What is 'a lot'?  The answer is that nobody knows because there are no statistics as a matter of policy and law. The stuff I read concerning Sciences Po's controversial pilot affirmative action plan indicated that the numbers of blacks and arabs there before the plan was created was tiny. The first non-white prefect was only named a few years ago. If there are black or arab generals or senior police officials they never appear in the media. Back in the day Mitterrand created an affirmative action program for the working class for ENA. Sure, the grand bourgeois alumni weren't thrilled, but the left supported it on the same sort of grounds as the US left supports affirmative action here. But whenever the topic of affirmative action for non-whites comes up, the left shies away as if it were radioactive.