Winning hearts and minds in France

This man has a love-hate relationship with the US. like many teens in the poor French suburbs he worships its culture despite its involvement in Iraq. But he recently returned from a trip to Harlem paid for by the US government and now he says he’s changed his views, welcome news to the US government. After 9/11, the US government stepped up a program to bring young people from immigrant and Muslim backgrounds to the US. There were huge immigrant protests in France in 2005, due to perceptions of feeling socially excluded on the part of the immigrant communities. This analyst on the poor suburbs says Islam was focused on as a factor of violence in the suburbs. But US officials say their program in the French suburbs isn’t just about identifying terror cells and this US official say it’s more about preventing terror cells from starting up. This man welcomes his taste of America. The journalist was invited to visit the states after his blog caught the attention of US officials. He feels the US government is more interested in the French minorities than their own government. Another student who recently traveled there says she has a better idea of what American policy is about after her trip.