I always thought about hip hop as a style of music, but this week I learned that for some people it can become a way of life. Hip hop is a style of dance, clothing, and art.

Yesterday in Bondy, a Paris suburb, I got a taste of the Paris hip hop scene first hand during a hip-hop festival. (Festival Hip-hop dome, 2009)

Hearing about this event at a Bondy Blog story meeting, I didn’t know what to expect nor how the hip-hop scene of France would differ from that of Indianapolis. (If you could say there is a hip hop scene in Indianapolis.) Luckily, I met Alice Bauguil, 20,  at the bus station on the way to the festival; she’s a dance student studying ballet. She says she likes hip hop because it allows freedom of creative possibilities.

At the festival I learned that hip hop is a culture that draws a variety of people from all different backgrounds and social situations. Alice explained that, for some people who are growing up in the suburbs, they use hip-hop dance as a form of expression and a way to vent frustrations

video from 2008 Dome

During the festival I saw a hip-hop dance battle. Pairs of dancers, guys against guys and girls verses girls, faced off against each other. With attitude, a dancer would begin, showing off his or her moves on a black-and-white checkered dance floor in the center of the gym. Onlookers, and fellow hip-hop dancers, sat around the floor watching and cheering. The dancer fed off the reactions of the crowd, and after a final move or pose, swaggered off, handing off the floor to the opposing team.

Alice’s comments about the community hip hop establishes were legit and I witnessed this throughout the day at the dance competition. Hip hop is more than a style of dance. It provides an outlet for self-expression as well as a sense of community for dancers. And besides, it’s fun to watch.

The transportation system in Paris is efficient. The metro, train, and bus are punctual and you arrive at your destination.

While in Paris, we have been riding the metro, bus, and train, to and from interviews. It has been a great way for us to save money and familiarize ourselves with their public transportation system.
In Paris, people are able to travel just about anywhere without hesitation and with ease. The bus runs regularly as well as the metro and train.

This is great and all, but what about the people who don’t live in Paris? The public transportation does not extend past the Paris borderline. How are they supposed to get around their community? Unfortunately, there seems to be no definite answer to this question.

However, I believe that the transportation in the suburbs is not developed because the government doesn’t see the suburbs as a big issue. It’s Paris first, suburbs second. This week, we walked for about 40 minutes to get from Gargon to Clichy-sous-Bois and experienced first hand the travel challenges that some of the suburban residents face every day. Residents from this suburban travel two hours to get to Paris, which is 9.8 miles (15.8 km) from their homes.

Fortunately, the government has decided to develop a transportation system in Paris called the Grande Paris Plan. It will provide suburban residents with easy access their from  communities into Paris and within the suburban neighborhoods.

When the new transportation system is put in place, I believe that it will improve the relationship between residents in the suburbs and Paris as well as the relationship between residents in the different suburbs. Young people will see that the government is taking some initiative to help them. With ease of travel between the suburbs, youth in the suburbs can be exposed to the different suburbs around them.

Although Paris has a well-developed transportation system, that is not enough. One of our translators from Bondy explained that the government was working “slowly but surely” to improve the quality of transportation in the suburbs. The government has made promises to its residents in the suburbs, so the only question now is when it will start.

by Nick Greven

Mehdi Bigaderne is the spokesperson for an organization called AC le Feu, located in a suburb of Paris called Clichy-sous-Bois. The name of the organization is a play-on-words because it actually is an acronym for Association Collective Liberty Equality Fraternity, but it also means “After the Fire.”

The goal of the organization is to help people in the suburbs to gain political power and to this end Bigaderne, who is one of the founders and its communications manager, is a member of the mayor’s staff.

Clichy-sous-Bois is one of the worst suburbs in the Paris metropolitan area in terms of unemployment, education, transportation, and housing degradation. The riots of 2005 were most violent and destructive in this area. It is the only place that we have seen while here that is comparable to the most underprivileged of inner-city areas in the states.

One aspect of our interview with Bigaderne that piqued my interest was his use of the term “revolution” to describe the events of late October and early November 2005. Before coming to Paris, the only word we had heard used was “riots,” which is the word that we have come to associate with those events.

When asked, Bigaderne explained that he says “revolution” because “riot” implies that the events were without purpose and yielded no results. According to him, “riot” is the way the bourgeoisie media portrayed the events and is seen as demeaning by residents of the suburbs, such as Bigaderne, who are working to better their situation and that of their friends.

He believes “revolution” is both a more accurate and more understanding term because the events did yield tangible results, such as organizations like AC le Feu, and they certainly had legitimate purposes

And according to some people to whom we’ve talked, suburban residents like to compare the revolution of 2005 to the French revolution of 1789 because they see it as a continuation of the struggle for equal rights for all human beings.

by Nick Greven

Marwan Mohammed is a sociologist who specializes in research about youth gangs in the Paris suburbs. He has written a book on this topic and spent a great deal of time among the young people he is researching.

Mohammed’s mother was a housekeeper for a wealthy family in central Paris when he was a young child. After she changed jobs they moved to the suburbs and he had a lot of trouble in school.  Mohammed eventually dropped out of school and became a social worker until he was 22 years old. Then he returned to school, earned his diploma, and went on to earn his doctorate in sociology and become a researcher.

Earlier this week, we focused our interview questions on youth gangs and violence in the suburbs because that those are Mohammed’s areas of expertise.

It turns out that in France the term “gang” does not apply to an organized criminal network to which people must pledge a life of allegiance as it does in the states. There are no nationwide networks like the Bloods and the Crips that have symbols and special tattoos and are obliged by membership to be aggressive toward one another.

In fact, the way the French use the word is closer to its actual English definition: a group of people, usually boys, hanging out together in an environment conducive to delinquent activity.

The word gained an application in France during the riots of 2005 because bored young people turned to destruction and violence in order to vent their frustration with the system. They did so with their “gang” of friends in their own neighborhoods, burning cars, throwing rocks, and clashing violently with police

Mohammed also talked to us about the availability of guns in the suburbs because we had heard from other people that during the riots in 2007 rioters were using shotguns against the police. He explained to us that since the end of WWII and even more since the fall of the Soviet Union, firearms have become easily available in most of Western Europe. To accentuate that point, Mohammed said that if we were to get him €500, he could find an automatic weapon for us within five hours despite the strict firearms regulations in France.

However, there are very few homicides in France using guns because, according to Mohammed, there is no “gun culture” here. Even the few people who do have guns are reluctant to ever use them.

Just as Mohammed cleared up our misconceptions of gangs and the use of firearms in the Paris suburbs, so walking around the streets of Paris has proven, unequivocally, that nobody but tourists actually wear berets.

From this I have learned that it is important to be sure that we base our opinions on facts rather than stereotypes.

America is a young country built on the idea of survival of the fittest, encouraging the American Dream — work hard enough and the sky is the limit. This has been the motivation for countless immigrants, as well as natural-born citizens. Of course, this isn’t exactly the reality, but American society still reflects this belief.

Most immigrants also come to France with the same basic goal of working toward a better life than they could have in their native country. They generally come and do whatever work they can find with the hope that at least their children will lead better lives than theirs.

Our translators are the children of immigrants. As with American immigrants, their families also came with hopes for a better life. Aladine Zaiane’s parents are Tunisian and the parents of Faiza Zerouais are Algerian. Zaiane and Zerouais are journalism students and hope to help the situation with the immigrants of France through their work.

Faiza Zerouais (below)

Since the French do not have the mentality of the American Dream engrained in them, they seem to expect much more from the government. Medical costs are basically covered. Education is almost free or at least much cheaper. France’s history involves a monarchy, which developed into a governing system with a strong leaning toward socialism. The result is a population more dependent on the governing body.

Although they realize that success is not guaranteed through determination, they seem to have a higher standard of living, which the government is held responsible for maintaining.

Looking around, with the pretty buildings and clean streets, things may not seem so horrendous, but as a foreigner, that is an easy mistake to make. The real issues are less obvious, which is one of the largest challenges the suburban residents face in trying to improve their situation.                                                                            Aladine Zaiane (below)

Perhaps the frustration of the immigrants expressed through the 2005 and 2007 riots is because they expect more equity. They may not expect a future with an exciting, high-paying job and an extravagant car but they do expect a chance at it.

by Julie Kippenbrock

Today we interviewed Almamy Kanoute whose parents emigrated from Mali, Africa. He now lives in the Paris suburb of Fresnes.

For his job, Kanoute works with young people on the streets of Paris, ages 10 to 20. For him it is a difficult job.

Almamy standing outside a Paris metro (above)

As he talked, he painted a vivid picture of the area that surrounds the city. He compared it to the television show, “Survivor,” but real, and living there is just surviving.

While I haven’t been to the Fresnes suburb yet, and I know many suburbs are worse than others, I think that this was a drastic statement.

In the “Survivor” show, the contestants have to gather their own food, build shelter, and are voted off the show based on how they do in various games. The contestants are isolated from all civilization and have to find their own way to survive.

So from what I’ve seen so far, the living situation in the suburbs doesn’t seem that bad, at least outwardly.

There is obviously more to learn this week to understand what Kanoute meant by his “Survivor” reference.

Sarah Zabel, 16

The suburban Paris riots of 2005 and 2007 resulted in burnt cars, destroyed shops and confrontations between police and youth.

Before this trip, I read about people who told their stories of how the riots affected and influenced them.

While I read that the causes of the 2007 riots—the deaths of two teenage boys—set off the rampages of youth in the streets, I didn’t think I would meet young people for whom the memories were still raw. This was the case for middle-school-aged kids at the College of Martin Luther King in Villiers-le-Bel.

Amira Bambo-Fernandes, a 12-year-old girl, described her relationship with Larami, the 16-year-old black youth who was killed. A translator asked me the following question from Amira: “Did you know that he went to our school?” They were friends, and she knew his family well. His death angered her because of the police discrimination towards him as a black youth and the media misrepresentations of the situation.

I’ll save the rest of her story for a different time, but the point I’m trying to make is that many people in the suburbs are still affected by the riots.

To this 12-year-old girl the issue at the forefront is the death of her friend. To others it’s the rising unemployment rates or the isolation of youth that hasn’t changed. I’ve heard various answers to my question, but no one so far has spoken about riots as a change agent. It’s only the occurrence that is over. The issues of unemployment, education, etc. are still prevalent today.

by Joi Officer

On Monday, we interviewed a group of students from College Martin Luther King School located in Villers-le-Bel. It’s a suburb that is home to many families of African descent.

These students shared the effects that the riots have had on them and their community. But they shared much more. They talked openly about the discrimination they face daily.

Seline, a 12-year-old boy, talked about the discrimination he and his family have faced because they are Hindu. Kids insult him by saying that his father sells corn at the metro. And while selling corn in public is common, it’s a stereotype that Indians living in France encounter.

Unfortunately, this did not surprise me. In the U.S., problems of discrimination against minorities still exist. Whether it happens at school, on a bus stop, or in your local grocery store, it can’t be ignored.

Although we have come a long way since the Civil Rights Movement beginning in 1955, Martin Luther King’s dream of equality among all races is not totally realized.

Divine, a 14-year-old-girl who lives in this Paris suburb, explained that black people in her community are still undervalued because of past and present stereotypes. She said that people only see black people as dancers, rappers, and nothing more. Divine was clearly puzzled by the way immigrants are viewed in the suburbs.

I fully understand Divine’s frustration. There are kids in my community who believe that African-American people act a certain way and talk a certain way, but this is not true. My experience has been that the majority of youth have not been educated about African-American history, or the history of minorities in general. In my community, my peers make excuses for why people treat them with disrespect.

But for these kids avoiding the issue is not the solution — it needs to be talked about.

But while we talked about problems, the election of Barack Obama has given these French youth hope for a better future.

Despite their frustration, “Yes We Can,” brought smiles to their young faces.

by Beverly Jenkins

In the past few days, I have heard a number of answers to the question: Will life in the suburbs ever improve?

For the most part our interviewees have said that life will someday, somehow, get better. They just don’t know how, when, where or with whom.

What’s interesting to me is the fact that everyone seems to think that change will happen, but it will be “sometime later” as opposed to now and “someone else” as opposed themselves.  I wonder why young people aren’t taking initiative to change life in the suburbs, which they so actively protested.

Don’t get me wrong, in my time here, I have heard about steps in the right direction for the suburbs. (The Bondy Bloggers and AC Le Feu to name only two).

Although I wasn’t around here 2005 or 2007, I think it’s safe to say that morale, to an extent, has improved.

But from my perspective, what needs to happen in France is purposeful and pointed action for improvement not just of morale and unity, but of civil rights as well.

Interviewees have told me that they’re grateful Y-Press is here and are so pleased that we have traveled here to discuss this problem which permeates their lives on so many levels.

Their concerns, however, are tangible, and it is obvious to me that my interviewees, like so many others here, are still dissatisfied 30 years (when unrest began to grow to a noticeably intensity).

I keep hearing phrases like, “I do think the suburbs will change” and “Progress will be made” and “People will step up.” And in the last few days I’m here, I hope I’ll hear something that will inspire real hope.

Something like, “France is going to change very soon, and this is why — because I am going to do something about it.”