Our Women on the Ground by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2019-08-06T00:00:00+00:00

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On the same evening that Leila was gunned down in front of a café as she stepped out of a car to buy a salad in Ouagadougou, another story made the headlines in France. Newscasts that night showed a shattered Amal emerging from the Bobigny courthouse in the suburbs of Paris. Damien Saboundjian, the police officer who’d killed her brother, had just been acquitted of all charges. “They took away his right to live,” she told journalists who were present at the verdict. The setback didn’t stop Amal from continuing her fight. She filed for an appeal. A year later, Saboundjian was found guilty of murder without the intention to kill.

In the months leading up to the appeal trial, I chronicled Amal’s struggle for justice and we grew closer. Amal’s personal life had been plagued by tragedy and hardship. She’d never received a college education (though she’s now pursuing a law degree). She’d fought to marry a Portuguese man she’d met when she was just thirteen. She’d lost her brother. And yet she managed, in the span of a few years, to become the face of the fight against police brutality. She alone can gather crowds of thousands in the French capital to protest against institutional racism—a concept that remains absent from the mainstream conversation in France.

I tried hard while working with Amal to not let my strong admiration for her cloud my judgment as a reporter. Instead, I found strength in her hope and determination. I channel that strength into France’s Children, a documentary feature I’m currently working on about Muslim empowerment and activism in the country. As part of my work, I’m closely following the lives of Arab and Muslim millennial immigrants who are mobilizing, inspired by the fascinating example set by the American Black Power movement. Amal is the film’s main protagonist. I spent weeks with her and other inspiring activists, building their trust as I filmed them.

Working on France’s Children, difficult as it has been, has finally brought me some peace. I know I’m doing something meaningful. And I know Leila would be proud.

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