No European vacation

At some point, non-Muslims in France, like other Europeans, are going to have to come to grips with the fact that Muslims aren't an alien presence in their nation, but are an integral and at times defining part of the national fabric.

There are about as many Muslims in France as there are in the U.S., around 5 to 6 million. But Muslims make up a much larger percentage of the population in France, around 10-12%.

That's roughly equivalent to the percentage of African Americans in the U.S. Are there things about blacks that make white Americans uncomfortable? Sure--but in this country, we're as likely to see that as whitey's problem as anything else.

Wonder how long it'll take for the non-Muslim French to realize sometimes they're the ones with the problem. That their norms are not the gold standard; that the definition of France isn't frozen in the 19th century; that some Frenchmen and Frenchwomen may prefer tabouleh to escargot.

And that there's nothing wrong with visting family in Karachi, anymore than there is in visting family in Alsace-Lorraine.

Muslim staff in Paris airport row

BBC: Four Muslim baggage handlers are appealing against a decision to bar them from working at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris.
They say that the local government's decision to revoke their security passes is evidence of anti-Muslim discrimination.

A local government spokesman says the decision was based on an assessment of the terrorist risk.

He denied the move was linked to the men's religion.

Passes withdrawn

Lawyers acting for the four men say that dozens of other Muslims who work at the airport have also been stripped of their security passes, leaving them unable to work. ...

The head of a local government office, Jacques Lebrot, said the ban had nothing to do with religion.

"For us, someone who goes on holiday to Pakistan several times raises questions," he told Reuters News Agency.

AP photo of women wearing head scarves in the French flag's colors at a protest of a ban on religious attire in French schools by Laurent Rebours.