TALKING ABOUT LIFE IN PARIS

PHOTO GALLERY

 Leslie Tchetchenigbo, 17, Provins

Leslie lives in Provins, approximately 11 miles from Paris. Last October, Leslie traveled to the United States as part of the U.S. Embassy’s Young Ambassadors program, which promotes learning and interaction between young people from different countries.

Although her parents emigrated from Benin, a French-speaking country in West Africa, Leslie considers her nationality to be French because she was born in France, and it is the country she recognizes as her home.

All the same, Leslie says it is imperative to hold on to both her French status and her African heritage, something that many others, who have lived in France for generations, do not always understand or accept. This is especially evident, Leslie says, when it comes to academics and the job market.

“It’s discrimination to say people who have trouble in the suburbs are Muslims. In the suburbs there are Muslim people but Catholic people, too. So I think, ‘Yes, it’s a big discrimination to say young people who have problems are all Muslims.’

“I think people who are born in France and grew up in France are French, but they are also another culture. For me, I have two cultures: I am French and I am African. But it’s not difficult. For me it’s normal.

“I feel like a French person. I think kids of immigrants don’t have more difficulties. I mean in France, at first people see the color of the skin, and then if they make the effort, they see you like French, not like black or yellow.

“For example my mother and my grandparents are from Benin in Africa. And I think I will have more difficulties to have a (good) job than my best friends, who are French. I want to do very long studies (so) I will have a better life than my mother, who had difficulties to find a job.”

Asma Soltani, 22, Argenteuil

Asma is a member of JMF. In English, it means Young Muslim Federation. The nonprofit federation is dedicated to young people of all faiths. JMF tries to be a place where youth can receive help and support for their academic studies and to make new friends. Weekly, JMF hosts tournament games and cultural activities.

Asma and a few friends were looking for ways to contribute to society when they found a meeting hosted by JMF, which at that time did not have a branch in her area. Not long after she became involved, however, a branch opened in LaCoureuve, a northeastern suburb of Paris. Currently it serves 50 to 60 young people on average, but it can swell to 100 to 200 members, depending on activities.

“We choose this city because it was really well-known to have many problems linked with young people who are not really integrated in the society. (It’s a place) where you have problems with the society in general.

“A really big event that we organize is called Solidarity, and the concept is that young people and their families prepare meals during the winter and hot meals, hot food for the people who are living in the streets. But the idea behind this project is that even if there are young people, they need some help from other people … And to see that in their own city people are even more helpless than they are.

“And it was really good because they really realized that they weren’t really at the bottom of the society. And talking with them, knowing about their problems and knowing that they also then could help and give something to the society, it was really good.”

Alban, 20, Paris

Alban studies international relations at Ileri, a school specializing in diplomacy and languages. He is originally from Grenoble, a city in southeastern France. He was living there when the riots broke out in Paris but says their effect was widespread, for he saw signs of violence from the windows of his home.

According to Alban, the tensions in France stem from citizens’ tendency to put themselves first and others second. Additionally, diversity is not celebrated. In fact, it is illegal for the French government to collect data on ethnicity, a law originating from the 1789 revolution and renewed in the 1958 constitution.

“In France, race is bad thing. You can’t use this word because race reminds us of Hitler and things like that. In France, it’s a real taboo. In France, we talk about ethnics or origins.

“It’s difficult to feel near people who are not in the same social level. I don’t know if it’s the right term, but the simple way is that they are considered outside and it’s a real effort for somebody to pass this gap to look at the real problem and to be objective.

“I have a friend who creates an association for the young in difficulties. They help them to be integrated by sport, by music. They organize small concerts. I think that’s a good point. If more people do this, I think things can get better.

“I think it’s just a primal reflex to be violent because nobody listens to you, nobody wants to understand you. So if the society, if lots of people consider you as a criminal before even looking at you, I understand that you, the only way to express is to be violent.”

Yannick Annor, 19, Sartrouville

Yannick is from Sartrouville, a western suburb, and like Leslie is involved with Young Ambassadors. “The goal of the program is to represent our country in another country, to meet people, to talk about France, and there is a goal of leadership,” Yannick says. The program has had a positive impact on his perspective and life goals, he says.

As a member, he has been able to travel to the United States and has seen both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts. Furthermore, Yannick visits the United Kingdom often, to which he credits his fluent English.

According to Yannick, there are definitely differences between the way Americans and French handle topics like national identity and police relations. He says police relations in France are different than in the United States in terms of responsibilities and attitudes. And, from a French person’s perspective, Yannick says he saw separation of people when he was in the United States, something he says is uncommon in France.

“I saw it in Seattle (in high school) black people on the sides, Asian people on the sides, white people on the sides. At first I thought that was strange ’cause in France we are all mixed. We are mixed together. We don’t live a different culture. I have many friends are Arabian, Asian, and we share our culture. And in America, I didn’t see that.

“And for the police in France, they are always controlling, checking people, asking for their ID card -- ‘Do you have your ID card?’ But to say that you are French -- ‘Why do you ask me my ID card since I’m French?’-- they say, ‘Yes, but it’s a control for everyone.’ But no, it’s not for everyone. It’s just the questions of provocation.”

Phelinda Dorcelien, 16, Saint-Denis

Phelinda attends Lycée Suger, a high school in Saint-Denis, a northeastern suburb of Paris. Just a few years ago, Saint-Denis was the location of rioters intent on displaying their frustrations.

While discrimination is present throughout France, it is not present in Saint-Denis, Phelinda says. However, suburban residents feel it keenly in other parts of Paris. Police and civilian relations continue to be tense.

“I think there is not a lot of discrimination at the suburb because they know that there is a lot of religion. But in Paris we can see that there is a lot of discrimination between Jewish and Islamic people. And maybe it’s deeper than in the suburbs because they’re afraid by Arabic people and that’s why there are many clashes.

“Maybe we are boring, that’s why (the police) control the people because they have nothing to do.
“And I think when they check someone, police used to check it every day and that makes these people fed up. And it provokes violence and they are fed up, so they break a lot of things as gas stations or whatever to show that they are angry. So that makes the problem of violence. It’s because of the police, maybe I think, that there is a lot of violence.”

Lévana Bajnouni, 16, 19th arrondissement, Paris  

Lévana Bajnouni, 16, attends Henri Bergson Lycée, an upper high school in Paris. Its associated middle school is a ZEP school, which promotes the integration of students who live in both Paris and the suburbs.
According to Lévana, who lives in Paris proper, her Jewish background has been the source of teasing and bullying.

 “Some say the 19th is kind of dangerous neighborhood. It’s not very dangerous neighborhood, but yes you can get pissed off by people, in school or outside school. It’s not really dangerous, but if I talked about my experience, I got bothered by people or discriminated against by other people when I was younger.

 “Stereotypes are not what can hurt you the most. I mean, the people haven’t stereotyped me, like calling me super rich ’cause I’m not super rich. I mean, they would say something like ‘dirty Jew’ or something like that.

“I mean, they bother you for nothing. Some people just have fun doing it for the sake of doing this ’cause they want to do it, and that’s stupid.”

Zoe Bordelon, 19, Nogent Sur Marne

Zoe attends a university, Ileri, known for its international diplomacy and language studies. The school is as diverse as the youth of Paris are, said Zoe, who experienced a range of educational quality in her past.

When she began school in France, she started out in what is known as a ZEP school. ZEP schools operate like other public schools; the difference is that these schools set out to have a diverse student body, drawing kids from a variety of backgrounds.

Despite the ZEP program’s attempts to promote equality among young students, Zoe says they may do more harm than good. When compared to private schools she also attended, she found that ZEP students were often less sensitive to others instead of more.

“In sixth grade I went to a ZEP school and my primary school was also ZEP. After sixth grade, I went into a private school, and it’s just another world. The ZEP school is just, I mean you’re afraid to go to school. You have a lot of problems. The teachers are nice, but they are afraid to just talk.

“For instance, in our last year of middle school, we studied the genocide of the Jews in Germany and teachers couldn’t do this course because people over there were against Jews. You have to talk in front of a whole bunch of people who come from a lot of different families and cultures and it’s really hard sometimes. Well, a lot of times.

“When I was in class, we were 20, so it’s not really a lot. And each day we had a problem with the discipline, and the principal had to come because the students just want to leave the class. And sometimes it was really getting bad. But teachers could not do everything.”
 

Editor's note: Photographs for this package were taken by Indianapolis Star photographer Kelly Wilkinson and Randy Johnson, Randy Johnson Photography.

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