Act one of this podcast is amusing. David Sedaris says,"He's drinking wine, he's smoking a cigarette, and he's picking his nose. Those are three good reasons to live in France."
Act three, though, is phenomenal for its encapsulation of race in the United States, and also the core of what it is to be "American." In Paris, African-Americans are accepted; African-French rejected? Or is it just a class thing? Race... class... Here in Australia, for some time there was actually a "White Australia" policy, and it might be said that racism is worse than in the United States. In Sydney, brown skin is common; very dark skin less so, and I had been here 18 months before I realized aboriginals have the same spectrum of skin color as do African-Americans. There are separatists and assimilationists, but in general, it's the same "us" and "them" mentality as in the United States. But the story told of an African-American woman in Paris speaks to another factor. When I see people with very dark skin in Australia, my mind sorts through the features and clothing; Aboriginal. Melanesian. African. Every now and then, what I'm looking at adds up to "American." I want to run up and ask them if they're American, with the sense that I have more in common with them than 99% of the people on this continent. But I think it would be rude, and I refrain. Still I think - ...former military? ...athlete? ...tourist? Being white, I am the invisible immigrant. That is, until I open my mouth and say something. This American Life: Americans in Paris
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