French activists pose as employers to expose racism

PARIS (AP) — French anti-racism activists have telephoned temporary employment agencies posing as a construction firm that wanted to hire only workers with “European profiles.” And a national association of anti-discrimination groups, workers say that more than one-third of the firms agreed to help with the discriminatory search. SOS Racisme released audio recordings Friday of some of the calls made in May to 69 Paris-region temp agencies. During the calls, activists pretended to work for a fictitious construction firm that was seeking laborers with “European profiles” suggested not people of color. SOS Racisme says 55% of the branch offices it contacted refused requests to discriminate, while 39% agreed to weed people out on racial grounds.