Paris is also defined by its margins as well as its centrality, both in a geographical sense and a social sense, which includes all the races living in Paris in its definition. But, despite the number of non-white immigrant communities living in Paris, politics has failed to keep up.
The anti-racism movement did gather pace at the same time as the racism movement. This makes it hard to accept Paris as the 'colour-blind' city it was in the 1920s in the modern day. There are two Parises, the traditional white, Catholic Paris and that of the suburbs and margins. Mathieu Kassovitz's 'La Haine' (1995) shows the fraternity among immigrant communities and highlights the problem with modern Paris concerning the accepatance of different races.
Following the deaths of Zyed Benna and Bouna Traoré, 2 young boys from the city of Clichy-sous-Bois in 2005, riots started. They'd been chased by the police after a football game and ended up being electrocuted in a substation. The riots spread and led to burning of vehicles and much violence. A similar event happened in 2007, when following the deaths of 2 more teenagers, Moushin S. and Larami S., after their motorcycle collided with a police car, more riots broke out. Their families claimed the police car rammed into the boys' motorcycle and left them for dead. So, all the discontent experienced by these communities came out in these riots.
There are still ongoing tensions between immigrants and the centre of Paris/the government.
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