Yesterday (Wednesday, July 22, 2015) Minister of Justice Christiane Taubira attended a meeting at the Regional Council of Martinique, where she spoke to youth and participated in a debate on the theme “Youth, justice and freedom” [Jeunesse, justice et liberté]. A video of her full keynote speech (as well as introductions by the impressive MC, Alexandra Harnais, and President of the Regional Council of Martinique, Serge Latchimy) is available in the link below. Taubira quoted Guyanese writer Léon Damas Gontran, saying that the point is less about beginning anew than “to continue to ‘be’ against this moral framework, with its series of precepts, preconceptions, presumptions, predeterminations, pretensions, prejudices.” She added, “This is what you must clear away—these precepts, these pretensions, these preconceptions, these presumptions. [. . . ] When our gaze is tainted by prejudice, we are the first to be stricken.”

[Léon Damas Gontran a dit « qu’íl s’agit moins de recommencer que de continuer à être—contre cette morale avec son cortège de préceptes, de préconceptions, de présomptions, de prénotions, de prétentions, de préjugés. » C’est tout-cela que vous devez dégager–ces préceptes, ces prétentions, ces prénotions, ces présomptions. (. . .) Lorsque le regard est entache par les préjugés, nous sommes les premières à être frappés.]

Here are excerpts of the introduction to the video: “An incandescent woman, bright and strong as mahogany, Christiane Taubira is someone who fights for her convictions. She is responsible for the law of 21 May 2001 which acknowledges, as a memorial law, the crime against humanity that were the slave trade and slavery practiced in the fifteenth century, to the detriment of African, Amerindian, Malagasy, and Indian peoples. In 2013, as Minister of Justice, she delivered the bill for marriage for couples of the same sex.”

For original article and video, go to http://www.region-martinique.mq/blog/christiane-taubira-a-la-region-martinique-le-debat-en-live/