When you do not integrate, people stay 'other,' it's as simple as that. Fai de bèn a Bertrand, te lou rendra en cagant
As a practical matter, given the realities, I completely fail to see how this can be seen as something positive.
On another level, though, at a really fundamental level, race-blind means just that - a black person is french just like a white person is, there is no differentiation, if you speak french properly, have the standard french general culture, everyone is the same, color no matter. There are problems, clearly with people of north african descent there is job discrimination and general racism, but it isn't having anything to do with color in my opinion, but one of integration, nothing which can't be solved in another generation, like for poles and italians in their waves of immigration before. There are no statistics but I strongly suspect, and observe, much higher levels of marriage between people of different color, and more mixity in the schools, than what I saw in the US, that's for sure, though granted I saw rural Michigan and then Minneapolis.
France needs more equality, via more efficient redistribution, and effective full employment policies. The latter point has been a horrible thorn in the integration story. If these things can be accomplished, that will take care of the problems we have in a generation or less.
None of this takes away from the amazing American accomplishment though. I certainly never thought it possible. Fai de bèn a Bertrand, te lou rendra en cagant
redstar: ... it isn't having anything to do with color in my opinion ... There are no statistics ...
From an earlier diary:
European Tribune - Racism in French employment
L'âge et l'origine, principales discriminations à l'embauche (2006 November 21) <...> the "first national barometer" carried out by the temporary work agency Adia with Jean-François Amadieu, professor at Paris I University and director of the Observatory of Discriminations. Made public on Tuesday November 21, the study shows that most kinds of employment discrimination, with the exception of that against the handicapped, have gotten worse in comparison to a study from 2004. 6461 CVs were sent over the course of a year in response to 1340 job offers. The results (invitations to a job interview) obtained by a "control" candidate (male, 28-30 years old, having a "stock French" last name and first name, without photo) and by candidates more likely to be discriminated against were compared. The big loser is the "48-50" year old who is selected the least often, regardless of socio-professional group, labor pool, company size, or work sector: among 100 invitations for job interviews that the control candidate received, this category received three times less (32), especially if he is a white-collar professional (14 invitations, while older blue-collar workers get 50). The white-collar professional of North African origin gets 17 positive responses, his blue-collar counterpart 47. Generally, as a consequence of his ethnicity, he only has 36 chances for a job interview, while the "stock French" candidate has 100.
<...> the "first national barometer" carried out by the temporary work agency Adia with Jean-François Amadieu, professor at Paris I University and director of the Observatory of Discriminations. Made public on Tuesday November 21, the study shows that most kinds of employment discrimination, with the exception of that against the handicapped, have gotten worse in comparison to a study from 2004.
6461 CVs were sent over the course of a year in response to 1340 job offers. The results (invitations to a job interview) obtained by a "control" candidate (male, 28-30 years old, having a "stock French" last name and first name, without photo) and by candidates more likely to be discriminated against were compared.
The big loser is the "48-50" year old who is selected the least often, regardless of socio-professional group, labor pool, company size, or work sector: among 100 invitations for job interviews that the control candidate received, this category received three times less (32), especially if he is a white-collar professional (14 invitations, while older blue-collar workers get 50). The white-collar professional of North African origin gets 17 positive responses, his blue-collar counterpart 47. Generally, as a consequence of his ethnicity, he only has 36 chances for a job interview, while the "stock French" candidate has 100.
This may be based on old information. My experience is that the forced integration of schools and the military starting in the 1960s has paid off. Certainly in more cosmopolitan places like Boston and New York there is pretty broad acceptance of all races. But here in arch-conservative Colorado Springs we have so many mixed race military families that it is almost the norm. It is not even commented on to see families with random backgrounds including orientals, blacks, and whites. In malls and stores one might expect such acceptance simply on a practical basis, but surface tolerance at least extends even to cowboy dance halls, nightclubs, and motorcycle bars where one might expect the most racist types to hang out.
Not to say that there isn't still overt racism; we had a hate crime in our neighborhood just a few months ago. But I think that the broad acceptance of Obama reflects specific government anti-discrimination actions taken within the past four decades.
