Sigh... it's always the same. Maybe we'll stop doing stuff like this in a further future but man we're not there yet.
I recommend reading about laicity in France and how it shaped it.
Unless you've grown there you would not believe how entrenched into the French education is the idea that promoting one's individuality based on race or religion is the worst thing that can happen. (Especially if you're brown and Muslim, apparently it doesn't have that exotic interesting vibe than some other religions can have)
To quote wiki:
Laïcité relies on the division between
private life, where adherents believe religion belongs, and the
public sphere, in which each individual should appear as a simple
citizen who is
equal to all other citizens, not putting the emphasis on any ethnic, religious, or other particularities
Race (a word that was taboo not so long ago! In 2000 -i can't talk for later - we were still learning in schools that races did not exist and that it was a good thing to be colorblind)
The practice of your religion is something you would do behind closed doors.
Of course it doesn't impact catholicism as much because of Christianity and western culture being intertwined and this is where things fall apart and the current interpretation and application of laicity is racist
Little by little, views and things are changing but I'm not surprised by the time that it takes and I don't know if that will ever fully happen
www.france24.com
pulitzercenter.org
www.npr.org
