Riots in France

It is now the 10th day of rioting by angry "others" in France, having reached Paris last night. Something like 900 cars have been burned, but, despite some injuries, no one has been killed, at least not yet. I was startled to realize, once past my kneejerk reaction against violence, to grasp what the "immigrants" beef is all about--as a someone of mixed race whose family has been in the US since the 1700s I understand the anger that comes from being denied, regardless of one's efforts, recognition as one of the family, so to speak. In reading accounts from the European press, there is an attitude that immigrants and their descendants, even 3 generations on, are not truly French. And they aren't, since, despite their egalitarian ideals, in Europe national identity derives from ethnic origin. In American terms, the immigrants aren't white. "Europe" has been plagued by two problems: lack of space, and nationalism, with sickening results. And this is not France's first brush with denying "frenchness" to ethnic outsiders (I'm thinking of Algeria).

Frankly, it is a strange, uncomfortable feeling to grasp some of what the rioters are complaining about because I want them to be wrong and shut up. But that's not the case--I do kind of get it and am sorry for everyone concerned because people on each side suffer. That is the lesson I've learned from American racism--that both sides seem locked in a sick embrace, becoming more and more mirror images of each other. But I'm hoping and praying that a some way to reconcile, without violence, can be found.