In 1998, one chant rang louder than any. Black, Blanc, Beur. The sound of thousands of united voices reverberating throughout the Stade de France, its meaning resonating across the entire country. Loosely translating to ‘Black, White and Arab’. A play on the famous French tri-colour that is just as representative of the country. Journalists coined it. A moniker to fully recognize the sons of the diaspora who had just raised the game’s ultimate prize. Lama, Vieira, Djorkaeff, Desailly, Diomède, Thuram, Karembeu, Trezeguet, Henry, and Zizou. Heroes. But it was more far-reaching than the men on the pitch. It also carried a sense of hope. That a country that had long been burdened by racial divides could one day achieve a sense of social and racial harmony. That one could be French but also from somewhere else. A truly multi-ethnic and multi-racial France. Twenty years later, the chant rang out again as a new generation of boys from the Banlieue lifted the world’s biggest prize. But unlike those who came before them, they were less inclined to raise the banner. Umtiti, Varane, Matuidi, Pogba, Kanté, and Mbappé were all quick to underline that they were French before anything else. While some may see it as a rebuttal to the message of Black, Blanc, Beur it was more so the evolution of an approach to a national question. There’s no right or wrong answer. Just different ways of being French.