racism in france

I don't want to generalize and say that France is a racist country, because I don't really have experience with the rest of the country (and you find racism in every country) but Picardie... that I do know. Many of the people we meet here, including some of our friends, are pretty racist against those who are of Maghrebian decent (i.e. Arab decent). If there's a problem, the first person to blame is a Maghrebian. Oh, someone caused a fight, they must be Arab. No French person would do this or that. It's ridiculous. Not to mention that a lot of people here are homophobe as well. I guess you get that in small town anywhere though. Anyone of Maghrebian decent is very sensitive when it comes to race issues. Understandable. Well, last night, Ellie and I witnessed firsthand some of this racism (in more than just words).

It was Viany's birthday, so we all came back from vacation to celebrate with her. We had a great time, and practically everyone we know came. J. gendarme came and did a raclette as a surprise for her birthday. She definitely loved that! We all hung out just talking and eating. Good times. Afterwards, we went to Cuba for a quick drink before they closed which was pretty much right when we arrived. Our goal for the evening was to go to a club. Well, we succeeded. M.A. and company invited us out. Katie, Ellie, and I agreed right away. Viany refused to go, because of who we were going with (yes... race issues galore right there). Well, we went and had a great time! It was a place in downtown Laon, and it was actually pretty cool. There was great music and the mix of people was actually decent.

On the way home, I looked behind the car, and I saw a police car. I told the guys, and at pretty much that moment, the lights go on, and we get pulled over. Apparently, he didn't use his turn signal. Well, they made the driver get out of the car to do a drinking test (he didn't have even a drop to drink). After that, the cops pretty much looked for any excuse to get these guys... two Tunisians who have two white girls in the backseat... yes, that just screamed trouble in the cops' minds. The cops shone their flashlights into the car. They examined the outside of the car... kicking the tires and such. They kept asking to see more and more paperwork. Finally, they tried to get him for having a Tunisian license (which is legal for the first year in France). Eventually, M.A. got out of the car... I was just waiting for the cops to yell at him to get back into the car, but they didn't. They all ended up arguing for quite some time, but finally, they let the driver go.

It was quite obvious that it was an issue of race. If it had been two white guys, I highly doubt that the cops would have done as much as they did. It was a little excessive. You just got the feeling from them that they were looking for the littlest thing that they could cite the guys on. I definitely get why Maghrebian immigrants in France are so sensitive to race issues. They have to deal with it every single day. Ridiculous.

Racism towards Arabs in France is different than in the US, I find. Here, it's not really about terrorism or anything to do with that. For the most part, they are immigrants (or in some cases French born children of immigrants) from North Africa (former French colonies) - Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria. Some French blame them for the problems in the country - lack of jobs, riots, etc. Yes, there are a lot of problems that have been started in the banlieues (suburbs) by immigrants and their children, but that just stems from a whole other can of worms. I won't even begin to go into that here. And here, in small town France, in one of the poorest regions of the country, racism rages strong. It's an ugly situation with no easy solution.

Anyway back to topic, the night was good. And today was good too. We recounted the story to Hart and Katie (left Viany out of that one). Veronique called me to talk about Rome and last night, and even she thought the cop thing was out of line. (Spoke to her for over an hour. French. On the phone. My brain hurts.)

In other news, Rome was great! I took tons of photos and saw lots of cool things and ate lots of yummy food. I'll do a proper update on my trip next weekend. Tomorrow, I am off to Paris to spend the day with Anna. Then, I'm going to Dublin on Monday until Friday. Until then!