We were in Paris last week and looking for a bench to sit on on the canal. They were all taken but there was just one man on one of them so we squeezed on with him. After a few minutes another man came over. Both men were black. The man who came over said it was good to see that we were not afraid to sit on a bench with a ‘negro’ (his word) and that he noticed that my friend had some Chinese elements in her look and that he liked to eat ‘nems’ (Vietnamese products) from time to time. In brief, we should all live together in harmony. I nodded along. The man on the bench said nothing. When we were about to leave I said ‘bonne continuation’ to the man on the bench who grinned back. He’s right. He just wants to get on with his life without every act being a political one. Sometimes just sharing bench is the best political act you can do.

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