NOTES FROM THE HINTERLAND
LOOKING FRENCH, PART II
By Laurie Meunier Graves
We were our own worst enemy because we were so docile.
—Joseph Labreque, from the documentary film The Francos of Waterville:
Telling Their Story
To paraphrase former President Ronald Reagan—there they go again. I am
referring, of course, to certain Republicans who think it’s perfectly
acceptable to castigate Senator Kerry, the presumptive Democratic
presidential nominee, because he “looks French.” Apparently, looking French
is enough to damn a politician and is considered fair ammunition to use
against Kerry, whose dark hair and skin coloring are obvious evidence of an
“inferior heritage.” In a previous essay about looking French, I facetiously
suggested that Republicans might actually rush to measure Kerry’s head, a
tactic used in Nazi Germany to see who was Jewish and who was a true Aryan.
Perhaps I wasn’t so far off the mark after all. In a recent article in the
Washington Post written by Dana Milbank, I learned that “Commerce
Secretary Donald L. Evans recently said publicly what his colleagues have
long been saying privately: He called [Kerry] a ‘fellow of a different
political stripe who looks French.’” Milbank goes on to describe how “The
Republican National Committee has been sending out regular news releases
about Kerry’s French relatives…House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) has
been known to start a speech with: ‘Good afternoon, or, as John Kerry might
say, ‘Bonjour.’”
I am Franco-American, and I wrote the first Looking French essay in
October of 2003. By now (May 2004), I fully expected that the ethnic slurs
against Kerry would be a thing of the past as the candidates settled into
the presidential campaign. I thought the focus would turn to issues of the
day rather than a concern about the candidates’ heritage and looks. It seems
I was wrong. The French insults continue unabated, and what amazes me is how
blithe and nonchalant the Republicans are about using them. To use French
slurs seems to mean nothing to them. To some Republicans, it’s as though
those who are French and of French descent are so contemptible that the
rules of decency don’t apply to them.
Just imagine, for a moment, what outrage there would have been if Donald
Evans had said that Kerry was a “fellow of a different political stripe who
looks African.” Or Spanish. Or Mexican. Or Italian. The din of protest would
have been overwhelming and rightly so. No one should be chided for looking a
certain way or belonging to a certain ethnic group. To employ such tactics
is reprehensible as well as dangerous. At best, they can lead to
discrimination and at worst, to genocide. Haven’t events of the bloody
twentieth century given us enough examples of where ethnic bashing can lead?
Do Republican politicians really need to be reminded of the American South
before the Civil Rights movement, Hitler, Milosevic, and Rwanda?
The lack of outrage leads me to a combination of comments and questions.
First, I can only assume that President Bush privately endorses the use of
ethnic slurs as a means of discrediting his opponent. As far as I know,
President Bush has not publicly commented on Kerry’s lamentable French
looks, but his commerce secretary has and the House majority leader has.
Both men have high rankings in the Republican Party, and it seems to me that
if President Bush disapproved of such tactics, then Evans and DeLay would
immediately stop using them. One word from President Bush is all it would
take. Why doesn’t he give it?
Second, where is the roar of outrage from Franco-American leaders and
politicians? Where is our Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton leading a march of
protest? In Maine, we have a Franco-American (Michael Michaud) who is in the
House of Representatives in Washington, D.C., and many Franco-Americans who
are in the state legislature. Why haven’t they banded together with other
Franco-American politicians from New England (and Louisiana?) to deliver a
letter of protest to the Republican Party and President Bush? Why haven’t
they written critical essays to go in newspapers, both locally and
nationally? If they have, then I am unaware of them, and so are my
Franco-American friends here in Maine.
For too long, Franco-Americans have been the invisible ethnic group in New
England, “The Quiet Presence” as one writer put it. As an ethnic group, we
must take a certain amount of responsibility for this. In the past, we have
lived in fear of violence, repression, and discrimination, but so have other
ethnic groups. In the past, we have been worn down by hard work and long
hours, but so have other ethnic groups. In the past, Franco-Americans had to
endure tight living conditions where there was no hot water and no central
heating, but so have other ethnic groups. The time has come for us to speak
out in our own defense, to protest when others label us as dirty, stupid,
and inferior.
President Bush, Representative Michaud, and Franco-American politicians: Are
you listening?
