October 27, 2006

• a year ago, dans la belle france, two minority youths were electrocuted and one severely burned because they took refuge in an electricity generating station, fleeing the police who wanted to perform an identity check.  clichy-sous-bois erupted in violence, and that violence spread from the banlieux to paris herself...

  the united states is no stranger to this sort of inflaming of the passions of the disenfranchised > it happens when the police mistakenly shoot and kill someone who had his wallet in his hand, or a cell phone, mistaken for a gun.  but here, even when we we are upset and outraged and beside ourselves with grief, we seldom riot.  not like les français in this case. 

  and the violence has resurged on this anniversary, with hooded youths forcing people to disembark from three buses so that the buses could be torched and burned.  there have been recent ambushes of police who were responding to calls from within the worst of these banlieux (suburbs).  the mayor of clichy-sous-bois and the members of his police force will all be patrolling the streets tonight with fire extinguishers in their vehicles...

  so... what is the difference between the situation in france and the situation here that keeps us from this sort of violence?  france has worked very hard to build a color-blind society, and therefore there are no programs such as affirmative action (apparently termed "positive discrimination" in europe according to the articles in the london press).  perhaps it is because we openly acknowledge that our society is racist and xenophobic on many levels, and have tried to address this in various ways, through legislation and education.

  perhaps it is better to acknowlege one's sin and attempt to deal with it than to gloss over it, saying that there is no sin at all because we don't believe in that sin or practice it (even when it is obvious that the condition still exists)....

  there is a problem in france with the way employment works, since the unemployment rate among all youth hovers at around 20%, with minority youth facing double that rate.  some of the issues, too, stem from too high an expectation.  one recent university graduate with a masters degree in financial administration was complaining that he had sent out over 100 resumés with no response over a six month period.  that is not a very long period nor a lot of resumés by our standards.

  the united states has a history of almost 400 years of immigration and mixing of various religious and ethnic groups.  although we may not do it as well as we ought, perhaps we might start realizing that we do it fairly well, and look to see if there are any ways we can help our brothers and sisters around the world live in peace...

  • 11:26 am
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