November 13th, 2016 
(SUN) — PARIS — It’s hard to pin down just where the city falls in the five stages of grief a year after the Paris terrorist attacks that killed 130 people.
The country continues to shuffle between bargaining, depression and anger in a year punctuated by rising racial tensions, a major economic hit, and another deadly attack.
So the new normal in Paris serves as a subliminal but constant reminder that we are still officially under a state of emergency.
It’s now normal to come across groups of armed military soldiers patrolling the city streets, striking a jarring contrast against the picturesque, elegant Parisian backdrop.
It’s now normal to be subject to bag checks when entering department stores, some grocery stores, museums, and major public events.
And it’s now normal for subway commuters to be a little more patient with the frequent delays caused by precautionary investigations into suspicious packages.
Anna Escu, 25, recounts an anecdote about how she and a friend were having a drink on an outdoor terrace a few weeks ago, when suddenly a thunderously loud rumble pierced the air.
“Everyone on the terrace just panicked because it sounded like gunfire,” she said.
It turned out to be a man dragging a large garbage bin down the stairs.
“We would never have reacted like that two years ago.” Escu also admits to adopting new habits, including avoiding large crowds and refraining from using her smartphone on the streets. “I’m more vigilant and observant than before, especially in places like train stations and airports.”
But beyond the small inconveniences the locals have been quick to accept, the events of Nov. 13, 2015 have also blown the lid off a bubbling cauldron of race-related tensions in France that extend beyond Islamophobic sentiments.
In the days immediately following the deadly attacks, the number of Muslim-related hate crimes shot up around the country. The same pattern emerged following the attack in Nice on Bastille Day which killed 86 people.
When the controversy over the burkini ban broke out this summer it divided the nation, with proponents and opponents on both sides making heated arguments.
And the dismantling of migrant camps in Calais and Paris in recent weeks and the relocation of migrants and refugees to different parts of France prompted whole villages to protest their arrival.
It’s this wave of racist and anti-immigrant sentiment that Marine Le Pen of the National Front (FN), the country’s far-right party, hopes will materialize into France’s own version of Brexit and the U.S. election when the French head to the polls next spring.
Because Donald Trump’s victory delivered a boost for Le Pen, whose political narrative mirrors that of the new president-elect: a rebellion against the elite, champion of the white, working middle class, suppression of immigration in France, and change.
