For generations, the French have prided themselves on a colorblind society that welcomes all. But the two weeks of nightly violence have prompted painful national introspection and called into question France's self image as a model of race relations.
Both like and unlike the USA
The same complaints that fueled the fires in inner city Detroit and Los Angeles in the '60s — unemployment, discrimination, despair — are behind the arson and rioting in suburban France. This crisis, however, is uniquely French. A nation that successfully integrated individual foreigners has failed to do the same with masses of them.
Sigh. I hate violence of any kind. But this reminds me of profanity. If you're a person who rarely, if ever uses it, when you do, everyone sits up and takes notice. You hope!
[When did our fire hydrants go from red to yellow to silver! And where are Germany's hydrants? Don't remember ever seeing one. Are they in the ground like the UK's?]
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