How do the French deal with Baldwin as a Black American in distinction to the Arabs?
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The French dealt with Baldwin in a notably different way from how they treated Algerians in Paris, creating a deliberate distinction that revealed their colonial mindset. When they became uncomfortable with his skin colour or when he showed solidarity with Arabs, they would quickly point out that he was "different," saying "le noir Americain est très évolué" (p.4). This differential treatment wasn't actually a compliment - it was a tactical move to justify their treatment of Algerians. The French would praise Baldwin's "civilization" while insisting that Arabs "were not civilized" like him, revealing an interesting contradiction: if America, which the French considered unrefined, could produce someone they deemed "civilized," why couldn't the supposedly superior French civilization do the same with Algerians? Their response that "the Arabs did not wish to be civilized" exposed their colonial mentality (P.4). They used Baldwin's presence as a way to validate their prejudices, trying to create a wedge between different marginalized groups. However, this "compliment" of civilization was, as he notes, "delivered too late" - he saw through their attempts to use him as a prop in their colonial narrative (p. 4). Their treatment of him versus Algerians highlighted how colonial powers use racial hierarchies to maintain their dominance, praising some minorities selectively while continuing to oppress others.
This differential treatment also highlighted the French's inability to confront their own colonial violence and racism. They maintained they had "excellent relations with their natives" and cited hospitals and schools they built, yet Baldwin witnessed their brutal treatment of Algerians, like when police beat "an old, one-armed Arab peanut vendor senseless in the streets" while French café-goers watched with unconcerned faces (p. 3-5). This contrast between their claims of benevolent colonialism and the reality of their violent treatment of Algerians, together with their attempts to separate Baldwin from this violence by labeling him as "civilized," reveals how deeply rooted their colonial mindset was. They couldn't see their own contradictions or acknowledge their role in perpetuating a system of oppression, instead choosing to maintain their myths of civilizational superiority through selective praise and strategic violence.