Interview with the actress Yasmine Al Massri, starring in the film Refugee, nominated for the Oscars

I grew up in Lebanon and lived in France from the age of 19. I became French then, living and studying in Paris, and even marrying a French man. I am very proud of being a French citizen, but today France has its share of taking actions just like America,  with regard to social justice and discrimination in its society. France has a huge community of three generations of children of immigrants who built the French economy since the ‘60s, the same immigrants whose countries were colonized by French regimes. Those kids are Moroccan, Tunisian, Algerian, in majority, plus other minorities. They are born in France and they have no identification or assimilation with the French identity or culture, because they have been marginalized economically, politically, socially, and have been discriminated against when it comes to opportunities. And so, a lot of them drop out of the educational systems and a lot of them end up in jails. Some of them join fanatic religious groups that make them feel that they belong and have a purpose in serving a cause. This is a complete manipulative cause. This is a very big topic to explain in few words, but what is happening unfortunately is a manifestation of everything I mentioned above. It’s time for France to take care of this problem, and not as a foreign problem. This is what the French society is built on, and it’s time to acknowledge those kids who were neglected as French citizens, and it’s time to question the government's parenting ways toward its own people.