In the wake of the current riots by immigrant youth in France, a couple African-American friends and I were discussing the comparative situation between France and the United States. The core issues of ethnic and racial minorities - the poverty cycle, unemployment, discrimination, and a lack of hope for improvement - are virtually identical in both countries. Where the two countries differ radically is in their responses to the inevitable backlash and violent responses to these issues.
Discounting the two immigrant youths that were electrocuted at Clichy- sous-Bois that sparked the French uprising, to date there have been no fatalities in the French riots. Despite the fact that the riots have continued for some fifteen days and resulted in notable property damage - such as some 6,000 cars being torched - the French government has not responded by utilizing overwhelming force to literally crush the immigrant children. Clearly, the French youths were reasonably confident that the French authorities would respond proportionately and they have not been disappointed in this assumption.
Compare this to the last major African-American riots in the United States, the 1992 Rodney King Riots that were focused in Los Angeles, but like those in France, quickly spread to other major cities in smaller measure. In this instance, spanning six days, between fifty and sixty people were killed and around two thousand seriously wounded. Unlike France - that has arrested some 1,500 youths directly involved - the American response was indiscriminate mass arrests of anyone in the area, resulting in over 10,000 arrests, 86% of which were either African-American or Latino. This disproportionate response had long- term consequences, as these people had to pay for their own medical care and had to pay for their own legal expenses (whether they were actually guilty of anything or simply swept up in the mass arrests) and so on.
Similarly, compare the responses of the respective national governments. In France, President Chirac has recognized the core problems facing the immigrant community as the root of the riots and though it is debatable as to whether this recognition will result in tangible change, at least it illustrates that the government understands the problem. Compare this to the Papa Bush's response to the 1992 riots. He simply ignored the root causes of the uprising pretending as though the "mob" was simply engaging in an orgy of "random terror and lawlessness" for its own sake. The clear implication was that the rioters had no legitimate grievances and that the riots were just fun and games for the nasty little savages.
The result of our conversation was that though the core issues among ethnic and racial minorities in the United States and France are the very similar, the French response would never work here. This is because the United States flatly refuses to address the core issues and denies the humanity of our urban poor. Despite the terrible nature of the French riots, ignoring the radical Right of Le Pen, it seems likely that many of the core issues will be addressed to one extent or another in France since they have been recognized. To quote Chirac, "We need to respond in a strong and quick way to the unquestionable problems that many inhabitants of the deprived neighborhoods surrounding our cities are facing."
In the United States, on the other hand, the urban poor are simply denied any attributes of humanity. They can be killed and maimed with impunity, pushed deeper in debt and poverty without recourse, and by their very nature all their grievances can be written off as laziness and dependency on the "welfare state." Make no mistake about it, my friends - who in of themselves are reasonably well off - made it crystal clear that the same anger and frustration is churning here but experience has shown them to expect no mercy from our government.
The main difference between France and the United States is that in France the youths recognized that their government might actually heed their plight, whereas here the people facing the same frustration know full well that our government will go to extreme measures to avoid doing so. The real difference is that in France the minorities are still human beings even if facing discrimination and poverty, whereas in the United States, those in poverty effectively lose their humanity as far as the powers-that-be are concerned. Despite this reality, repression of the downtrodden and ignoring fundamental problems is not a sustainable solution and given the right impetus the United States is moving toward a crisis that will make France's current problems seem trivial in comparison.
John Sigler is an activist and writer based in Denver, Colorado.
