In New York, Nikola Chapelle closely follows the pol

This sound engineer who works in television and film has crisscrossed America and attended a agitated meeting of candidate Trump.

Tessa Grauman, special correspondent in the United States
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Posted on October 30, 2020 at 1:54 p.m.

It was in 2016, as part of a documentary film on which he was taking the sound. Nikola Chapelle then found himself in the gallery reserved for the press on an election rally for candidate Trump. “There were 20,000 people starting to shout Trump! Trump! Trump !, he recalls. And ten minutes before he got on stage, there was an automatic message that went through, which said: this rally is sponsored by the Trump organization. Trump respects and believes in free speech. But if you see someone who is against him, do not hesitate to report him to security so that he is kicked out. “

There was something quite light in the air

Four years later, seated at a table in a cafe in his Brooklyn neighborhood, Nikola enjoys the anecdote. This sound engineer, whose mother is Madagascan and lived much of her youth in Reunion, arrived in the United States in 2008. “I arrived, I did not speak English, two months later, Obama was elected. I live in Bed Stuy (pronounced Bed Staï), the African-American neighborhood of Brooklyn. Everybody was happy ! And four years later, he was re-elected… I spent eight years without understanding the tensions, there was something quite light in the air “.

But since then, Trump has arrived at the White House. In New York, a Democratic stronghold, the event was experienced as a trauma, says Nikola: “Right after his election, two African-American pals were driving around, and two white people in a car next to them told them:

That’s it, finally, you can be afraid now!

This way of opposing ethnic origins, Nikola has personally experienced it in the United States. “The last few years have been very frustrating for me. My friends know my Reunionese culture, the one I got from my mother, Madagascan, and of which I am very proud. But here you have to be black to talk about Africa. And I cannot claim my culture as much as in France “.

No change

Nikola admits that he was not directly affected by the actions taken by the Trump administration. However, he saw the impact on the people in his neighborhood. “Besides, the movement Black Lives Matter stems from Trump’s policy. “

For the rest, Nikola thinks Joe Biden, the Democratic candidate will be elected. Heir to a past system, he believes, one that Trump voters wanted to push aside. “I do not think that [son élection] will change anything. It’s just going to calm things down for four years, but that’s not going to fix things. “

Listen to Tessa Grauman’s report

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