Let's Talk
Someone’s Always Watching Us
By Denise Rolark Barnes
Thursday, November 10, 2005

What about those riots in France? It is amazing to see, night after night, for the past two weeks, cars being firebombed and stores being torched in more than 300 cities and towns all across the country and even moving into the capital city of Paris.

Reports indicate that the “rioters” are young and mostly second generation North and West African immigrants, mostly Muslim, who live in the suburbs, areas relegated to the country’s ethnic minorities.

These are young people who are reportedly French-born, the first generation of their immigrant parents invited to France almost 30 years ago as laborers but who did not return home. Now, the areas where they live are much like the U.S. inner cities where public housing communities used to be: they are writhe with poverty, high unemployment, inadequate education, drugs and crime.

The “riots” were sparked, according to reports, on October 27 when two young boys, 15 and 17 years old, were electrocuted in a power substation where they were hiding from police who they believed were chasing them. A third child was who was with them was severely injured. Apparently, hundreds of youths reacted to their deaths immediately by setting fire to cars and shops in Clincy-sous-Bois, a suburb of Paris.

In the scant photographs of the perpetrators shown on the local networks, it wasn’t long before I realized how much they looked like my sons and other young Black males who live here in the U.S. I wondered why they were rioting and what did they want?

Most of the media following this national crisis seem to be focusing on the damage, the location of the outbreaks and the government’s response. However, a deeper look which required some digging into the International Press revealed quite readily that the struggle that is now brewing in France and spilling over into Germany and Belgium, mirrors the turbulent ‘60s following the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the violent anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa, and in some cases the struggle at Tienamen Square among disenchanted young people in China. The time for second-class citizenship for people of color in France is over, and the government is being faced with the reality that something needs to be done and today is already too late.

A story published in the Paris edition of The Guardian Unlimited carried the headline, Villepin Acknowledges a Racial Divide. Dominique deVillepin is the Prime Minister of France who is seeking a peaceful resolution to the violence and policies that will address issues of race, while Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, has been more virulent against the rioters while maintaining a divisive stance. Both men are in a contentious battle to succeed President Chirac as president of France in the 2007 elections.

According to The Guardian Unlimited, Villepin said, this week, that France faces a “moment of truth.”

Villepin reportedly told a special session of the National Assembly called to address the crisis, that France faced a choice between “division or coming together.”

“The struggle against all discriminations must become a priority for our national community. They are a reality today for all the inhabitants of troubled neighborhoods when they look for housing, a job or even when they want access to leisure activities,” Villepin said.

Many of the young rioters have been arrested, and in some cases they are not guilty of arson but of just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Even the manner in which they will be prosecuted raises issues about race and justice for Blacks and Muslims.

It seems as if France has tried to follow its own model when it comes to the issue of race and diversity. Its failure to integrate its vastly growing minority communities into the mainstream of the society and to assure equal opportunities for all is costing the country severely. Some have indicated that France has rejected both the U.S. and European model of integration, hoping, instead, to ignore differences and avoid diversity. It is almost uncanny that there are those in the U.S. who have suggested that we do as the French, force everyone who lives in America to only call themselves an American and ignore their ethnic and cultural roots. In France, only certain people fill the criteria to call themselves French. Those that don’t fit in are left out.

African Americans have come a long way since slavery, Jim Crow and Rosa Parks. We have a story to tell and lessons to teach to our brothers and sisters around the world who continue to watch us, very closely.

You can reach Denise Rolark Barnes at drbarnes@washingtoninformer.com