Paris, France has always been a dream destination of mine. Although I knew I would travel there in the future, I didn’t know I would be visiting so soon. In March 2019, I was given the opportunity to travel 3 different cities in Europe to research African Diaspora and its influence within these cities; London, England, Paris, France, and Rome, Italy.
Paris was one of the destinations that stuck with me. Although Paris was beautiful, it was truly romanticized. Paris to me, showed the apparent segregation and displacement of black people; especially immigrants. From the moment I landed to the moment I left, I was able to experience the “real” Paris. As we drove into the city, there were many tents set up. I later found out that is where a lot of immigrants have found shelter. There were over hundreds of tents trailing from the outskirts of Paris into the city.
One of Paris’ main attractions is the Eiffel Tower. During my trip, I visited the Eiffel Tower a couple of times. This specific time, it was cold and raining in the city. While visiting to see the tower, I always noticed that there were men selling souvenirs in the area. There were always several of them selling the same souvenirs. One night, my friends and I were fortunate enough to speak to one of them. Although we had a slight language barrier we were able to talk about why he was out there working in such weather conditions.
He explained to us that he traveled from Senegal to get to Paris. He told us it is quite hard to get a job when you do not have citizenship in Europe. He has to settle for what he gets in terms of a job in order to provide for himself. It was already a hardship to get a job because of his immigration status but it made it even worse because of his skin color. Essentially, it’s better to have a little to survive in a foreign place than to have nothing back home. Talking to the Senegalese man was such a disheartening experience for me. It was a hard pill to swallow.
Like I stated earlier, Paris was over-romanticized. Like every location, it had its faults but the beauty I saw in Paris was beyond looking through the lens of it being the City of Love. I saw the flaws in its society that isn’t always highlighted.