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This post may contain affiliate links, meaning that if you click and make a purchase, I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. Read the full disclosure here. The slogan Black Lives Matter may have been coined in the United States, but it represents a global movement.

It would be easy to write off the parallel movement in France as a simple reaction to recent events in the United States. In reality, it warrants recognition as a plea in its own right to bring awareness to racism in France. This rallying cry is as pertinent in France as it is in America.

Many of these resources are in French, but some of them offer English options. Any video on Youtube can be auto-translated into English, for example. I hope that everyone will approach this sensitive topic with an open mind. In the United States, the topic of race is prevalent.

Every official form and some non-official ones—surveys from Gap and Banana Republic for coupons… anyone? The terms change sometimes, but white is often listed first. Why do we do this? To collect data that will inform us of trends and potential inequalities, thereby providing us with opportunities to create affirmative action policies to level the playing field.

We are continually confronted with data regarding employment, housing, education, etc. As a teacher, I regularly looked at data which revealed achievement gaps between white and black students. Obviously, this is not to say that the existence of statistics means that everyone recognizes the existence of racism, but it is certainly harder to deny hard evidence.

Growing up in America, kids learn to categorize themselves early on, and the words for race become a part of everyday speech. On the other hand, in France, if you start talking about race, you are likely to be regarded as racist. Mentioning race is therefore to be avoided.

According to the law, everyone speak up by amandine gay im from is of French citizenship is treated equally. Does everyone have an equal opportunity in France for quality education, employment, and housing? We know that what is fair is not always what is equal.

France knows this, too. In this way, France has cultivated a color-blind approach to social policy, because there are virtually no policies that directly target and aim to benefit racial or ethnic groups. In France, nationality is often the most important identifying factor.

We can take this a step further to expose a common assumption: you are white, therefore you are French, or you are non-white and therefore an immigrant. According to the French government, leaving the word race in the Constitution would legitimize the idea that races exist, whereas science tells us that there is only one human race.

Black Lives Matter. Ici Aussi.

In other words, the idea of race is outdated and removing it from the Constitution therefore reflects current practice of not recognizing racial groups. Read more about its removal in Le Monde in French. Indeed, how can we fight it if we lack the tools to name it?

Pap Ndiaye is a researcher, historian, and professor at Paris Sciences Po, specializing in the social history of the United States with a focus on minorities.