PARIS -- The day after the terror attack at Charlie Hebdo, 18-year-old Maroi -- who asked to be identified by only her first name -- arrived at her public school in the 14th arrondissement to find a wall covered with huge copies of the magazine’s cartoons mocking the Prophet Muhammad. A Muslim, she was offended but kept quiet, because now to be considered French, she said, you have to “be Charlie.” This has left Maroi and many other young French Muslims feeling like there's no place for them in France and imagining a future where Muslims create their own separate space within the steadfastly secular nation

...Many  young Muslims are being forced to choose between their religion and succeeding at work and school. Even some who don’t live in the banlieues, the immigrant (and largely Arab and Muslim) exurban ghettos, are contemplating moving there, finding it too difficult to go to school and work in the French secular system. That may only increase France’s high youth unemployment and school dropout rate.

Maroi changed schools last year because LycÉe Emile Dubois, in the 14th arrodissement, offered a program that interested her. She said she felt pressured because of her religion as soon as she brought in her application. Thinking it wouldn’t be a problem since she was not yet a student, she wore her veil when she went to apply. She was told to remove it, and she did, but the principal then objected to her long skirt because of its length and color, black.

...Sabrina’s brother works at a construction site that sells materials to workers. Whenever he gets to work with his beard “too long,” his boss sends him home to shave. Fed up with being constantly chastised for his facial hair, her brother is thinking about quitting his job. The beard, like the skirt, has become an unofficial religious symbol in France.