Black French college students see an increase in racism

Black French college students see an increase in racism

In the U.S., you can often get a good look at the raw truth about American life through the eyes of college students.

So it is in France, especially on the campus of modestly endowed colleges and universities, where students have no qualms about exposing the truth about the nerves and sinews of society.

Many Parisian college students say they expect the racial situation in France, where by law officials are prohibited from identifying citizens by ethnicity or color, to become as bad as they envision racism to be in the U.S.

On the campus of the University of Paris at suburban Villetaneuse, a 20,000-student institution that officials estimate enrolls 3,000 black students, students say their country is becoming more like the U.S., where they believe racism is endemic.

"We think we're going to be a lot like what is going on in the U.S.," said Mark Degbe, a Black 25-year-old fifth-year student studying to be a professor of Medieval history. "There is gang violence in Paris schools and colleges beginning from ages 10 or 11."

Degbe, president of the university's student body and the school's delegate to France's national student union, was born in the African nation of Benin. He's lived in France for 15 years, and although he appears willing to report bad news about his adopted country, he tempers his analysis of French life with assurances that the end of Western civilization as we know it isn't here yet.

"There is fighting and violence in low-income buildings," he said. "But people there reject hard drugs and there is no crack. I know of a dealer selling crack who was almost lynched by young people in our housing complex."

Degbe, who said he has a white girlfriend, says racial tolerance is common in France, up to a point.

"Lots of people pretend to be open," he said. "But when marriage (of a black to a white) is a possibility, everything stops."

He said that insult is the worst form of racism he and his friends have experienced in France. "Being rejected for your color by a white family is the worse thing that happens."

Still, stories of blatant classroom racism circulate. French blacks enrolled at Paris-Villetaneuse say they hear stories of discrimination against black students by some professors on their campus. Some blacks complain that teachers give black students lower grades because of their race.

"It's more hidden, more subtle. Sometimes a (black) student will have his paper marked with a question about the basis of his work or its origin, but so far this year I know of there has been no such incident here this year," Degbe said.

As for fellow University of Paris students, Degbe said he speaks for the student body he heads when he characterizes students as enlightened.

"I was never discriminated against by a student. I associate with people who are intelligent enough to see behind my color. They know me and like me for what I am," he said.

In the last 10 years, the number of foreign students arriving in France has declined by 13 percent. Degbe said that's a result of new regulations that make it tougher to get accepted in schools like Paris-Villetaneuse, the goal of thousands of West African and other former French colonial citizens.

"If they want to come to France, it's because they have a horrible life at home," he said.

And while foreign students are eager to do well in class at Paris-Villetaneuse, many have problems.

Philippe Oliver, the school's teacher of English for students of economics, said that because students register as French, and are not permitted to indicate race or color on university documents, the numbers of black and other minorities is not known. Still, he said, students from Martinique, Madagascar, Ivory Coast and Caribbean nations, number upwards of 3,000.

He admits some have problems.

"There are no statistics regarding this, but I would say it usually takes longer for African students to achieve the same results as other students. Why? They are not as well prepared. It's not a question of inferiority intellectually. It's a difference in family educational levels and differences in backgrounds," he said.

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