In the council room of the Évry-Courcouronnes Departmental Assembly, the members of the audience are younger than usual.
Average age 13 years.
This Thursday, March 7, the Ilan Halimi de l'Essonne prize was held.
This award is dedicated to the memory of young Ilan Halimi, tortured to death because he was Jewish by the Barbarian Gang.
He was found dying in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois in January 2006.
In the afternoon, students from Michel Vignaud de Limours and Louise Michel de Corbeil-Essonnes colleges competed with their words.
Facing them, the jury, chaired by Alexandre Touzet, vice-president of the departmental council, listened attentively to their denouncing speeches on discrimination.
Samuel, 13, a fourth-grade student at Michel Vignaud college, won the eloquence competition, which was awarded 500 euros for his college.
“We learned a lot about stereotypes, prejudices and discrimination”
“Before coming I told everyone that I was going to win,” jokes the boy.
“I love competition and I'm a bad loser,” he says.
For a month, teachers from the two Essonne establishments have been preparing their students.
“We received courses on equality.
We learned a lot about stereotypes, prejudices and discrimination,” says Clara, also a student at Michel Vignaud college.
“We also worked on posture, to learn how to speak in public,” reports his comrade Lucas.
And added, “we were still very impressed by the assembly, they are important people for the department”.
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All claim to have become aware that discrimination can have serious consequences.
“Some of my friends make fun of other people’s origins, now I’m going to tell them to stop,” confides Louis.
Before participating in the Ilan Halimi prize, Samuel, the winner, had no idea “that there were so many forms of racism”.
While the competition bears his name, Ilan Halimi's story meant nothing to them until now.
It must be said that they were not born.
“It’s sad, but in my opinion tragedies like this will happen again.
I don’t see a world without discrimination, it’s part of life,” considers Samuel, a little defeatist.