This is the first time that this very exposed position has been attributed to a black and openly lesbian woman. Karine Jean-Pierre, who replaces Jen Psaki, will take office on May 13.
Le Monde with AFP
American president Joe Biden announced, Thursday, May 5, having chosen Karine Jean-Pierre as the next spokesperson for the White House.
This is the first time that this very exposed position has been assigned to a black woman as well as an openly lesbian person. Karine Jean-Pierre will replace Jen Psaki, of whom she was so far the assistant, from May 13, according to a press release in which Joe Biden says he is “proud” of this appointment. The president also rents “the experience, talent and honesty” of his future spokesperson.
Jen Psaki, who said from the start that she would pass her hand during the mandate, brought Karine Jean-Pierre to come to her on Thursday, during the traditional briefing of journalists accredited to the White House. She praised, in a voice sometimes strangled by emotion, the qualities of her assistant, which she took in her arms several times.
“She will be the first black woman and openly LGBTQ+” in this position, she said. “She will give many people a voice and she will allow a lot to have great dreams,” she added. According to American media, the outgoing spokesperson would join the MSNBC chain, of progressive orientation.
Also moved, the future “Press Secretary” said: “It’s a historic moment and I realize it. I understand how important it is for so many people”. Before her, only one other black woman, Judy Smith, had been deputy spokesperson for the White House, under the presidency of George W. Bush, in 1991.
“I am all that Donald Trump hate “
If she has already taken place several times, as number two, in front of the famous blue background of the White House press room, Karine Jean-Pierre, 44, is the first black woman to access the main function. Born in Martinique of Haitian parents who then emigrated to the United States, this French-speaking, who shares the life of a journalist from the CNN channel with which she has a daughter, worked on the two campaigns of Barack Obama (2008 and 2012 ) then that of Joe Biden in 2020 before joining his team at the White House.
“I am all that Donald Trump hates,” she explained in 2018 in a video for the Moveon organization, of which it was a time one of the main figures. A graduate of the prestigious University of Columbia before engaging in the associative and political world, Karine Jean-Pierre often explained how the journey of her family, emblematic of the “American dream”, had been decisive for her career. She grew up in New York, where her father worked as a taxi driver and her mother as a home caregiver.
The new White House spokesperson is also campaigning to bring down prejudices in mental health. She said she had been the victim of sexual assault in her childhood, and suffered from depression, until making a suicide attempt.
Thursday, asked about the message she wanted to deliver to young American girls -and boys, she wanted to complete -she said: “If you work very hard for a goal, it will happen. Yes, you will undergo hard blows, you will go through difficult times and it will not always be easy but the reward will be incredible, especially if you remain faithful to what you are. “