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PLEASE
CALL ME ROM
My
name is Shani and I am a ROM. Rom means human being or person or
man ( Romni is for woman ) in the Romany language; the Native American:
Cherokee and Hopi mean the same thing in their native language.
I am not a Gypsy. The term Gypsy stems from peoples' ignorance,
when we were mistaken for Egyptians. Gypsy is an inaccurate term
for RROMA; ( plural of Rom )
Rroma
moved from the East Indian region of Punjab during the 12th Century
through the Persian Gulf, Egypt, Turkey, then spread all over Europe.
Suffice
it to say that being a Rom is not about belonging to a country or
a piece of land. It is culture. It is language. It is tradition.
It is hundreds of years of oppression, suppression and depression.
I am sure that many Rroma can't even come out and say "I am a ROM"
without fear of repercussions; people counting their silverware
before we leave.
I
won't play you a sad song on my violin. I do not have a bandanna.
I do not have a golden tooth. I do not have long hair or a golden
hoop in my ear. I am just trying to speak up for my people: Rroma.
I
want to tell you about their suffering and the persecution they've
endured throughout the centuries. I want to tell you how to fight
the enemy which is ignorance; to tell you about prejudice and stereotypes.
This doesn't apply only to Rroma. Look how Native Americans, African
Americans, Latinos, Mexicans, Asians, Hippies etc.. are treated
in this country, not to mention Gays and Lesbians. These two words:
prejudice and ignorance, represent our biggest ENEMIES. But prejudice
and ignorance cannot be overcome unless some exchange takes place.
So, that is why I am writing this story.
I
was GYPPED. The word "gypped" derives from Gypsy and is a racist
slur based on the stereotype that Gypsies always cheat people; it
implies that you have been swindled. We have been raised with the
expression, (and even today people continue telling it to their
children): "If you don't behave I'm going to leave you out and Gypsies
are going to steal you". Czechs are calling Rroma "dirty Gypsies,
horse thieves, uneducated", etc... Bulgarians are calling us or
refer to Rroma as "dark-skinned, villains, incorrigible perpetrators,
criminals", etc... Hungarians are referring to Rroma as "Olive skinned".
In ex-Yugoslavia where I come from, they call us "beggars, dirty
Gypsy", etc...
I'd
like to tell you about some of the experiences I've had that illustrate
racism and prejudice against Rroma. For awhile I lived in a Romani
ghetto on the outskirts of Florence, Italy. There were hundreds
of families with children living there, next to the site where the
nearby hospital disposed of its medical and human waste. Until a
few Rroma and Italians insisted that the city council remove this
dump from where people were living, it never occurred to them. In
this period of my life, I must confess that I also experienced a
lot of internalized prejudice against my own people. I was embarrassed
and ashamed to admit I was a Rom, or to be associated with "thieving,
dishonest Gypsies". I lived in a Romany ghetto almost one year.
When I moved out of the ghetto and began living away from other
Rroma, I started to read about my own Romany culture for the first
time. I discovered a lot of fascinating things about my own people
through books, and after years of reading and learning about Romany
culture.
I
feel ashamed and guilty about judging my own people in the past.
Now I understand why they remain so marginal and don't like to mix
with non-Rroma people, Gadje; (which is similar to the term "Gringos"
used by Mexicans or "Honkies" used by African Americans.) Sincerely,
I, as a speaker for my people, don't go for this term "Gadje", because
it creates barriers between Rroma and non-Rroma. So, after all these
years of reading and researching, I now feel very proud of being
Rom. Hopefully this article will be a good link and lead to a better
understanding between my Rroma people and people of other cultures.
Before
I lived in Italy, I grew up in the former Yugoslavia, almost 28
years. I couldn't speak up for my rights, if I had I'd have been
in big trouble. I was born in Pristina, in the region of Kosovo,
in southern Serbia. Kosovo is the region which has a 90% Muslim
population; 75% are ethnic Albanians, 10% are Rroma, 5% are Turks
and only10% of the population are Serbs. Rroma in particular, were
always one of the most oppressed ethnic groups. 250,000 Serbian
refugees were relocated to Kosovo after the Dayton Peace Accord.
All
those refugees were brought from hot spots (borders) in between
Serbia and Croatia and from Bosnia Herzegovina. In order to create
a bigger Serbia, Miloshevic's government wants to have a bigger
population of Serbs in the Region of Kosovo, and in the meantime
a lot of Rroma have been kicked out of their jobs in order to hire
Serbian refugees.
Besides
my own experiences of discrimination (being a Chemist and never
having worked in my field because I was a "damned" Gypsy), I can
tell you about one of my personal friends. He finished his studies
at the University of Kosovo as an historian, worked for 15 years
in a book shop in shipping and receiving, and now was forced to
leave this job to make room for a Serbian refugee.
Here
are some examples (taken from articles published on the internet
by HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH) of the kinds of racist acts and crimes committed
against Rroma today in some other countries: "In 1993, following
the division of Czechoslovakia by peaceful means a law of citizenship
went into effect in the new state. The law had been drafted in late
1992 and duly signed by the president. When the law went into effect,
approximately 100,000 Rroma were designated foreigners, and were
accordingly denied all of the rights they had previously enjoyed
as Czechoslovak citizens." The reason was: Rroma having nomadic
roots were moving and many of them had birth certificates from Slovakia
but had settled for 10 -20 years in the Czech Republic; so they
didn't have papers from the region where they lived, which then
became a new State. Automatically, all 100,000 Rroma were denied
social assistance like health care, welfare, unemployment etc...
Well done Czechs and Slovaks ???? !!!!
"In
Hungary on May 27,1997, the Ozd city council announced plans to
blow up a building located in the city center which is inhabited
primarily by Rroma. The reason cited for this decision were unpaid
utility bills, which had earlier resulted in the disconnection of
electricity to the building, and sanitary conditions." Paradoxically,
the city council of Ozd thought it could resolve issues of poverty
with dynamite.
In
many places in Eastern European Countries and even in Western Europe,
like England, there are signs: "We don't serve dogs and Gypsies".
The
MEDIA, written or broadcast, fictional or non-fictional, particularly
in Europe, have helped to develop ideas about Romany people, and
shaped public opinion about us. But a very curious and sad thing
is that, of all the inacurrate and often insulting images of Rroma
in the media, NONE of them originated from ROMANI sources; let alone
anyone ever consulting with RRoma about the truth of what the media
portrays.
My
goal here is to make the following point: very few outsiders interact
socially or have developed close relationships with RRoma. Despite
the not inconsiderable Romany population (larger then some European
nations), some people are still not convinced that Rroma are REAL
PEOPLE.
The
Media has created an image of "...a "true" Romani people, a people
apart, keepers of a lost rural life, unspoiled by civilization,
living contentedly in the woods, subsisting on the occasional stolen
chicken or rabbit, entertaining themselves in the depths of the
forest with music and song. The real families whom they observed,
whose trailers were pulled up near city dumps or abandoned quarries
and whose children were seen playing amidst [civilized] society's
refuse, were not acknowledged to be Roma at all but rather were
considered to be a mixed and degenerate population that gave the
"true" Roma a bad name. This kind of thinking reached its predictable
conclusion in the PORRAJMOS (Holocaust) - the mass murder of people
of Romani descent by the Nazis during the World War II." (from an
article by Ian Hancock). Mass murder and atrocities against the
Rroma didn't start then, it started many, many centuries ago.
Rroma
today in Europe (Europe's largest minority) are a threatened group,
a population without land; (which follows from Rroma never having
tried to conquer others or to kill in order to acquire a piece of
land. And another thing that follows is that Rroma have never had
a single national/political hero).
"Every
social, economic, and political indicator places Rroma at the bottom
of the scale: they are the least healthy, poorest, most politically
excluded group in Europe. Moreover, according to Human Rights Watch
and other reliable sources, their physical safety is threatened
by mob and individual attacks, police brutality, and a discriminatory
legal system." (from a letter by Carol Silverman to the White House's
liaison to the U.S. Holocaust Council).
What
is the fate of my Rroma, the individuals, the children, the culture?
While we are not presently targeted for mass murder, as in the Porrajmos,
we are systematically marginalized all over the world, and continuously
scapegoated in one form or another. I hope that the more I and other
Rom speak out about our history and the current plight of Rroma,
the more the rest of the world will wake up to the reality of who
we are and understand our culture better.
~end~
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