Does France not see colour?

On 27 June, France plummeted into chaos. 

The killing of 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk, a French driver of Algerian descent, in a suburb west of Paris launched protests. And almost immediately, France became engulfed in a nearly week-long, large-scale protest across around 13 major cities (as well as Brussels in Belgium) bringing 10,000 people to the streets. 

This, once again, exposed fissures and gaping holes of  France's systemic racism. 

A brief look at the country's track record of human rights violations based on race does not inspire hope. In fact, it begs the question of how effective the government's so-called 'colour-blind' approach is — which discards race altogether from its policies and claims it wants to unite all French citizens under a single French identity, regardless of country of origin or ancestral roots.

The killing of the French teenager unfolded in the most unfortunate way. A video recorded by a bystander shows two officers standing by the driver's side of the car, with one of them firing his weapon at the driver despite no immediate or apparent threat. 

While the police officer in question reasoned that he shot because he feared the teenager would run someone over with the car, it is anyone's guess if he would have done the same had the boy been a 'pure' European, or white for that matter. 

This incident exposes the racial prejudice that the French commoners – and even the country's law enforcement officers – still hold against people of colour. Evidently, they are not the kind of colour-blind that the nation itself takes pride in.  

What is the 'colour blind' approach?

France's 'colour blind' approach to public policy stemmed from the country's idea of unwavering universalism.

As a result, there is no public policy in France that targets benefits or confers recognition on racial or ethnic groups, in spite of at least three million, or approximately 5% of the French population, being non-European or non-white. 

Rather, the country has forced the issues of ethnic diversity onto the French policy agenda, developing an approach to dealing with ethnic problems that stand in contrast to that of many advanced, industrialised countries such as the United States, Britain or even the Netherlands. 

When it comes to addressing issues of social inequalities, instead of races, France uses geographic or class criteria, though it has had an extensive anti-racist policy repertoire since the early 1970s, with a recent focus primarily on hate speech. 

Even the government does not collect race-based statistics. 

A decade ago in 2013, the country stripped its laws of the term 'race,' and five years ago, the National Assembly also voted to remove the word from the constitution.

Overall, France has all the ingredients in place in its policies to portray itself as a 'colour-blind' country.

Why does France want to be seen as a 'colour-blind' country?

This notion of a 'colour-blind' approach, derived from the traditions of universalism, is deeply rooted in French history.

To start from the very beginning, France's constitution is essentially based on three principles: liberty, equality and fraternity. 

And it all began in the Middle Ages, with the country's relationship with the Church, which would advocate for equality, and then got further incentives during the times of the Enlightenment and the Revolution, in terms of the emphasis on liberty and fraternity.  

So, for nearly the past eight centuries, France's universalism held that each human being should enjoy fundamental rights (its three core principles), looking past race, ethnicity, gender and religion.

However, such universalism did not really see any significant threat until the middle of the 20th century, because the country had not yet been a truly and fully multi-ethnic society before that.  

The country eventually came to be one after the end of World War II, when around two million immigrants arrived on French soil to take up jobs in the boom years between the late 1940s and the early 1970s. 

Besides the large number of migrants from Southern Europe, non-white workers also arrived from North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, as well as from countries like Turkey and from French overseas departments.

Soon these immigrants got acceptance as permanent residents in France, while many also took up citizenship to bring over their families or start new families in the country, creating a multi-ethnic society in its truest sense.

Meanwhile, in line with their traditions, French governments over the years stuck to universalism, and took up the 'colour-blind' approach in their policies so seriously that even the pronouncement of the term 'race' is considered a taboo to many, lest it reminds them of the horrors of the Holocaust and Nazi Germany. 

'Colour-blind France' is just a myth

Ironically though, France is still far from becoming a 'colour-blind' country. 

Men of colour, particularly the younger ones, often receive racist treatment at the hands of the police in France, and there are official numbers as well to support this claim. 

According to the Defender of Rights, young men perceived to be black or of North African origin are 20 times more likely to be subjected to police identity checks than the rest of the population.

Earlier in 2012, Human Rights Watch also agreed that racism and racial discrimination were present within the country's law enforcement agencies, and that "the identity check system is open to abuse by the French police."

Even way back in 1999, the country was condemned by the European Court of human rights for torture, following the sexual abuse by police of a young man of North African origin.

According to another report by the French National Consultative Commission on Human Rights published last year, 1.2 million people a year were likely "victims of at least one racist, anti-semitic or xenophobic attack" in the country. 

And most recently earlier this year, a study by the Representative Council of France's Black Associations (CRAN) revealed that 91% of respondents in mainland France answered that they had been victims of racial discrimination "often" or "from time to time," and 85% stated that they had been victims of discrimination based on skin colour.

The myth of the 'colour-blind' France is also said to be gaslighting ethnic minorities at the state level, and the nation's victims of systemic racism are well aware of it.

People of colour or North African heritage hardly get the opportunity to reside in France's major towns due to their racial and ethnic identities. Instead, they live in the 'cités' or suburbs, being deprived of the country's economic and social development.  

What did the latest spate of protests say?

In spite of all the aforementioned instances, France continues to identify itself as a 'colour-blind' country, which in turn poses the burning question if it is just a defence mechanism for denial, and whether it is the national refusal to face up to institutional racism. 

Rokhaya Diallo, a famous French journalist, author, filmmaker and activist for racial, gender and religious equality, wrote in her column for The New York Times, "France has ignored racist police violence for decades. This uprising is the price of that denial." 

According to many, the latest incident with Nahel has served as a catalyst to take to the streets.

After the death of Nahel, chaos and violence erupted in many cities, with the focal point of the protests going way beyond just one assassination. 

It was a potent reminder of the racial discrimination, unemployment, lack of opportunities in the suburbs where racial and ethnic minority groups reside, and on top of that, the persistent poverty. 

However, by no means can the way these protests were carried out be supported. 

Before the unrest began to calm down on Monday night (3 July), protesters torched cars, looted stores and targeted town halls and other properties — including the home of the mayor of a Paris suburb, which was attacked while his wife and children were asleep inside on 1 July. 

According to provisional figures, around 350 buildings and 300 vehicles were damaged. Apart from that, protesters also violently clashed with 45,000 police officers across the country. 

A total of 3,486 protesters were arrested, according to interior ministry figures. Of these, 374 people have already been brought to court and tried, according to the justice ministry. Meanwhile, the policeman who fired the lethal shot that killed Nahel is in custody right now, charged with homicide. 

With the protests, the message has been loud and clear that racism in France is real, and that the erasure of "race" from its policies only aids the nation's deeply-ingrained racist psyche. This will continue to produce detrimental repercussions, if not addressed head-on. 

Jannatul Naym Pieal is a journalist, Illustration: TBS