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PARIS – A violent music video of a little-known French rapper who intends to "hang the whites" amid calls to kill "white babies" has created a tumult in France, politicians rushing to condemn him, anti-racist groups Parquet of Paris opening an investigation.
The video shows Nick Conrad, a hitherto obscure rapper from the Parisian suburb of Noisy-le-Grand, who kidnaps a white man, stuffs him in the trunk of a car, shoves a pistol and shoots him. Then he shows the hanged body of the man. Meanwhile, the rapper repeats "hang whites".
YouTube removed the video on Wednesday, but copies were still visible on Thursday.
"I go to the nurseries, I kill the white babies, I catch them quickly and I hang them, I separate them to pass the time, to amuse the black children of all ages, young and old," says the rapper.
Few people had heard of Conrad or his video before French right-wing sites reported it and began broadcasting it on Wednesday, according to a reenactment of events by Le Monde.. In a few hours, the video went from the French extreme right to its main right, the politicians competing to express their indignation.
Later in the day, Interior Minister Gérard Collomb said, "Words like this are totally unacceptable," he said. "The rappers have young listeners and that marks them little by little. And that's how you ended up with the most serious perversions of our society.
Mr. Conrad, for his part, seems to have achieved his goal – out of total darkness, even though he may now face serious legal consequences.
An investigation into "public incitement to commit a crime or an offense" was opened by the prosecution and, on Thursday afternoon, the right-wing media continued to push things. Violent speeches have less protection in France than in the United States and prosecutions are not uncommon.
France is not used to the extreme racial hatred displayed in the video. And he is certainly not used to expressions of anti-white hate, a "marginal phenomenon", according to Frédéric Potier, head of the country in charge of the fight against racism.
"The words are extremely violent, just like the pictures," said Mr. Potier about Mr. Conrad's video.
He contacted the judicial authorities shortly thereafter. "We had a choice: we could either ignore it or react," he said, noting that the authorities are often pillaged by the far right to "protect only minorities" .
"The vast majority of those who saw it took it as an expression of hatred," said Mr. Potier.
Mr. Conrad, in several interviews in the French media, insisted on the opposite.
"It's a mirror, a response to the injustices inflicted on my community since slavery," he told a newspaper, Le Parisien. "I was inspired by my personal experience and what I see every day as an artist. My feeling is that the black man must always make more effort to integrate and fit into the mold. "
Mr Conrad could face up to five years in prison and 45,000 euros in fines – $ 52,000 – he is convicted.
