I think it's wrong when the French government banned things like people being able to wear the burqa and cross in schools.
It goes even further than that actually since burqa for instance is not allowed on any public places. However associating this to racism when its only asking people to keep their religious beliefs in the private sphere is a stretch in my opinion. The stance is pretty simple actually and it has nothing to do with politics. We as a nation think that religion should be contained to the private sphere and shouldn't interfere in your public activities, at all. That doesn't mean the country is not tolerant towards all religions just that when you decide to live in this country you have to accept its set of values. Religious neutrality in the public space being one of them. If you don't, Great Britain is just a channel away.
Honestly we had our fair shares of xenophobia outburts this past few years, particularly with our former conservative government which was an embarrassment on this particular issue and even recently with all the gay-marriage issues. That being said and it comes from a person who travels a lot, I haven't faced in my entire life an administration as hostile and prejudiced as the US administration. I think that people in the US have just no idea how difficult and humiliating the all process to immigrate in the US is. It's just unmatched by any other country in the world I know of.
I'm french, I have lived most of my life in this country. However none of my parents have the french nationality and I saw them throughout the years struggling with the french administration to get their visas (wich we call a "carte de séjour"), I witnessed them waiting in line for hours to get their paper work done but they never felt as humiliated as I did when I received this "special treatment" in 2010 when I was about to spend a semester in Columbia law school. I was roughly interviewed for 4 hours in Roissy by 3 Homeland Security agents, even before I could board my plane. This was a police interview, I was treated like a criminal, a potential terrorist threat just because I have a north african name (and for that matter my father is north african). I missed my plane, they never refunded my $1,300 ticket and I was just left there without any kind of apology when they were forced to admit that I was in fact an upstanding citizen. I've never been through anything like it in my life even with the french police (and I thought these guys were the worst).
That being said my semester in Columbia was awesome, the new yorkers are the best people I've met in my entire life and I probably met my dearest friends in the big apple. I love your police and I had a blast last summer with Miami Metro PD officers. The Boston folks are kinda cool too and very welcoming.
If some of you guys could just drop the cliches about french (and I know sometimes we're not helping) that would be great.
