Becoming French

RE “A Palette Where the Colors Don’t Mix” [Nov. 27]: I lived in France for 10 years -- bartended in Les Halles for five. If I were to assess people as host assimilators or arrival assimilators, I’d give both the French and the Arabs low marks. It is impossible to “become” either French or Arab ... and it’s impossible to be anything else when you move abroad. Filipinos can “become” American, as can Italians, Irish, what have you. But some fits are tougher.

No matter how long Arabs are in France (and I discussed the matter with thousands of mostly male Arab bar patrons), they remain Arab, with little fidelity to the French nation. Nationalism is not as strong to them as their Muslim identity.

The French used to say to me, “Well, you’ve got the same issue in your country with Mexicans,” but I would disagree. Mexicans here are far less “foreign,” with all that that entails, than Arabs are in France. Whether you view this as a problem or a strength, it’s nonetheless a two-way street between native and foreigner.

DREW WEAVER

San Clemente