Yesterday the French High Court overruled a town’s ban on
burkinis at the beach.
A “burkini” is what Muslim women wear to the beach. Yes it
does cover their bodies and is meant to be swum in.
The French contingent of my family believes that banning the
burkini is a means of liberating the women from such oppressive rules of dress
and I respect that view but what is really the result of such a ban on burkinis
is keeping Muslim women from the beach which they have a right to enjoy just
like everyone else.
I understand that the French are trying to bring these
Muslims into their society; to assimilate them and have them enjoy the enlightenment
that comes with joining a modern, western style culture. This is a great goal
but the problem is that to join this French society, they are expected to give
up some of their traditions like Muslim dress traditions; when French Muslims
refuse to do that they are segregated from the greater French population.
This segregation leads to communities that seethe with anger
due to lack of opportunities for advancement and this invariably leads to
social unrest and riots or even worst, young people joining radical groups like
ISIS.
Here in the United States we do not care how people dress
for the beach. Yes, you cannot cover your face when getting a license photo or
testify in court, etc. but we do not object to what they choose to wear in
public.
This has worked out quite well for us through the ages as
immigrants usually blend into our American society quite well especially after
a few generations.
I think France would do well to emulate our system of
assimilation which is a natural system as opposed to a forced system.
The subject of why men want to tell women how to dress and
have for ages, is a subject for another time.
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