How to Perform Non-racism? Colour-blind Speech Norms and Race-conscious Policies among French Security Personnel

Abstract

How do individuals and organisations anticipate or deflect allegations of racism? This problem is especially sensitive in the context of crime control. There are two strategies to perform non-racism: colorblind and race-conscious. This article is about how French police officers and security guards perform 'not being racist', based on an analysis of the discourse and policies of 60 respondents in a shopping mall and a railway station. France promotes an ostensibly colorblind approach to being not racist, urging its citizens to avoid using racial categories. How do security people manage to perform non-racism when the majority of their clients are minority youth? The main finding is that while respondents display a strong command of colorblind speech norms (to perform non-racism), the security policy of the shopping mall is equally strongly race-conscious (also to perform non-racism).

The invader, the enemy within and they-who-must-not-be-named: how police talk about minorities in Italy, the Netherlands and France

“…Interviews create an artificial setting where people have to manage social desirability concerns. In our case, how police talk about minorities, racism, profiling and discrimination reflects prevailing (but contextual) speech norms (Bonnet 2014). We are not interested in what officers 'really' or 'privately' think: what matters to us is 'what they are supposed to say to a stranger'.…”

“…Our research design is based on the assumption that we can make the social desirability bias work to our advantage in order to reveal regimes of speech norms (Bonnet 2014). Interviews create an artificial setting where people have to manage social desirability concerns.…”

The Gentrifier's Dilemma: Narrative Strategies and Self–Justifications of Incoming Residents in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn

“…That is, rather than being explicitly racist, many white people today speak in coded terms, claiming not to see color and using this to justify the racist status quo (Bonilla-Silva and Forman 2000;Bonnet 2014;Frankenberg 1993). That is, rather than being explicitly racist, many white people today speak in coded terms, claiming not to see color and using this to justify the racist status quo (Bonilla-Silva and Forman 2000;Bonnet 2014;Frankenberg 1993).…”

“…However, interviewees are aware that these stress-avoiding, segregated behaviors may appear racist and attempt to "save face" by employing sematic maneuvers consistent with theories of antiracial talk (Bonilla-Silva and Forman 2000;Bonnet 2014). However, interviewees are aware that these stress-avoiding, segregated behaviors may appear racist and attempt to "save face" by employing sematic maneuvers consistent with theories of antiracial talk (Bonilla-Silva and Forman 2000;Bonnet 2014).…”

Race and the Pitfalls of Emotional Democracy: Primary Schools and the Critique of Black Pete in the Netherlands

“…Attacks on such a treasured national symbol elicited a wide variety of nationalistic responses, ranging from outright defences of the blackface character as an inflexible part of the tradition, to attempts at maintaining it by denying it has anything to do with race. Interestingly, these strategies converged in disidentifying with racist bias, a performance strategy François Bonnet dubbed “non‐racism” (Bonnet ). More sympathetic responses called for creating Petes of different colours, or suppressing the character from the celebration altogether.…”