The South African Opera singer who has graced the world’s finest stages from London to Milan with her sopranic-songbird vocals, has recently used her voice for more trifling matters.
Pretty Yende has recently brought to the world’s attention a traumatic experience that took place in Paris where she was detained at Charles de Gaulle Airport. Taking to social media, she decided to talk about her personal experience. Beyond this, she decided to use what had happened to her to bring to the spotlight something she has admitted she rarely talks about – “inhumane experiences.”
Using her experience of being detained as the focal point, she additionally directs attention towards the topic of police brutality. She highlights that it’s a very real fear for many black and brown people. Often, the victims do not make it to tell their tale. Yende states that in her situation, she is grateful that things did not go that way.
“Police brutality is real for someone who looks like me,” Yende wrote on an Instagram post.
“I’ve always read about it on the news and most of my brothers and sisters end up being tortured and some fatal cases make headlines and dead bodies suddenly appear with made-up stories,”
“I am one of the very very lucky ones to be alive to see the day today even with the ill-treatment and outrageous racial discrimination and psychological torture and very offensive racial comments in a country that I’ve given so much of my heart and virtue to,” Yende expressed.
On Monday, June 21 she experienced what she explains to be a traumatic detention by French officials at the Charles de Gaulle Airport.
She portrayed the situation to be traumatic based on various points. Yende details that all her belongings were taken, she was looked at like a criminal offender, treated condescendingly and in a harsh manner and was told that she was a prisoner.
She also expresses that she was “stripped and searched like a criminal offender,” left alone in a detention cell where most of the authorities refused to address her in English.
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To be succinct, Yende does not claim that she was “brutally interrogated,” (as she has stated on her social media) but she is rather raising awareness regarding what the tragic reality is for so many, and those fearful ‘what ifs’ that raced through her mind during her own experience.
According to IOL who drew from AFP’s findings, a French police source claimed that the soprano had arrived from Milan on a South African passport without a visa. This source denied that she was asked to remove her clothes and was held for verification purposes that “had nothing to do with the colour of her skin.”
However, in a follow-up post, Yende made her voice even clearer. “In the view of many press reports which shared a statement from the police… I’d like to clarify that I did have all the necessary documents that permit me to move freely and work since 2009.”
“I have an unlimited permesso di soggiorno italiano (Italian residency permit) which is being renewed and a permesso di soggiorno improvvisorio (temporary residence), which I presented to the police at the border control and posting right now. I did NOT need a visa to enter or work in any of the European countries, including France.”
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The South African government have also expressed their concern over Yende’s treatment.
[Read] Government says it has noted with concern how acclaimed international opera singer, Pretty Yende, was treated at the Charles De Gaulle International Airport in Paris, France, on Monday https://t.co/rLZ47NCWUM @DIRCO_ZA @FrenchEmbassyZA @PrettyYende pic.twitter.com/HNb8pi5rtq
— @SAgovnews (@SAgovnews) June 24, 2021
Picture: Instagram @pretty_yende_official