Quote:
Originally Posted by New Brisavoine
So it doesn't appear that Paris is "Blacker" than London, but it would be interesting to figure out where those distorted perceptions come from (Black immigration in London has accelerated exponentially in the 2000s, so obviously if people base their observations from their last visit to London in the early 2000s, the comparison with Paris will be distorted).
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Yeah, I have no reason to not believe your numbers, so maybe Paris isn't "blacker" than London.
To me, it "seems" blacker, but obviously I defer to official govt. stats. And yeah, I'm probably getting distorted views from where I am in either city.
Paris seems very "black" compared to London in Gare du Nord, Gare del Est, Arrondissements 17-20, the area north of Chatelet, and pretty much all the RER lines, esp. North and East.
And when I took the Metro to the fantastic cathedral in St. Denis; I think that was the first time in France it felt like a foreign country. That metro line and St. Denis itself appears to be overwhelmingly black.
Also, "black culture" as you define it, seems to be more intertwined into images of Paris, at least to me. The Harlem Renaissance affected Paris, too, then you have Josephine Baker and all the black artists who fled to Paris between the wars. I realize that African American culture isn't the same as Sub-Saharan black or Carribean black culture, but it's still relevant to the Paris image.
Maybe blacks in London just aren't as "visible" in the core neighborhoods and main transit hubs/rail lines? Or maybe I'm just ignorant of the two cities, and need to spend more time in both.