Race still sensitive topic in France

NANTERRE, France – The race of the police officer who fatally shot a French teenager during a traffic stop last week hasn’t been disclosed, and there’s no reason why it would be. Officially, race doesn’t exist in France.

But the death of the French-born 17-year-old with North African roots, which sent rioters into the streets, has again exposed deep feelings about systemic racism under the surface of the country’s ideal of colorblind equality.

With his killing captured on video, what could be seen as France’s George Floyd moment has produced a very French national discussion that leaves out what many Americans would consider the essential point: color.

One can’t address race, much less racism, if it doesn’t exist, according to French policy. The Paris police chief, Laurent Nunez, said Sunday he was shocked by the U.N. human rights office’s use of the term “racism” in its criticism of French law enforcement. The police have none of it, he said.

France, especially white France, doesn’t tend to frame discussion of discrimination and inequality in black-and-white terms. Some French consider it racist to even discuss skin color. No one knows how many people of various races live in the country, as such data is not recorded.

“They say we are all French … so for them, it’s racist to do something like that,” said Iman Essaifi, a 25-yearold resident of Nanterre, the Paris suburb where the teen, Nahel Merzouk, was killed.

While the subject of race remains taboo, Essaifi believes the events of the past week were a step toward speaking more openly about it. She noted that the people who marched in the streets of Nanterre after Nahel’s

death were “not necessarily Arabs, not necessarily Blacks. There were whites, there were the ‘vrai Francais,’ ” – the “real French.”

France’s Constitution says the French Republic and its values are considered universal, meaning that all citizens have the same rights regardless of origin, race or religion.

Trying to discuss racial inequality without mentioning race leads to some linguistic gymnastics. Instead of terms like Black or mixed-race neighborhoods, French people instead often speak of “communities” or “banlieues” (suburbs) and “quartiers” (neighborhoods). They’re widely understood to mean often disadvantaged urban areas of housing projects and large immigrant populations.

Amid the unrest after Nahel’s death, such nonspecific language has ranged from supportive to insulting. Nanterre’s mayor, Patrick Jarry, spoke on Monday of the suburb “in all its diversity.” A statement last week by a large police union, the Alliance Police Nationale, described the rioters as “vermin.”

Of course there’s racism in France, some people said.

“For example, if your parents come from another country, even you are poorly accepted,” said Stella Assi, a 17-year-old born in Paris who was passing by the city hall in Nanterre. “If I were white, that wouldn’t happen.”

France’s legacy of colonialism, largely in Africa and the Caribbean, plays out in some attitudes that continue generations later. More recently, migration has caused division. The result is a government that openly addresses certain issues around race, but not necessarily in relation to its citizens’ daily lives.

On Wednesday, for example, a court in France was scheduled to review a request for reparations for the descendants of enslaved people.