Black Paris Profiles™: Cheryl Pegues – Part 2

In Part 1 of Cheryl Pegues’ Black Paris Profile™, I presented Cheryl’s professional life and her love for Paris and the nearby town of Saint Maur des Fossés. Part 2 features her sentiments about the African-American community in Paris, her advice for those seeking to make Paris their home, her practice of Buddhism, and why she considers her life in France to be a success story.

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Cheryl Pegues
© Jean-Pierre Peersman
When I asked Cheryl how important is it to her to be associated with African Americans in Paris, she responded that she can’t put a level of importance on it – “it simply is.” She also had the following to say:

There are some truly fabulous sisters and brothers here in Paris, truly outstanding, and a privilege to know. It takes a while to sift through the fakers and takers and users and parasites and tourists, not to mention the sincerely mistaken and the lost that come to try their luck from America year after year. Americans can be so woefully ignorant about coming over to experience the “dream” that most unwittingly prefer to bring the dream with them, rather than risk an unfamiliar and unromantic version here . . . The people who have been here for a while are very much a part of the place they live in, as much to the benefit of their French hosts as to themselves, and it makes for a nice marriage.

The Sistahs in Paris
Photo courtesy of Cheryl Pegues
Cheryl pulls no punches when it comes to giving advice to African Americans on whether it is a wise decision to move to Paris. In a recent missive to someone inquiring about the subject, she prefaced her reply by saying “I will tell you like it is, but I'm not the fun person to ask if you are dreaming of Paris.” The following are excerpts from her response (which is not for the starry-eyed or the faint-hearted):

Paris is a tough town and difficult to succeed in, even for the French. France is an entirely different paradigm and more foreign than you could ever imagine from the American-way-of-life. Moving here is not something to take lightly. . .

Fluent French is not merely helpful, but absolutely required for any serious career opportunities. Don't let anyone tell you differently – you will be marginalized here without it, period. I hope yours is at least basic, as then you can improve it here in the many language programs available.

France is not a haven for blacks from America in any way, another myth continually kept alive through misunderstanding of Negritude and its place here. While French racism is expressed differently, it is very much a part of life here, and deeply disrespectful of its targets (Arab North Africans, for the most part). As a black American, you are not a target, so considered to side with them [the French] in their racism against those whom they do oppress (and you are, in their eyes and by association, one of the oppressors).

None of these issues need trouble you should you choose to come as a perpetual tourist. If you have the funds to support yourself for an extended period of time, Paris is a charming city full of wonders to enjoy. This is the salient point. Paris and France are tourist destinations, not highly livable locations for work, doing business, or making money. Ask any serious professional, and see if they don't tell you the same thing.

I would certainly advise a visit before deciding to locate here – forewarned is forearmed.

Cheryl is a devout Buddhist. She began practicing the Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin in college and did so seriously for about six years. Her practice lapsed for nearly 20 years; she took it up again in Paris in 1999, two years after suffering a nervous breakdown. She views her life struggles as her schooling in Buddhism, and relayed (in her own words) the well-known Chinese fable called “The Dragon Gate” to explain her path to success, to discovering “the fundamental power and the beauty of living, and of my own being”:

The Dragon Gate is a natural waterfall of tremendous height, perhaps hundreds of meters, which tumbles and plunges over a rock outcropping into a cold dark turbulent pool below. The story says that carp gather in the pool in great numbers hoping to challenge the gate, as it is said that any fish that makes its way up the falls, braving the overwhelming forces of the height and water, will pass through the Dragon Gate and thereby transform into a mighty dragon. In addition to the physical obstacles, the leaping fish who attempt the feat face peril from the beasts and birds that come to the falls to feed on the abundant prey. Archers with deadly bows and arrows station themselves along the cliff wall near the falls and spear many as they leap into the air.

Chinese Carp
Image from Photobucket.com
Most of the carp are discouraged by the dangers of the falls and choose to remain in the relative peace and safety of the pool below. Yet they too are denied a life of ease, as their numbers mean fierce competition for the scarce food in the sterile water from the falls, and animals and men bring sudden terror and death from sources unseen except as shadows. Hunters and fishers plague them in great numbers, as here they are more easily snared than the swiftly moving targets in the falls. And it is dark and somber in the pool, even in the bright light of day.

But there are not a few who will choose to brave the falls, though virtually all will perish in the attempt. Flying above the dark water below the falls they see wonder on every side as they climb – the sun, the sky, the moon, the land, the trees, the mountains – and through trying and failing innumerable times they become strong and fearless, catching many flying insects in their jaws and knowing the ways of the men, beasts, and birds they see around them. They develop strong bodies and wills, and their scales sparkle and dazzle in the bright light and flashing water, in many ways presaging the very dragons they would give their lives to become.

So the question is this – which would you chose? A life of relative safety and marginal ease in the shadows, or the chance to fly free, strong, and wise throughout the world, though you may perish in the attempt?

The tale adds one thing more: all of the fish find death in the end as none can escape it, whether they attempt the falls or no. So might it not be better to spend your life seeking the wide world, the challenges, the risks, the free air, the ultimate victory?

Cheryl has decided on the falls. She feels that she has cheated the archers and the hunting birds and the bears a hundred times since beginning her life in France. “I’ve scaled the falls!” she says. “So hell yeah I’m successful – I’m a dragon now. It doesn’t mean the end of my struggles – dragons have their own cares and woes. But I’m strong and free, I can see the paths, I know about the people and the animals, and the wide world. And I can fly.”


For more information about Nicherin Buddhism, click here.

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Entrée to Black Paris!™ is a Discover Paris! blog.

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