Yeah, but see, fuck France too. That country is getting a lot of good press and attention for opening their borders (kind of) to Syrian refugees right now. While that is definitely a good thing, it doesn't change the fact that France will be completely shitty to those refugees once they've been assimilated into French society.

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France has such a long and diverse history of racism, the subject has its own Wikipedia page. Everyone from Asians to white people get a section all to themselves. What's weird is that it's one line in the French constitution that makes all of this hatred possible:

"France is an indivisible, secular, democratic, and social republic that assures equality in front of the law for all citizens, regardless of origins, race, or religion."

On the surface, it's hard to see how a sentence like that could lead to anything but equality for all. Unfortunately, the way they put that sentence into action within their society actually makes things worse for people who weren't born in the country.

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How do I know they're French? Look at that loaf of bread!

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See, France provides every citizen with the exact same freedoms. The problem is, once you're a French resident, that's all you are anymore.

What that means is, no matter your religion or ethnic background or whatever else, once you're a citizen of France, you're French and nothing more. For example, in a lot of European countries, people of a different ethnicity have the right to receive an education in their native language. Obviously, that makes learning a hell of a lot easier. In France, those rights don't exist, because in the most technical sense possible, there is no such thing as ethnicity at all.

That's precisely how things like the country's notorious ban on hijabs happens. Telling a Muslim person they're not allowed to look like a Muslim in public always leads to news stories and loud cries about how we need to be more tolerant of others when it happens here. In France, wearing clothes or any item at all that openly expresses your faith in the religion of your choosing is effectively against the law.

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That means you, kids!

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We call it the "hijab ban" because that's the part that's made the most news in recent years, but there's way more to the situation. One of the laws that cleared the way for France to force Muslim women to uncover their heads actually covers religious expression or iconography of any kind in French public schools. That probably sounds great for the separation of church and state, and that's fine -- I'd label myself as someone who thinks that's important for sure. However, whereas we mostly just don't want kids being taught the Bible in public schools here, in France, wearing anything at all that tells people you have faith in a higher power is forbidden.

We say we want that kind of thing in this country, but do we really? It's one thing to say kids shouldn't be taught religion, but saying they shouldn't express anything about the faith that could very well define who they are as a person around their schoolmates, though? No dice. Keep it to yourselves, kids.

Again, we might think we want that kind of situation in America, but the reality is, it would be in place here for exactly as long as it would take for some naive young Christian student to be sent home from school for wearing a Tim Tebow jersey.

Adam is on Twitter @adamtodbrown. You're probably on Twitter too. Let's be friends!

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