Light American

I don't give a big importance to my nationality. Nationalities actually, being french by my Mum and US American by my Dad. What really matters is the culture(s) in which you were raised, and in that sense I really feel french by some aspects (and by some others not at all!) and, perhaps to a lesser extent coz I never lived there and english is not my native language, I do feel american as well. And I'm very happy with this mixture. But once more having this or that passport makes me pretty indifferent. It's not a achievement or anything, just a fact of life. I don't feel more french, say, because I have a french passport, I know I'm french. Full point. And I am certainly not proud of it (nor ashamed). I don't understand patriotism.

The law is something which has nothing to do with culture, history, feelings, and all that. And in this context, the law states that if you're the owner of a passport of a given country, then you deserve the same treatment of all the people sharing with you that very passport. For good or bad. And no matter what.

Now I'm coming to the anecdote which happened to me the other day, as I was trying to enter the Brookhaven National Lab, on Long Island in New York state. I was pretty tired after spending a fantastic day in New York City (should blog on that by the way) and still pretty jet lagged after my trip the day before from Geneva. It was late and all I wanted was to get the key of my apartment, probably eat a burger and have a long night sleep (well, it's probably better not to go to bed right after a burger by the way). I hate bureaucratic stuff and usually I do half of the things I'm supposed to do. But basically I know when I'd better be really serious about it. And I was told that entering a US national lab is something you should take seriously. So for once, I had done everything in due form. I don't wanna bother you with the details, but I had asked weeks before for a visit permit and gave all the relevant details to relevant people. It's just to tell you that I was pretty confident when I got to the entrance gate of Brookhaven Lab last Wednesday 30 April at 7.04pm. I explained to the couple of policemen standing there the reason of my visit, gave them my visit permit and my US passport. That guy started to turn the pages of the passport, and started pouting.

The policeman - I'm sorry Sir, your passport is not valid.
Me (amused) - What do you mean, it's not valid??
The policeman - No, it's not. You should have the I94 on it. I'm sorry.
Me (incredulous)- I don't understand. I entered the US yesterday and was properly checked at the airport. So how come it's not valid?
The policewoman - Could you please step out of the vehicle, Sir?
Me - Right, right.
The Taxi driver (to the policemen) - Listen, if you make him wait, then I'll have to charge him for this...

The situation went on a little bit like this. I was then told to go back to the "vehicle" waiting for them to contact their superiors. After ten minutes - and therefore 5 more bucks to the taxi driver - the guy came back saying he could not join them because it was too late. I then tried quietly (remember he's a policeman and I really had to enter the lab as it was the purpose of my trip!) to ask him once more why he thinks my passport is not valid. I had really no clue and could not believe that surreal story which had already gone too long. Since I has seen at the airport that my passport had been stamped in the very same way as my US compatriots, I told him I doubted that every AMERICAN needed that I94. He flatly responded: "Yes Sir, I am used to see the passports here" (which I believe). Trying to understand the issue, I told him about my double citizenship. From now on he said that it could be the reason but basically had not clue about it.

Me - I have a second nationality, indeed.
The policeman (looking at my US passport) - But do you have the US nationality?
Me - ... of course I do, this is my passport.
The policeman - Hmm I don't know. (growing away)
The taxi driver - You have a US passport, what's his point?!

After another 10 minutes, he let me in. But with that "Well-I'm-not-really-supposed-to" kind of tone in his voice which really pissed me off! Anyway. Discussing yesterday with my french friend Dev who lives in NYC, he confirmed to me that the I94 that this policeman was desperately looking for in my US passport is actually for... foreigners!