“Portrait of Ludmilla as Nina Simone”: a scene of resistance in Louisiana

Can a tiny French show take the pulse of the political tragedy sweeping through the United States? And more specifically, how Trump's inauguration is corroding civil rights by amplifying discrimination while legitimizing it? Is a huge international star like Nina Simone more subversive in 2025 than in the 1960s? What would happen if she returned today to stride across the stage as she did in Harlem, New York, in 1969 during an open-air concert, echoing the words of poet David Nelson: "Are you ready, Black people? Are you ready to do what it takes? Are you ready to kill if necessary? Are you ready to tear down the white world? To burn down buildings? Are you ready to build a Black world?"

Yes, what would happen to him under the Trump era who, busy as he is with achieving "peace" in the world, still finds time to get himself appointed president of the prestigious Kennedy Center in Washington because "wokeism is over in this country" ? And what happens when the