wouldn’t be there. Let her live!
There’s an actress, Sara Martins, who was a ballet dancer in France.
She was unable to continue because they want all their corps to look the same.
She’s black.
She’s an actress now, she’s wonderful.
Believe everyone when they tell you France is racist af. Like a lot of places, even Canada.
Didn’t know she was a dancer first! She’s great in everything she’s in & so beautiful! And ballet is certainly not known for its diversity, anywhere. All those stupid white swans & faerie princesses. 😏
Love Sara. First saw her in the British series “Death in Paradise”. I think she was born in Cabo Verde.
I know it’s jarring for people from North America to witness this, but it is very common across many countries in Europe. They don’t like foreigners that don’t respect or adhere to their particular set of rules or procedures, even where those rules and procedures are not immediately clear. It’s not even just about skin colour, although that’s definitely part of it. There is even an unspoken ranking of countries within Europe, where people from certain countries get treated more terribly than those from others. It will never change. People need to be prepared when they visit.
Yeah that is so true, they are racist against races but they also just hate other countries. If you aren’t French the French think you are less than and that goes across Europe.
It isn’t that shocking when you think about how they set up the US system here.
Or better yet, don’t visit. Spend your money elsewhere
This was a hot topic on LSA most of yesterday. Still is. Lots of comments from Balck folks who live in France or spend a significant amount of time in France. Very insightful.
It’s strange to me the American Team didn’t organize handlers or a point of contact. For the families of the team to move them in and out of the stadium. And work with police and security for smooth transportation. Would have minimized these kinds of issues happening. It seems the Curry family was trying to navigate this situation on their own. Struggling with the police not explaining why they were being held back for Macron.
I know in NYC when the President comes to town. Traffic is a nightmare. You don’t move unless the NYPD allows it.
We don’t know that the American didn’t organize. What we do know is that the high profile wife of the American team couldn’t get to her car. Any intel, provided to security, would recognize Ayesha is not a threat to Macron. imo
Honestly, the Curry family should have had help from the French police to help her get to her car regardless of Macron. All members of the USA basketball team are high profile. The Curry’s are very high profile in basketball. If that was her MIL fighting calmly……..love.
Yikes @Flamingo. Flashbacks to H&M’s car chase by papz in Manhattan. Did the NYPD allow that?
Wasn’t it in Paris where Oprah was basically escorted out of a Chanel store? OPRAH?!?!?!
France is racist AF.
It was actually in Switzerland!
My heart hurts for Ayesha. Imagine going there to support your husband and cheer for your country, and your little baby gets hit while you’re simply trying to cross the street.
France isn’t special when it comes to racism. It’s no more racist than any other place. If you’re Black and traveling anywhere there’s a possibility you’ll encounter racism. Having been to France twice, this Black woman didn’t find it nearly as racist as America, my own country.
Agreed @Nikkik I lived in France for nearly 3 years and travelled around the country extensively. My partner and very good friends live in South of France so I frequently travel back. I’m black and British and have definitely had worse encounters in England and Australia.
The French police were doing their jobs to explain that they cannot get to their car just yet and apologised. The area needed to be cleared. Even Curry’s mum mentioned they waited only 5 mins. And did anyone see anyone hit the baby on the head? If a baby was hit on a head I’m sure the mother of a relatively new born will be doing more than just wiping her tears away. I love this site but the reactionary comments can be a bit much at times.
I’m definitely not saying France does not have its issues because it really does.
Go head Sonya Curry, Don’t let anybody touch on your grandbaby. You better raise hell. Love her. Love the whole Curry Gang. And most especially love my Canadian sister, Ayesha.
I would have probably ended up in jail if anyone had hurt my grandbaby! Is the baby okay?
what an absolutely pathetic post once again …. ” The French people were big mad though “.. yeah sure… what a pathetic moronic thing to say of course but nothing new from you of course.
so what actaully happened ?…where’s the evidence that the baby was hit in the head by the police.. hit how ?…