French officers: What they really think of Black people

The police’s job is to tackle racism, but what do you do if the police themselves are too busy mocking black people instead of defending them. This has been the case in France, where a group of police officers were seen in photographs blacking their faces and posing with bananas at a ‘negro party’.

These photographs posted on Facebook have sparked great complaints from many anti-racism organisations across France, with many like Conseil Représentatif des Associations Noires saying that the photos have bought terrible shame to the national police.

The behaviour of these police officers is unacceptable; however it is not the first time an issue like this has occurred. Last year a policeman in a region just outside Paris was found to be posting a number of xenophobic statements on social networking sites.

Additionally another police officer was found posting photographs that were considered as Islamophobic after he was involved in case of stopping a woman on the street for wearing a veil, an issue that caused riots in the area for up to three days.

These ongoing occurrences of racial abuse by the police needs to stop; the police are suppose to be seen as an organisation that tackles racism, not drives it forward. Anti-racism organisations have argued the occurrences of these issues may be the reason why there has been lack of improvement in specific areas.

This latest incident comes after Marine Le Penn’s racist political party won the popular vote in France in the recent European Elections.

If you are Black and or Muslim in France right now these must be worrying times. The French government and the police authorities will need to come down hard on these racist police officers if Black people are to have any faith in the rule of law.

Roshni Vekereya