France: The Effect of the Color Blind Race Policy on Immigrant Communities
By Salloni Sunderaj
Protest against French policy that concerns the wearing of hijabs in public
This May, France amended their anti-separatism law to prevent minors from wearing “signs or clothing” that “ostensibly manifest a religious affiliation” in public spaces [Translated]. While this amendment does not explicitly name the hijab, many state that it has most severely affected the Muslim community in France, a significant demographic in the country. This has subsequently caused international indignation through protests and social media movements such as #HandsOffMyHijab, which has brought France’s sense of xenophobia and racism to light on a global scale.
France’s long-standing secularist policy, commonly referred to as Laïcité, claims to discourage religious involvement in government affairs, and also forbids any government involvement in religious affairs. This concept is often used to support France's “color-blind” public and foreign policy, which states that no policies be directed towards racial or ethnic groups; the policy can be seen in practice through the lack of records of race on any official government documentation. While the color-blind policy initially seems to be a positive proposition for the various racial and ethnic groups in France, the crux of the concept itself brings forth the following thought for many:
During its economic crisis in the 1970s, France permitted a significant number of Muslim immigrants, primarily originating from Algeria and other North African colonies, to permanently settle in the country with their families and acquire French citizenship. However, the mismanagement of economic strategy caused high unemployment rates and the renunciation of France’s assimilation policy, which was replaced by a new integration policy. This integration policy aimed to “[reach] people with a migration background through social programming and policies that address the needs of the general population:” namely, education, employment, and social cohesion. This program was initially successful. However, as immigrant families grew and racial statistics were prohibited from being recorded, it became increasingly difficult to assess the success of the policies aimed at the immigrant population.
This lack of data stemming from the color-blind policy also made it difficult for the government and French society to truly welcome their increasing immigrant population, which has subsequently led to these communities living “in their own ghettos where violence, drugs and the unemployment rates are high” with little to no intervention. This simultaneous lack of concern for immigrant well-being, along with the rise of French nationalism, has jeopardized the culture of immigration and has endangered the livelihood of immigrants in the country. This endangerment can be seen in the islamophobic nature of the aforementioned laws recently passed in France, with the United Nations Human Rights Committee declaring these actions a violation of freedom of religion.
Overall, France’s color-blind approach to public policy and its inherent troubling notions has had an adverse effect on not only the existence of the immigrant community in France, but also public opinion and subsequent political platforms on a national scale. Despite France being “one of only five countries that accommodate 75% of Europe’s asylum-seekers,” there are little to no accommodations made post-acceptance. The European Human Rights Court recently condemned and fined France for their poor treatment of asylum-seekers who “spent months sleeping on the street without any financial support.” At this point in time, France has not made formal plans to update its race policy in the near future, putting immigrants and racial minorities at increasing risk on a daily basis.
