Spurs t-shirts are French "thug" attire?

[Kori Ellis]

Angry youths vent anger at France, insisting riots will turn to 'war'

Jamey Keaten (AP)

Le Blanc Mesnil (France), November 7, 2005

Shouting over each other to be heard, the young toughs vented about their lives in Paris' suburban projects and the rioting setting them aflame.

"We hate the police," cried one teenager. "It's the start of war," yelled another. "Put this in your notebook ...," said a third, rattling off a string of obscenities about France's tough-talking interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy. Theirs is a drab life of days spent smoking hashish, hanging out on street corners. They fidget and talk big. The only things they have in abundance are time and rancour. Ask what their dreams are, the response is blank stares.

All French-born children of Arab and black African immigrants, this group of a dozen or so teens at Les Tilleuls housing project north of Paris complained of being marginalised by French society. Years ago, France welcomed their parents as labour, often to do menial jobs most French did not want, they noted. And now, there are no jobs -- or no one willing to give them one, they said. "This isn't good for anything," says Farid, 20, angrily shaking his French identity card. He and the others refused to give their surnames, saying they fear repercussions from police or in the community.

None of the youths said they have participated in arson attacks, but their sympathies are clearly with the rioters who have shaken France to its core in the past 11 nights of mayhem that spread across the country from tough Paris projects like Les Tilleuls. "The 'elders' of the projects have tried to calm us down, but we don't care," said 20-year-old Karim, gesticulating wildly with his arms and then concentrating on rolling a joint.

He said the rioting has unified various housing projects that previously fought between themselves. The target of their rage is Sarkozy, who angered many in the suburbs by calling neighbourhood toughs "scum."

"Before it was a gang warfare between different projects. Sarkozy's given us a common target -- the government," said Karim, who like the other young men refused to give his surname. "If they fire Sarkozy, we'll head straight to the police station, and pop champagne with them," said Bidou, 22, his baseball cap cocked to the side.

Before the riots, police rarely came round, and generally patrolled in cars with windows rolled up, the youths said. They have nicknames -- like "Lucky Luke" and "Cortex" -- for some officers they know.

They complained that police manhandle them during identity card checks, even claiming that some officers plant hashish on them as a pretext for arrests, and that they regularly fire off rubber pellets during sweeps.

"You wear these clothes, with this colour skin and you're automatically a target for police," said Ahmed, 18, pointing to his mates in Izod polos, Nike sneakers and San Antonio Spurs T-shirts.

[samikeyp]

and who says the Spurs have no street cred? :p

[Vashner]

Has TP made a statement about the situtation? Just curious.

[Brutalis]

I'd like to see some pics of what they're wearing exactly.

*even though im sure they dont exsist, still, europe has this rap look going on and seems like america switched over to some punk look. heh, kids!

[MiNuS]

why exactly are they disrupting the peace??

[boutons]

David Stern's NBA marketing at its best.

None of the these uneducated, unemployed poor kids would dare buy counterfeit Spurs jerseys. :)

Anyway, there are no poor immigrant sweatshops in the Paris region! :)

[Despot]

I'd like to see some pics of what they're wearing exactly.

*even though im sure they dont exsist, still, europe has this rap look going on and seems like america switched over to some punk look. heh, kids!

I met a rather snobby exchange student from France, she informed me that if someone over there is not wearing Armani (Or other expensive or tastefull clothes) then they are automatically classified as Filthy disgusting animals. Not sure if this is a general sentiment over there, or just one womans sense of social status.

One thing to mention, she was living with a family in Mexico, and I never heard her complain about the choice of attire of citizens over there. So maybe thug life in France is pretty horrendous.

[boutons]

"they are automatically classified as Filthy disgusting animals"

... she's talking about her own attitude towards those she's considers below herself.

[nkdlunch]

Filthy disgusting animals.

:lmao

or in french 'les americanes'

[Brutalis]

I met a rather snobby exchange student from France, she informed me that if someone over there is not wearing Armani (Or other expensive or tastefull clothes) then they are automatically classified as Filthy disgusting animals. Not sure if this is a general sentiment over there, or just one womans sense of social status.

One thing to mention, she was living with a family in Mexico, and I never heard her complain about the choice of attire of citizens over there. So maybe thug life in France is pretty horrendous.

Well its nothing I havent seen before. :lol

[Jelly]

I met a rather snobby exchange student from France, she informed me that if someone over there is not wearing Armani (Or other expensive or tastefull clothes) then they are automatically classified as Filthy disgusting animals. Not sure if this is a general sentiment over there, or just one womans sense of social status.
.

definitely just one woman's very warped and exaggerated sense of social status. I have spent a decent amount of time in France - especially Paris- and it's not like everyone's walking around in Armani. Although they do dress better than your average American, most people are walking around in jeans, t-shirts etc. You don't see people walking around in a lot of athletic stuff though, so maybe American jersey's and such have become associated with thugs. I know that some malls in England have banned baseball caps because they have become part of the thug (or "yob" as they call it) culture. (and their thugs are much worse than our thugs as they have a habit of roaming the malls in gangs and physically and verbally abusing passers by )

It's a shame though if our beloved Spurs jerseys are becoming the uniform of a bunch of miscreants and thugs.

[Vashner]

They killed an old man that was trying to put out a fire... Islam... peace and love for all.

[Oh, Gee!!]

They killed an old man that was trying to put out a fire... Islam... peace and love for all.


That fire represented the eternal flame of peace, infidel. All praise be to Allah.

[alamo50]

The Africans in France must be confused with the hoodlum silver and black of da Raiders.

:rolleyes

[Despot]

It's a shame though if our beloved Spurs jerseys are becoming the uniform of a bunch of miscreants and thugs.


I just had this hilarious image pop into my head.......A drug dealer in Slovenia selling YaYo on the corner, acting all tough in a Rasho Jersey. :lol

[NZHayden]

alot of the so called gangsters over here wear the 21 jersey around, but their all cheap fakes, unlike mine which is real

[xcoriate]

Yeah it will be interesting to see if Parker comments on this. It's a pretty big situation.

[TheTruth]

I just had this hilarious image pop into my head.......A drug dealer in Slovenia selling YaYo on the corner, acting all tough in a Rasho Jersey. :lol
loLOl

[Cant_Be_Faded]

maybe they are wearing shirts that fall down to their knees

[Gatita]

definitely just one woman's very warped and exaggerated sense of social status. I have spent a decent amount of time in France - especially Paris- and it's not like everyone's walking around in Armani. Although they do dress better than your average American, most people are walking around in jeans, t-shirts etc. You don't see people walking around in a lot of athletic stuff though, so maybe American jersey's and such have become associated with thugs. I know that some malls in England have banned baseball caps because they have become part of the thug (or "yob" as they call it) culture. (and their thugs are much worse than our thugs as they have a habit of roaming the malls in gangs and physically and verbally abusing passers by )

It's a shame though if our beloved Spurs jerseys are becoming the uniform of a bunch of miscreants and thugs.

Yup, Armani makes jeans and t-shirts.

Not like you can tell the difference.

Or then again maybe you can.

[SpursIndonesia]

They killed an old man that was trying to put out a fire... Islam... peace and love for all.
What the FVck it has to do with Islam ? :wtf For all i know, beside Moslem from northern Africa, there are a lot of immigrant from west africa as well -Cameroon for exp- whose predominantly Christian, so ? If those weary young minds are committing crimes, shouldn't it be related more to their poor economic situation & education ? This kinda generalization that makes many moderate moslems -me for example- are getting more & more agitated by days. :rolleyes

[OM_fever]

I agree with you Spurindonesia except for that: majority of fnrech immigrants are muslim (around 3 millions from Magreb) & even more important the french muslim council ask for calm and try to be a player in that situation... which is for me athe quite frightening... (to remind, France is supposely laity...)...
To refer to that french girl quote above, she should leave in some rich parisian area, I'm used to dealing with both kind of people (thugh & rich) and they caricatur each other... (as I do for both! ;-) )

What happen in my country is not unique but today it's bigger than in the past... problems are above all economics, policemen are quite aggressiv in those area as well as teenagers... not an easy subject (no social mixity in those area, which doesn't help for integration!)... large subject... and for your information, basket jersey are more & more famous (especially parker's one) but are really expensive and not so common compare to football one! (sorry soccer for you...)

[Admidave50]

yep total bullhist for the Armani clothes.. she was a big snooby girl!

OM_Fever, your nickname sucks.. (joke :spin )!

PSG Forever! :king

[Gerryatrics]

Thugs starting trouble in France, leading to wide-scale rioting... Thugs starting trouble in Belgium, wide-scale rioting might not be far behind... Tony Parker releasing a rap album... Coincidence? I think not...

[ManuTastic]

I sure as hell hope Tony doesn't have a quote. He's a baller, not a politician, journalist, analyst, or social scientist. Why would he have an informed opinion? Just because people will want to stick a mic in his face on this, I hope he doesn't say anything.
Unless, of course, he does have direct knowledge of what's going on, through friends or family or something.

[boutons]

"he does have direct knowledge of what's going on"

Like anybody else who lives/lived in France, Tony knows exactly what is going on. Being half-black, he certainly experienced racism in France.

[OM_fever]

he sure face racism in France but I don't think this topic should be limited to race. Indeed, I know a lot of white guys living in those area as well (not as many as arabs & black that's sure), and all face that problem of being controlled sometimes 5 times per day (a lot of time by the same cop), don't find job and so on. On the reverse, I don't want to be one side influenced, some of those guys are simply stupid, as everywhere in the social scale (even if being rich & stupid is more confortable that stupid & leaving in those surbubrs)...
Concerning the links with other countries, it's really limited... but who knows what will happen?!

Admidav50: Allez l'OM!!!!!!!! ;-) (pour une fois qu'on a gagné cette année!!)(ok on a perdu contre le Mans...)

[stéphane]

bunch of idiots, not much more to talk about.

[Slo spurs fan]

I just had this hilarious image pop into my head.......A drug dealer in Slovenia selling YaYo on the corner, acting all tough in a Rasho Jersey. :lol

:lol