Electoral signs are completely prohibited in front of houses in the Alabama district where a Quebecer lives, a way of preserving social peace.
“If you are anti-Trump, they could come and destroy your flowerbeds. It’s to avoid division,” said Sylvie Desharnais Briscoe, 56 years old.
In a country that glorifies freedom of expression, this type of regulation goes down badly with some Americans. However, the Supreme Court of the United States has repeatedly ruled in favor of homeowners’ associations which ban political displays, as is the case with the Quebecer who lives in the village of Opelika.
“They say in the South that if you want to keep your friends, it’s better not to talk about religion or politics,” says the woman who has lived in the United States for 35 years.
Still undecided
Originally from the Quebec City area, Sylvie Desharnais Briscoe moved to this fiercely Republican state in 1989 to join the tennis team at the University of West Alabama. His 30-year-old daughter now works as a singer for Cirque du Soleil.
The one who is now retired after her career as a cardiopulmonary technologist recently converted to pickleball, due to injuries.
She and her husband, Rob Briscoe, returned from a four-year stay in Florida, where they noticed marked differences in the political behaviors of people there, compared to their neighbors in Alabama.
“In Florida, people were more open to talking about it,” she emphasizes. They were proud to display their Trump flags or whatever their colors were.”
Sylvie Desharnais Briscoe intends to exercise her right to vote, but says she is still undecided, considering herself “in the middle”, between the Democrats and the Republicans.
Her opinions still diverge from those of her husband, a soldier who watches Fox News “every morning” and who plans to vote for Donald Trump, even if he “doesn’t like him as a person.”
“A lot of people don’t like Trump, but they like the Republicans in Alabama,” says Mme Desharnais Briscoe.
Expatriate in election
- Sylvie Desharnais Briscoe
- 56 ans
- Opelika
- Cardiopulmonary technologist
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