For Secretary of State Sarah El Haïry, "we cannot let it be said that the state is racist"

Stormy, the meeting illustrated the gap separating part of the youth and the government on issues as diverse as racism, police violence, or secularism.

In October, a week after the assassination of Samuel Paty, the Secretary of State in charge of Youth and Engagement Sarah El Haïry went to Poitiers to discuss with a hundred young people, at the initiative of the Federation of Social Centers of France.

But according to several media, the heated exchange had turned to a "deaf dialogue" between young people insisting, for example, on the reality of police violence and facial checks, and a Secretary of State refusing to evoke a possible racism within the police.

Invited Wednesday from Europe 1, the latter returned to this episode.

"We cannot let it be said that our state is racist", she insists. 

"In Poitiers, I never turned on my heels," says Sarah El Haïry.

"I looked this reality in the face, I talked to the young people."

For the Secretary of State, "we cannot let it be said that our State is racist, that it divides".

On the contrary, she adds, "we must reaffirm the principles of the Republic". 

"Strengthen the links of the transmission"

"This is why we must strengthen these links in the transmission, which protect our children," said Sarah El Haïry, praising the government's action in this area.

"Since 2017, we have set up the Council of the Elders of Secularism, we give teaching tools to teachers, we protect them."