France is only a recent example of the endemic exclusion of Black peoples in the developed and underdeveloped world. The symptoms are not specific to France. In fact, they are indistinguishable around the world. They include higher rates of unemployment, a concentration of poverty, social, and political exclusion and isolation. The situation in France is apart of the same problem that manifested itself in London's Brixton riots of 1981. The death of the two teenagers in France only ignited underlying problems that have exploded into these riots.

Both riots explicitly and implicitly protest rampant unemployment, racial discrimination and social exclusion. Policies that utilize black populations as cheap immigrant labor while excluding them and their children from opportunity is not just a French problem. This pattern of social exclusion and exploitation of people of color is a common global occurrence. I see this trend growing in urban areas in Canada as well. Unfortunately, the last and sometimes the only means to shed some light on these problems is social unrest (like the current rioting in France), or tragedy (such as the recent devastation in New Orleans that exposed the deplorable living conditions of African Americans).

I'm sure in the aftermath the political will to finding difficult solutions to discrimination and social injustice will fade away. Most people that subscribe to the Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy's view will brand the riots as simple hooliganism. After the inevitable clamp down, some speeches, and a few new social spending measures, life will return to the intolerable status quo.

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