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Equality and Fraternity Through the Eyes of an American in Paris

By THE INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE | May 5, 2012, 12:54 am

The French television channel, France 3, invited a half dozen international correspondents to examine an issue playing out in the French presidential campaign through their personal lens. Rendezvous’s editor, Marcus Mabry, chose the state of France’s Arab and African minorities.

Marcus went back to one of the French schools he attended as a college exchange student 25 years ago, Sciences-Po [ http://www.sciencespo.fr/en ], which has the most aggressive affirmative action program [ http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/09/15/elite_french_university_finds_success_with_affirmative_action ] of any elite French institution of higher learning. The program is meant to bring promising students from nontraditional backgrounds to the school, including students of color.

Then, Marcus toured one of the toughest housing projects in Paris’s notorious suburbs, suburbs that erupted in rioting in 2005 [ http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/05/equality-and-fraternity-through-the-eyes-of-an-american-in-paris/www.nytimes.com/2005/11/08/international/europe/08france.html ], guided by Iliès Benadour, a college student who grew up in the housing projects and now works to get other young people from the neighborhood to stay in school.

In his very personal report for France 3’s nightly news program, Soir/3, Marcus affirms being a product of both American housing projects and American affirmative action, crediting the latter with giving him the opportunity to attend Stanford University, which in turn enabled him to attend Sciences Po and later work at The New York Times. He notes that similar opportunities for minority kids from poor backgrounds has been a virtual non-issue in the French presidential campaign — with crime, insecurity and illegal immigration taking much larger spotlights.

Youssef Chab, the graduate student of Moroccan descent that Marcus meets at Sciences Po, details the risks in politicians ignoring the suburbs and France’s continuing inequality.

Watch the English translation of Marcus’s reportage below [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j38jN4129tg ]. Or, better yet, go to “Mar 1? and watch it in the original French [ http://jt.france3.fr/soir3/ ]. (Marcus’s reportage starts at 11:35 on “Mar 1,” that’s French for “Tues., the 1st”.)

Marcus Mabry on France 3’s Soir/3 news program. This is an English translation of the French reportage.

Copyright 2012 The New York Times Company

http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/05/equality-and-fraternity-through-the-eyes-of-an-american-in-paris/ [with comments]