Didier Fassin: For decades, France has rejected and belittled its immigrants and their children, especially those from its former colonies or protectorates in North and sub-Saharan Africa. They have been concentrated in housing projects, discriminated against on the job market, and repeatedly stigmatized by political leaders, including former presidents Jacques Chirac, who spoke of their “noise and smell,” and Nicolas Sarkozy, who called them “scum.” Among Muslims more specifically, who form the majority of this population, those practicing their religion often pray in the basements of apartment buildings or in prefabs nearby because they do not have municipal authorization to erect mosques. They constantly have to justify their adherence to the principles of secularism and equality whereas these principles are much more loosely implemented for other groups, who have private religious schools, for instance. They are expected to accept the desecration and denigration of their most revered leader in the name of free speech while those who contest of or even show irreverence toward crimes against humanity are punished. The veil worn by a small minority of women became the object of a heated national debate while other communities’ conspicuous symbols had never been regarded as a problem. The research I have conducted over the past ten years on the French police, justice, and prison systems shows that ethnic minorities living in disadvantaged neighborhoods are disproportionately subject to being stopped and frisked in the street, more severely punished in court cases, and overrepresented in jails for minor offenses. Quantitative studies show that Arab and black men are, respectively, eight and six times more likely to have their identities checked in the metro than their white counterparts; that they face twice as many prison sentences for similar offenses; and that they represent two-thirds of all inmates in correctional facilities. For them, the state stands for oppression and unfairness. Although most of them are French, they generally use that word to designate white citizens, as if they understood they were rejected from the national community. […] The French problem does not reside in political extremists or a religious minority. It lies in the mainstream and the majority, in their reflexive capacity, and ultimately in what Michel Foucault names “the courage of truth.” The danger is that national unity will be realized at the expense of those who are denied full citizenship because of their origin, color, religion, and social class. It is that the government and the population will continue to ignore the increasing inequalities and growing gap within French society. More here.