Anger against France leads to vandalism towards local woman
By The Associated Press
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(3/17/03- Houston) — For Francoise Thomas, the anger against France for its continuing opposition to military action against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein hadn't hit home until she read about it on one of her doors.
When Thomas took out the garbage Saturday morning, she saw red letters spray-painted on the garage door of her townhouse.

"Scum go back to France," it read.

"I nearly had a heart attack," she told the Houston Chronicle in Monday's editions.

Thomas, who has lived in the United States 23 years and made her career as a real estate agent here, recently retired and plans to stay in Kingwood.

"I love France and I love the U.S.," Thomas said in a slight French accent, adding that she has tried to stay out of politics on Iraq.

Neighbors criticized the vandal and said they fear it was someone they know.

"Who knows she's from France?" asked Sandra Winkler. "Only the people in the neighborhood."

An unidentified neighbor on Sunday began repainting the white garage door while others brought Thomas flowers and chocolates to show their support.

"It's just the right thing to do," the painter, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said as he dabbed at then-pink marks still showing.

Thomas, who considers the graffiti a hate crime, is offering a $1,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and prosecution of the perpetrator. She requested anyone with information to call the Houston Police Department.

The anti-France backlash that has spread across the United States includes renaming "freedom" fries, a petition to rename New Orleans' French Quarter and a measure proposed by a New Jersey lawmaker to block French companies from receiving any U.S. money spent to rebuild Iraq after a war.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Uh, I hate wine? :D [img]tongue.gif[/img]

<font color="#ffccff">While I fully support peoples right to boycott all things French, I am disgusted at those who treat American Citizens and Guests to this country in this manner : </font>

Yea, that will certainly change France's mind and drum up more support here, too. There is nothing wrong with the French people (except maybe Masklinn [img]tongue.gif[/img] ), only with their current position on Iraq, and that is IMHO and my 2c. And if I can't just say "Fries" I'm saying French Fries, Freedom Fries is stupid, again, IMHO. They have nothing to do with France, and make no difference.

People who do things like this are NOT protesting anything. They are merely being mean spirited, and more than likely have no idea about what's going on in the world around them. This is a disgusting display of ignorance.

An interesting point on this is that this woman's parent (or was it grandparent) received a high level civilian medal (can't remember which one) from the US government after WWII for risking their own personal safety to hide downed US airmen from the Nazis.

Edit - Freedom Fries and wasting wine are both forms of temporary protests. Considering the renaming of the French Quarter IS ridiculous. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 03-17-2003, 04:08 PM: Message edited by: Ronn_Bman ]

As with the anti-Muslim violence post-9/11, this is simply the result of people being too ignorant to distinguish a nation and its policies from the individual citizens of the nation. And, while saying this will go against the very notion embodied in my previous sentence, on behalf of Americans I offer apologies and condolences.

To throw out your wine or other French products is kinda dumb. They already have their money for them and could care less what you do with them. I guess you could freak 'em out by having a Rothchilde with burgers... But to pick on US citizens or legal residents or legal visitors is wrong. I don't care about the legal aspects just the stupidity of it.

http://smilies.sofrayt.com/%5E/k/lowfps.gif

has anyone thought of the concept behind the protest....ie the french dont agree with the US so therefore of course thye must be wrong

Thats a very democratic and egalatarian viewpoint isnt it ........maybe the US is worng

has anyone considerd that possability?

I think this is bordering a little close to the War line...but only probably after this post:
I fully support the French in their stance against a war with Iraq, and Germany and Russia also. This treatement of other people is totally wrong, and I also consider it disgusting. But, keep in mind, the wrong thing to do here would be blaming all Americans for this mistreatment and starting disliking them as a whole - it is only a sick individual who you get in every country.

Just as people before me, these are just my opinions.

Ignorance is bliss... so that means that some people must be happy ALL THE TIME. I'm sure Francoise's neighbors have told him all this, but IMO he should feel pity for those whos vision is so shallow and uninformed that they'd be capable of something like this.