How to Perform Non-Racism? Colorblind Speech Norms and Race-Conscious Policies Among French Security Personnel

How do individuals and organizations 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 paper 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).