Another racist incident in Paris
I was recently at a branch office of my bank on Avenue Emile Zola in the 15eme depositing a check, and I had a question about filling out the envelope so I went to the acceuil (reception) desk. During this time, a French woman came into the small agence. When I turned around to go back to the ATM, she was just finishing up filling in her envelope and we both approached the ATM at the same time.
She pushed in front of me brusquely saying that she was here first. I corrected her and said I was there before her, but whatever, I told her to go ahead and “pas de soucis” ( no worries). She continued to grumble, and I told her there was no need to be rude, I was already letting her go first. She told me to go back to my own country. I said: “yes, you French are all racist (not that I meant ALL French, of course, but people like her)” So she told me again to leave France.
This is the 3rd time since arriving in Paris that I’ve been confronted by such direct racism in my face--someone telling me to leave the country. The first couple of times, I was speechless.
But this time, since I was right next to the antagonist, instead of standing there dumbstruck, I just looked her in the face while saying in French, yes, I would prefer to go back to my home country -- the United States or China. Either one is better than France, which is not the future. But, malheureusement, I am married to a French man (sorry Bertrand, I don’t really mean it) . That shut her up for a brief moment, but then on her way out the door, she quipped that I probably don’t have much money in my account anyway. Which made no sense, because we were at the deposit machine.
Though I’m confident enough with my French now to exchange a few words with people like this, more than I would when we first arrived in Paris a year and a half ago, it doesn’t really make me feel any less angry after the fact. So what if I was able to make a rebuttal. Why does the first thing out of her mouth have to be to tell me to leave France?
Honestly, while I love a lot of things about Paris, and I’ve made some nice friends -- both French and non-French -- and I know that the majority of the French people I know personally are not like that, I don’t believe that France is the future, and I don’t see myself living here forever.
It’s a shame, that something like that should happen to tarnish the day. It was a beautiful day, spring is coming, and I have just started recently to find my own rhythm here, with my volunteer work at school, with the Association of American Wives of Europeans, the Asian Women's Association of Paris which we just formed, and the cake and cupcake business I recently launched. And I just saw a wonderful outpouring of concern for the Japanese survivors of the recent earthquake and tsunami during a school bake sale which I helped with during the same week, where all the international parents and children of our little school came together to raise 900 Euros for the Croix Rouge Japan.
One tries to take the higher road, and dismiss the comments of such small-minded people as the woman I encountered at the bank, or the other people I've encountered in the past year. But, when I see that all it takes is a minor incident like that to bring out a racist comment, on top of all the aggression that I witness while driving or while standing in a queue to pay for groceries, I see that there is generally a lot of anger and frustration simmering just beneath the surface of the seemingly polite people who lambaste you if you don’t say “Bonjour Madame/Monsieur” before you ask them anything. The question is where does this anger come from? What does it say about the community we are living in?
She pushed in front of me brusquely saying that she was here first. I corrected her and said I was there before her, but whatever, I told her to go ahead and “pas de soucis” ( no worries). She continued to grumble, and I told her there was no need to be rude, I was already letting her go first. She told me to go back to my own country. I said: “yes, you French are all racist (not that I meant ALL French, of course, but people like her)” So she told me again to leave France.
This is the 3rd time since arriving in Paris that I’ve been confronted by such direct racism in my face--someone telling me to leave the country. The first couple of times, I was speechless.
But this time, since I was right next to the antagonist, instead of standing there dumbstruck, I just looked her in the face while saying in French, yes, I would prefer to go back to my home country -- the United States or China. Either one is better than France, which is not the future. But, malheureusement, I am married to a French man (sorry Bertrand, I don’t really mean it) . That shut her up for a brief moment, but then on her way out the door, she quipped that I probably don’t have much money in my account anyway. Which made no sense, because we were at the deposit machine.
Though I’m confident enough with my French now to exchange a few words with people like this, more than I would when we first arrived in Paris a year and a half ago, it doesn’t really make me feel any less angry after the fact. So what if I was able to make a rebuttal. Why does the first thing out of her mouth have to be to tell me to leave France?
Honestly, while I love a lot of things about Paris, and I’ve made some nice friends -- both French and non-French -- and I know that the majority of the French people I know personally are not like that, I don’t believe that France is the future, and I don’t see myself living here forever.
It’s a shame, that something like that should happen to tarnish the day. It was a beautiful day, spring is coming, and I have just started recently to find my own rhythm here, with my volunteer work at school, with the Association of American Wives of Europeans, the Asian Women's Association of Paris which we just formed, and the cake and cupcake business I recently launched. And I just saw a wonderful outpouring of concern for the Japanese survivors of the recent earthquake and tsunami during a school bake sale which I helped with during the same week, where all the international parents and children of our little school came together to raise 900 Euros for the Croix Rouge Japan.
One tries to take the higher road, and dismiss the comments of such small-minded people as the woman I encountered at the bank, or the other people I've encountered in the past year. But, when I see that all it takes is a minor incident like that to bring out a racist comment, on top of all the aggression that I witness while driving or while standing in a queue to pay for groceries, I see that there is generally a lot of anger and frustration simmering just beneath the surface of the seemingly polite people who lambaste you if you don’t say “Bonjour Madame/Monsieur” before you ask them anything. The question is where does this anger come from? What does it say about the community we are living in?
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