| I'm a black person from Paris,raised in the banlieue but I dont live in France anymore,except for the holidays to see my family. I think that things are so polarized in France.It's to late to fix anything. I have a big issue with cops. They clearly dont control anything anymore so all they end up doing is bothering passersby. They are just useless.No body respect them,so in return they dont respect people either. Ever filed a complain in a police station? you are treated just like a criminal,they cant even tell the different between victims and criminals anymore. Now is there a "racial" factor? I there is definetly an cultural or ethnic factor. If all immigrants from africa were educated doctors or engineers,things would be different, I guess. White people always point at the chinese for an exemple of "successfull" immigration. At the same time let's not forget who made them come here and why, obviously africans were ready to accept any job for a very low pay.But now their youth are not ready to accept the same living conditions. Given my experience,as an african, I know there is a strong sense of tribalism and little sense of community or "public good" amongst africans.You own stuff or you dont,there is no "let's share that stuff for the greater good".I think that's something quite important to understand when trying to analyse the situation. There is of course racism ,white people cant deny that,most white people would prefer giving a job or an appartment to a white person when they are in a position to decide.Ironically black people in the same position would do the same,given how much they distrust their own kind. I guess the only people that can change things are african immigrant themself.Isolate the "bad" ones and try to work on a better image,better role models,etc... when the only role models of a generation are rappers with stupid lyrics like Booba or Rohff ,it cannot make things better. But again there is very little sense of community amongst african immigrants,the "community" often is limited to the family. |
But, I am very optimistic by nature, so I have good hopes for the future.
To be honest, I was not bornt an accepting person without prejudice. I might have been a little obnoxious teen with a lot of prejudices (it goes without saying I was kind of racist without noticing it). But, I think education and experiencing what I lived where not quite bad actually.
It opened my eyes, and made me quite a better man. If it happens to me, it can happen to every one eventually.
So let's hope together :)