France’s Best Argument Against Racism Isn’t Working
The country’s most beloved men are paragons of diversity, but ethnic resentment is still winning.
In the wake of France’s 2018 World Cup victory, the nation celebrated the success of its multicultural soccer stars like Kylian Mbappé and Victor Wembanyama. Despite the team’s loss in the final, Mbappé became the greatest scorer in World Cup history at 27, while Wembanyama, the 22-year-old towering basketball player, was hailed as the future of the NBA.
Both players, born in France to African fathers, embodied a demographic shift that the far-right party National Rally (RN) sought to challenge. However, their popularity is waning as the RN appears poised to win the presidency in the upcoming year. This paradox highlights the limitations of cultural representation in politics, emphasizing that lasting change necessitates more than mere celebration.
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