On racism, & police violence in France

Understanding what happened to Nahel and what has followed

It wasn’t unprecedented. Nor is the rage and revolt that have followed.

By now, I suspect you’re aware of what transpired early in the morning on June 27. Or at the very least, you’ve seen the incendiary headlines. Nahel Merzouk, a 17-year-old boy of North African descent living in Nanterre, a suburb west of Paris, was shot to death by a police officer …