lundi 22 novembre 2010

What On Earth Are They Talking About?

(cartoon by David Horsey, 2009)

As a long-time expat in France, I need to pose several unanswered questions which have been causing me some sleepless nights, lately:

1) When some groups of people demand that they intend to take America back, who exactly do they feel has invaded and whose culture do they feel has come and colonized our own?

2) When did this begin?

3) Are Native Americans asking this? Americans of European descent? Of African descent? Of Asian descent?

4) Who are they talking about?

5) When I read that some other groups are demanding that they get their country back, who exactly is demanding this? People who are victims of our previous foreign relations? Reluctant immigrants and other refugees perhaps?

6) Who are they talking about?

I would appreciate the feedback, since it is probably apparent to you that I have become completely out of touch.

School me on this one people!

(Post script : I have just been informed that America does not actually have an official language. “ English is the de facto national language of the United States, with 82% of the population claiming it as a mother tongue, and some 96% claiming to speak it "well" or "very well".[3] However, no official language exists at the Federal level. There have been several proposals to make English the national language in amendments to immigration reform bills,[4][5] but none of these bills has become law with the amendment intact.” Wikipedia

People…help me on this one as well…

Which English are they talking about? American English? British English? Australian English? Canadian English?

What are they talking about? It appears to me that the majority culture for hundreds of years were so preoccupied with repressing minorities and policing foreign nations that they forgot to give themselves an official language! Geeez...)

lundi 15 novembre 2010

Aging Gracefully






Recently an acquaintance of mine who lives in Germany commented on my blog concerning the “Chic of French Women.” To encapsulate his quite lengthy response which was sent to me through my private email, he basically stated his opinion on what he felt was the self -deprecating tendency of American women to use facelifts as beauty enhancements in order to combat the aging process.

What came to mind was how ironic his opinion was considering the fact that we both live among the antiquities of Europe.

Image what living here would be like without the nips and tucks of European restoration efforts. The way I see it is that we’d all be living as if we were in the bowels of the slums of Cairo.



(photos from google images)

dimanche 25 juillet 2010

Racism In France. Is It Racism or Historical Precision?


(google images)

A word of advice to American Blacks in France. Don’t let Africans bait you with issues of racism in France. If you are an American and Black in France, confronted with this bait, I suggest you resist the temptation to discuss something we are entirely unqualified to discuss.


I suppose you’re wondering how it would be possible for a Black American living in France to be unqualified to discuss racism.

First we are not French. Nor are we from a former French colony. We are not looking for work or any





support from a people who had colonized our African country. Our primary experience has been American Institutional racism which has continually evolved for over 500 years.


Obama, not withstanding.

According to the media and immigration patterns, Africa is riddled with ethnic strife. Racism! The kind of ethnic strife between blacks in Africa has resulted in huge numbers of Africans from various tribes fleeing to every continent on the globe.

Why would Europeans who have had to relinquish their African colonies want to deal with the same people, now in Europe, who threw them out? What kind of ethnocentric arrogance would demand that European tribes be less racist than any African tribe?


Despite the fact that from the very beginning American blacks’, who were imports from various African




societies, purpose was to help build a brand new country for Caucasian people at the expense of Native Americans, we have never been considered Americans” We are simply a kind over ever-present reminder of Caucasian moral transgressions, in every way from the diverse characters of our features due to miscegenation, to the fact that we can actually survive all manner of insult and condescension, with a pride and flair which elicits envy, respect and admiration throughout the world.
No African in Europe has had to deal with the systematic racism that has tortured black Americans for over a half of a milleneum. They never sat on the back of the bus in Europe unless they wanted to.
On the other hand, black Americans, produced and harvested the nation’s produce, built the cities, nurtured the children and handled all the dirty work of the nation with minimal rewards. We faced fire hoses, lynchings, police dogs at voting booths and lunch counters in our very own country.

It has only taken a few decades for France to confront its own racism, America is still tackling ours.
And don’t get all excited about a post racial America, simply because we elected Obama. Obama is an African American. The majority of Americans who chose to elect Obama reminds me of something my Grandparents and Parents told me. You see, back in the days of Jim Crow laws which didn’t allow blacks in restaurants and hotels among other places, it was a well known fact that if a black donned African or Middle Eastern garb, they would be welcomed into the same establishments in which black Americans would be refused.

Chew on that for a while.

It appears to me, with the rate that France is confronting its racism, she will probably elect a black French President long before America elects an indigenous black one!


another point of view: http://deloryswelchtyson.blogspot.fr/2012/05/all-up-in-my-kool-aid-and-dont-even.html
(all photos from google images)