How far behind is Europe?
Finally, after six years, The family of Damilola Taylor, a 10 year old Nigerian boy killed when walking home from a library in London, obtains justice. The Preddie brothers who were 12 and 13 when they committed this crime were convicted of manslaughter today. Damilola was skipping home from a library when the Preddie brothers stabbed Damilola with a broken bottle and left him in a stairway.
Although the conviction brings closure to the Taylor family, the wound is still open for all who have encountered racist attacks in Europe. For example, the infamous unsolved murder of Stephen Lawrence, an intelligent young black man, who was killed by six white young men while trying to catch a bus home. Cases like these coupled with the riots in France, and my own personal experience living in Europe, leaves the question how far behind is Europe with civil rights and equality?
I can not attest to laws in England, but in France the lack of ‘acknowledging’ the different races, genders, and sexuality of people within French laws hinders the process of equality. French law states that all citizens are created equal and should have equal rights, yet they do not specifically state that all women and races are considered equal. This leaves room for interpretation of the law as well as creates problems for fighting the inequality. The French are aware of racist problems and to ameliorate this problem within the workforce the “CV anonymous” is being implemented. This CV is equivalent to anonymous resumes in order to alleviate racist/bias hiring. Yet, this solution would not tackle the interview or promotion problems. Why not affirmative action?
Well, the french translation of affirmative action is “discrimination positive” or “Racisme positif” (postive discrimination/ racism) and creating an affirmative action law would only create even more discrimination according to some French experts. However, France is not the only country undergoing racial discrimination problems, Germany, the Netherlands, and Denmark are all currently working on improving equality for minorities. The United States is always criticized for how slow the progress of equality is occurring, yet the US is running laps around Europe in this arena. So to answer the initial question how far behind is Europe? Way behind.
So I know I tried to tackle three or four problems in one blog, but after spending 6 months in France and traveling to all the countries that I mentioned, these problems are real, and solutions are too far for comfort.
EDIT: Thanks to Sira and Deen for the correction. Racial bias was questioned due to the sloppiness of police work in both the Damilola and Stephen Lawrence case. The Damilola case was not a hate crime however the Lawrence case was. The evidence that convicted Damilola’s murderers was blood found on a shoe (that was visible to the human eye), yet this evidence was not discovered until an additional investigation took place.
Published on August 9, 2006 at 9:45 pm.
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Filed under racism, news/politics.
