French rightwing politician calls for Angela Davis school to be renamed

Valerie Pecresse claims that the Black US activist's belief that racism is systemic does not apply to France

A row has erupted in France after a rightwing politician insisted that a high school named after the Black US activist Angela Davis should change its name.

Valerie Pecresse, who ran for president last year for Nicolas Sarkozy's party, Les Republicains, scoring a humiliating 4.78%, is head of the greater Paris Ile-de-France region. She told a committee this week that the university professor and former Black Panther's belief that racism was systemic did not apply to France and was dangerous and divisive for French schoolchildren.