journalist Emilie Tran Nguyen denounces anti-Asian racism in documentary

“Asians don’t make waves, Asians are good at math. They are hardworking, hard-working, discreet. Asian women are gentle and obedient. They all look the same, they are all the same”…Here are some clichés that stick to the skin of French people of Asian origin. In his documentary I’m not Chinesebroadcast on Sunday February 4 on France 5 (and available in replay on france.tv), France Télévisions journalist Emilie Tran Nguyen, of Algerian and Vietnamese origin, looks back on this ordinary racism of which she herself was a victim.

She attempts to go back to its origins, with the help of historians and sociologists. This documentary traces the making of prejudices in the imagination, to twist the neck of stereotypes, deconstruct and act. “I had the feeling of being different very early onsays Emilie Tran Nguyen. I know that I will always remember a boy to whom I declared my love and who said to me: ‘Oh no, I don’t like chestnuts.’ Afterwards, there were a lot of references to rice: ‘bowl of rice’, ‘you’re a grain of rice’, etc.” At the time, she was not aware that these remarks were racist.

“There is this fed up with having to justify oneself”

Today, the journalist denounces them: “What makes this anti-Asian racism particular is that it has not been denounced much. The victims have often kept it quiet. It is also a racism that is often broadcast under the guise of humor “. If she wanted to talk about it, it was to break “this silence that there was”.

“Why didn’t we do it or say it before?”, asks Emilie Tran Nguyen. “And there is also this frustration of having to justify oneself because there is a certain appearance, there is a certain physique. Yes, the eyes are almond shaped. Yes, an Asian sometimes cannot hide physically. He’s Asian, but he’s French.”concludes the journalist.

The documentary I’m not Chinese is available in replay on france.tv.