“Whatever the first name you have, your skin color, everyone has their place here. You are the images of France. “It is with these benevolent words that Dominique Sopo, president of SOS Racisme, addressed the schoolchildren of Sarcelles, who came to discover, this Tuesday afternoon, the “Pantheon of the forgotten”. This traveling memorial in homage to all the personalities who have marked the History of France but have not benefited from recognition to date, was inaugurated in Paris for the European Heritage Days. Sarcelles was his first stop in the Parisian suburbs.
In the morning, place Jean-Pierre Passé-Coutrin, facing the fresco by Aimé Césaire, it was the general public who discovered this statue where the faces “of people you don’t see on normal statues” parade on the the top part. In the afternoon, 200 children came to listen to the explanations of the militants of SOS Racisme. “These are forgotten stars”, sums up a little girl to Mayor Patrick Haddad (PS). “These are people who have done things well but have not been recognized, includes Ranime, in CM2 at Anatole-France. It’s sad because it’s not fair. »
“Why did we put them in our statue? “Questions Julie, the mediator of SOS Racisme. The children’s responses fuse. “They did heroic things”, “they moved history forward”, “they ensured that we were not victims of racism”. “And what did they create?” “, continues the activist. Again, the kids are not short of ideas. “Books, drawings, songs, paintings…”
Rosa Parks, Marie Curie, Anne Frank…
Among them, “the lady of the media library”, caught the attention of Karina, also a student at Anatole-France. Indeed, the profile of Anna Langfus – the writer who knew the ghettos during the Second World War and gave her name to the establishment – was added on the proposal of the city of Sarcelles to the “Pantheon of the forgotten”. The children also shared their ideas for adding to this memorial: Anne Frank, Rosa Parks, Louis Armstrong but also Martin Luther King and Marie Curie were mentioned, in the middle of Johnny Hallyday, Michael Jackson and even… Eugène Poubelle, who gave its name to the containers of the same name!
For schoolchildren, this day was also an opportunity to deepen “their general knowledge”. “Every Monday, the mistress has a ritual of telling us about a known person,” explains Nawel, before listing those she remembers. “On the statue, we do not know all the names, recognizes Mariame, but it is a special day to think of them. “Same opinion for his girlfriend Louna:” I really liked paying tribute to people who did important things like Jules-Ferry who made the school secular”. “It allows history to be passed on to others,” adds Loudemiya.
“I would like there to be no more racism”
For Jérémy Noël, teacher in the CM1/CM2 class at the Saint-Exupéry 1 school, “it’s a very good initiative not to always honor the same people. The memorial echoes what was done in class on Rosa Parks, the fight for equality and against discrimination. Too bad, however, that we were not able to prepare this project upstream. We will be able to work in class afterwards from the list of names present on the Pantheon”.
One thing is certain: the arrival of this memorial concerned the students. “I think it’s beautiful, it talks about racism, we understand what people were going through at the time, is moved Yara, in CM2 at Saint-Exupéry. I would like there to be no more racism. If whites don’t respect blacks, then blacks won’t respect whites, and it will go wrong. The planet will be further damaged and the world will be lost. »
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