by
Black Girl With Long Hair
Representing the French territory of French Guiana (located on the north coast of South America), 18-year-old Alicia Aylies won the Miss France 2017 competition Saturday, and will represent the country at the Miss Universe pageant in early 2018.
According to Ouest France, Alicia is a first year law student and the first representative of French Guiana to win the Miss France competition.
She has been a model since 16 and was encouraged by family and friends to enter the Miss Guyana competition, which she won on October 18.
Predictably, her win has been met with racist backlash, including from far-right French politician Henry de Lesquen.
When interviewed about the backlash on Europe 1, Alyies kept a cool head stating “Ça passe au-dessus. Je ne fais pas vraiment attention à ça… la France avait peut-être besoin de voir une Miss France de couleur.” which translates to, “It passes over. I do not pay much attention to this. France might need to see a Miss France of color.”
Congratulations Alicia!
37 Responses
It’s very ignorant to call black and white woman only black lol Her facial features do not represent that of a black person
No one should be surprised at twitter racism. Only blacks care about claiming mulattos. Whites don’t care in their eyes they are Negros.
I find it rare to find an unattractive French woman – regardless of her race. Really it is something in the way they learn to keep and present themselves..and i say this with a twinge of jealousy..
aw thank you :p lol
She’s biracial not black. Why do black women think that mixed/white beauty is better than black beauty?
Black is beautiful.
How do you know she’s biracial?
It is obvious she is mixed race. Both my parents are Black, but because my skin tone is similar to this young lady, I know there is a bit of a swirl somewhere in my ancestry. And for some people, that seems to make a difference.
My families on both sides were mixed race a few generations ago but I nor do any of my family consider consider themselves mixed race and some of them are also the complexion of this young lady. Any Carolina stated bi race not mixed.
In the eyes of most white French people, and most white people in general, she is Black. So yes, Black–in all the shades we come in–is beautiful.
Hmm. Coraline, you might wanna check your facts. Her dad’ll be considered black as per American norms. That aside, he looks like a “chabin”. Your first name sounds very French so I guess, if you even know anything about the DOMs, you’ll know what a “chabin” is. She IS NOT biracial, If she’s anything, it’ll be MULTIRACIAL. Besides, no one said mixed/white beauty is better than black beauty? YOU wrote that. Enough with the colorism and at the end of the day, it’s up to ALICIA to define who she’s: noire, chabine ou métisse.
they straightened her hair right after the ceremony…
Really? Ugh
yup, the morning after she has straight hair.
Okay she’s actually almost the same complexion as the other contestants. She’s not really representative of a “black” woman as a whole. It’s obvious that she’s mixed. I just don’t agree that black people should claim everyone who has a little black in them. Although I’m not surprised.
she is a black woman because she is light skinned automatically her blackness is diluted. I am South American but still black.
Her blackness IS DILUTED!
Well, eyes color aside, I guess that with the same token, Ethiopian, Somali, Djiboutian, Tuareg or Fulani women’s blackness is diluted too. Give me a break!!! Have you ever been to Africa?
Your comment is sad. Because African People’s skin color will vary even if that African bloodline is not mixed. I find your comment sad because you are not seeing that she is choosing to honor and love her African Ancestry by wearing her nature hair texture. Let me just inform you as well that biology 101 will tell you that the African gene is dominant gene and that none us of living in European dominated areas of the world are going to have a pure bloodline because of the holocost of slavery and colonialization of our people. I think we need to stop disparaging each other based on color or lightness of our black skin. We are getting enough hate from White Supremacy system as is. WE need to welcomed all African decendants for all over the planet that are willing to love themselves enough to express their love for their own blackness. Just admire the sista’s hair and keep it moving. This young ladies black ancestors stugggled the unimagineable, the unthinkable just like yours and mine no matter how light skinned she came out to be. We must love each other better than this. We have enough hate coming at us without us internalizing on ourselves.
Sincerely,
From a Brown Skinnned Proud African American.
Well, said.
It is others that created the “one drop” rule. It is others who imposed that anyone who was of mixed race they must be called by the race that isn’t white.
And yet sadly you perpetuate the very stereotype of the opposition. Wow!
Aren’t we as a people more than our skin tones?
I’m so tired of the dark skinned vs light skinned divisiveness. If we as a people can’t get over our differences, how can we expect to hold others to a higher standard. Hypocracy!
Here, here!
Véronique de la Cruz, Sonia Rolland, Corinne Coman, Cindy Fabre, Valérie Bègue, Chloé Mortaud, Flora Coquerel. All are Black women who previously won the Miss France pageant. How many are light-skinned women ? Five. How many are mixed ? All of them.
Thing is, many Black people in France are of West Indian origin (four amongst these Miss), so even if they are not light-skinned, they have mixed blood. Most of them identifies as Black. If you divide dark skin and light skin, you are excluding A LOT of French Black people.
That doesn’t change the fact that colorism is an issue, both in F African and F West Indian communities and of course in the general public eye. Clearly to win Miss France you have to be born in overseas departments (La Cruz, Coman, Bègue and now Aylis) of have a White parent (Rolland, Fabre, Mortaud, Coquerel). But Miss France is a beauty pageant created by and for the Whites (BTW, the number of White Misses France who are average-looking is hilarious and sad), so there’s no surprise here. Meanwhile dark-skinned, French women which an African surname are never crowned and apparently not even qualified. This is a problem that needs to be addressed.
Ironically, Alicia’s skin has been lightened in a recent photoshoot and her hair straighened. It’s quite a scandal and many people are pissed of.
PS: Who the hell is de Lesquen ? After googling : Oh right, he’s a nobody who tries too hard. We have already too many of those here. Walk away !
Or, does she claim to be Black, and this is why is said to be Black. Yes, most Blacks from colonial areas and territories are mixed, and many, if not most, identify with being Black.
And let me tell you those people from French Guiane are in tune with their African heritage than a lot of us.
I agree with you she is a beautiful BIRACIAL woman. She is not a “black” woman.
She is stunning!
Gorgeous young lady, and far better looking than any white offering France has to offer. What is it with the French and their jealousy of black women winning beauty pageants? When Leila Lopez won Miss World the saltiest contestant at the pageant was Miss France.
Pathetic people. Black beauty is the best!
That was Miss Universe.
I’m happy we are moving in a forward direction instead of backwards. I look forward to seeing other naturals in all shades win in the future (especially in euro-centrist nations where our beauty is undermined). I felt like crying when I saw her face when they are crowning her, gotta feel the struggle.
Well in the last 10 years there have been 3 black miss france.
There’s so much racists on Twitter talking about her as a “monkey”, go back to africa” ,”mophead”… sad ..
I’m gonna go on those tweets and be like, “Doesn’t her hair have such great VOLUME??!!”
Jealousy; when we have more black women winning and in the media accepting their natural beauty, they will stop. A product of their environment, white beauty is the ideal the media portrays until it fades out. We are all beautiful.
Thats a lie, i’m french and black and there are almost no racist on twitter.