Expand / Collapse search
Watch TV
Menu

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2024 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.

World

France's Moroccan-born, Muslim education minister fights back against racist slurs

Associated Press
Published | Updated
  • d8824fc7-
    Image 1 of 2

    French Education Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem speaks to members of the media after the weekly cabinet meeting at the Elysee Palace, in Paris, France, Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2014. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon) (The Associated Press)

  • 2944f639-
    Image 2 of 2

    French Education Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem smiles as she departs after the weekly cabinet meeting at the Elysee Palace, in Paris, France, Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2014. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon) (The Associated Press)

PARIS – A Moroccan-born Muslim politician in France has called for more respect after her promotion to education minister last week triggered a rash of racist slurs in media.

Najat Vallaud-Belkacem spoke out Wednesday against the right-wing weekly "Minute" whose next edition calls her religious and ethnic background a "provocation."

Vallaud-Belkacem told The Associated Press: "I call for respect ... And I repeat in particular that racism is not an opinion, but a crime."

The same magazine faced accusations of racism last year when it put France's black justice minister on the cover with the word banana.

An anti-racism group, SOS Racism, has launched a petition to defend the education minister. France's national human rights commission says that racist incidents have grown five-fold in the last 20 years.