The Invisible Minority — Part 5: Persecution and Institutional Discrimination
Why the Roma Have Been Forgotten
By Celeste W. and Kathryn M. Edited by Doug G., and Alicia R. (Keywords: Human Rights, Police Brutality, Poverty, Romany, Roma, Gypsy, Romani, Minorities, Justice, Racism, Genocide, History.) This is part of a series. Previous: Part 4: Culture, Pop Culture, and Free Spirits)(Next: Part 6: A Modern Problem)
Part 5 — Persecution and Institutional Discrimination
Roma can’t prosper until institutionalized discrimination is dismantled.
It is an uphill battle.
Roma who speak up and advocate for Romani rights often face harsh backlash from non-Roma who feel stereotypes, racism, and discrimination is acceptable. Non-Roma people sometimes are invested in the myth of the culture, and their own definition of “Gypsy.” They ignore that the word is often considered a slur. (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Gypsy) They are blind to history and the ongoing discrimination. They are resistant to Romani voices.
The plight and ongoing persecution of the Romani people are mostly ignored by society. Romani are victims of societal oppression. Massive ongoing discrimination leads to health issues, lack of medical care, infant and child mortality, insufficient housing, substandard education, employment discrimination, police brutality, and Romani receive little support from any government. (https://thepolitic.org/not-yet-united-the-challenges-of-organizing-for-roma-rights/)
No Homeland
There is no homeland for Roma. No country has a majority Romani population. There is no majority of Roma city or region. They left India over a thousand years ago, but their DNA is not just Indian. (https://www.nature.com/articles/ejhg2015201)
Roma are not a homogenous group. Roma were historically a migratory people. In some periods of Romani history, they only practiced intermarriage. In some periods, they intermarried with other groups on their journey from India to Europe. Many Roma have DNA markers from India, Western Asia, The Middle East, and Europe. While there are some shared physical features that can be seen in many, if not most, Roma all Roma do not all look alike. Individuals have features of the groups their ancestors intermarried. Some Roma are pale, and some are darker. Some Roma are clearly of non-European descent, and some are white-passing.
Romani Women depicted in art to show the diversity of the Romani population: Girl with Mandolin, by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot 1874, Gypsy Woman, by Nikolai Alexandrovich Yaroshenko 1886 and Temptation (The Gypsy Girl) by Percy Harland Fisher in 1939
No Representation
There are no elected officials in The United States House of Representatives who appear to have Romani heritage, have talked about their Romani heritage, or are open about being of mixed Roma heritage. The same is true for the United States Senate. It is rare to find an elected official in Europe, where they are the largest minority, who is Roma.
Roma are often denied citizenship of countries they were born in or lived in because they have historically been forced to the outskirts of civilizations or slums. This makes it challenging for Roma to run and hold political office. Only recently have Roma been able to gain seats in Europe. (https://www.csce.gov/international-impact/events/human-rights-situation-roma-europes-largest-ethnic-minority) (https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/persecution-and-politicization-roma-gypsies-eastern-europe)
As a group, Roma do not have political power. This limits protections for Roma because there is often no one in government looking out for their interests.
By and large, The Romani people are an ethnic group without representation.
Poverty
Before WW2, there was a budding Roma middle class. The Roma owned businesses and were tradesmen. They were easy targets of the Nazis. Romani families were murdered, and along with them, a large portion of the collective Roma wealth was taken. (https://thenorwichradical.com/2019/01/25/how-the-nazis-wiped-out-the-romani-middle-class/amp/) (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/nov/29/secondworldwar.biography)
While Jewish German citizens were paid reparations, Roma citizens were not. Rumors of “Gypsy Criminality” left the surviving family members either still in prison for being “Gypsy” or with no money.
The discrimination against the Roma people includes a lack of job opportunities. This leads to widespread unemployment. (http://www.errc.org/roma-rights-journal/systemic-exclusion-of-roma-from-employment) 1/3 of Roma in Europe are unemployed. (https://harvardpolitics.com/roma-education/)
Many Roma are impoverished. The vast majority, 80% of European Roma, are either already living in poverty or at risk of becoming impoverished. No other single ethnic minority in Europe or the United States (the country of Hollywood) has this high of a poverty rate. (https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra-2014-roma-survey-employment_en.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiitYSrucnuAhUCU80KHfIiD54QFjABegQIDxAB&usg=AOvVaw3wXXTDtfcc-zVnBJmxSaP-)
One of the factors that have helped other marginalized groups like Jews or members of the LGBTQ community is they have more access to money. Most Roma simply do not have access to wealth.
Double Discrimination
Roma with darker skin tones, disabled Roma, or Roma are LGBTQIA+ face additional prejudice, lack of resources, and discrimination.
LGBTQIA+ have to deal with hate from traditions within the Roma community. Like conservative and traditional families everywhere, many conservative and traditional Romani families don’t accept LGBTQIA+ families and members of their community.
Roma also have to deal with anti-Roma sentiment within the LGBTQIA community. Other Europeans don’t want to date “gypsies.” (https://cris.brighton.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/4756707/Lucie+Fremlova+full+draft_final+for+print+%28latest%29.pdf) (https://www.vice.com/en/article/yw3zpg/roma-lgbtq-people-talk-about-the-challenges-of-facing-double-discrimination)
Denied an Education
Many Roma have struggled to get an education. In 2011, only about 20 percent of Roma children were enrolled in a primary school in comparison to 90% of their peers in Eastern Europe. (https://harvardpolitics.com/roma-education/)
This unequal education stems from centuries of discrimination.(https://www.google.com/amp/s/learningenglish.voanews.com/amp/europes-roma-still-struggle-to-get-good-education/4108678.html)
Romani people are treated differently than other populations. They experience social exclusion and are treated with distrust, even within education. Roma in Eastern Europe often attended the poorest schools. They are falsely diagnosed with “mentally ill” because of the stigma against Roma. They are sometimes sent to “special education” centers that make it hard for them to rejoin their white peers. Roma children are bullied by their peers and by the teachers. (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/3/1/government-failing-to-educate-integrate-roma-children)
Children may lack documentation and are denied access. They may not be able to attend school because they live too far from school and do not have the means to get there. (https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/europes-roma-still-struggle-to-get-good-education/4108678.html)
There is also a language barrier as some Roma speak their own unique language at home. Schools don’t have teachers that speak the student’s native language. (https://youtu.be/vKvP_vrYy2o) When children are able to learn and communicate in their native language they are more likely to stay and succeed in school. (https://theirworld.org/news/why-teaching-in-mother-tongue-could-help-500m-children#:~:text=There%20is%20growing%20evidence%20that, don’t%20speak%20at%20home.) This language barrier further widens the gap between Roma students and white students.
Roma are systematically denied their basic human right to an education.
Despite this denial of education, there is still a growing number of Roma and people of Roma heritage that are scholars.
There are Roma working as scholars, and the budding field of Romani studies has also helped encourage Roma to be talked about in academic circles. This includes Ian Hancock who is also an advocate for Romani rights. But Romani scholars remain few and far between. https://www.romarchive.eu/en/collection/p/ian-hancock/
However, many Roma remain invisible due to fears of discrimination. That includes Roma who are educated but are afraid to speak about their heritage and Roma that are unable to further their own education. (https://harvardpolitics.com/roma-education/)
Police Brutality
Like many other minorities, Roma face police brutality and mistreatment. Police are human, and they are subject to the same biases as their populations. Racist cultural ideology and hundreds of years of institutionalized discrimination are behind this.
Roma are more likely to be killed by police than white citizens in Europe. In June 2021 a Roma man was killed by police kneeling on his neck. Less than a year before a video surfaced of Romani people being attacked by police officers. There is a video of policemen beating handcuffed Romani men and a Romani child for having a barbecue outside their home. This includes a video that is circulating around social media of a man screaming as he is being whipped. Officers use racial slurs during these attacks. This would indicate the violence was racially motivated. None of the officers were convicted of any crimes despite this clearly racially motivated attack. (http://www.romea.cz/en/news/czech/romani-man-dies-after-czech-police-kneel-on-his-neck-they-say-drugs-caused-his-death.romani-activists-see-parallels-to) (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/20/authorities-dont-treat-roma-like-ordinary-citizens)
European Court of Human Rights found law enforcement in Romania unfairly targeted Romani communities. Romani communities face institutionalized racism due to over-policing and police brutality. This is not limited to eastern Europe. Similar reports of police unfairly targeting Roma have come out of Belgium and the Netherlands. (https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2020/5/14/police-are-using-the-covid-19-pandemic-as-an-excuse-to-abuse-roma) ( ttps://apnews.com/article/media-police-archive-police-brutality-b458ca2342f4540a8ce7862466626ea8) (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/09/roma-boy-kicked-in-face-highlights-french-police-brutality-claims)
The US embassy calls out Romania for the atrocious treatment of Roma because there were 44 cases of police brutality in the last 13 years. Few of these cases were taken to court and none resulted in convictions. (https://ro.usembassy.gov/2019-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices-romania/)
Health Issues
Health issues and inequality plagues many minority groups. Romani populations are no exception. Romani populations have worse health and wellbeing than the white population. This includes infectious diseases including bacterial infections and noninfectious diseases like diabetes. This is especially true for Romani women and children. The infant mortality rates in some areas of Europe are three times higher for Roma as compared to other populations within the same area. Most of this is due to poverty. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7032950/)
Generational trauma impacts all Roma. Many Roma have epigenetic issues even when they escape the cycle of poverty. There are small studies and known problems linked with the Roma genetic and epigenetic heritage that put them at risk for inflammatory illnesses and autoimmune issues that are known to be connected to epigenetics. The authors have observed that there is also a high rate of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) allergies and other auto-immune diseases among Romani individuals that are not yet talked about among the scientific community. There are high rates of things like ADHD.
This is not unique to Roma. The Romani community and other marginalized ethnicities suffer the effects of generational trauma. This same process is being documented in other communities. The Roma are not inherently broken but modern Roma are still experiencing the impact of centuries of abuse, enslavement, and persecution. (https://oie.duke.edu/inter-generational-trauma-6-ways-it-affects-families)(https://www.verywellhealth.com/intergenerational-trauma-5191638)(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6127768/)https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190326-what-is-epigenetics
On top of the ill effects of generational trauma causing bad health outcomes, many Roma do not have the same access to medical treatment as other communities do.
There are cultural differences that prevent adequate healthcare. There are practices Roma see as unclean that are wildly acceptable by most western people. This leads to the belief that hospitals are unclean and at risk. There is a history of healthcare workers abusing minorities, including Roma, which contributes to cultural distrust of healthcare professionals.
Healthcare workers often see Roma as unclean and treat them with suspicion. They see them as drug-seeking and undesirable. They treat this population with suspicion instead of sympathy. This leads them to dismiss symptoms and prevents them from getting the medical care and support they need.
(https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/racism-discrimination-health-care-providers-patients-2017011611015) (https://jech.bmj.com/content/54/11/864)
Access to healthcare is associated with having paperwork that ties you to a country or an area. Without proper documentation, healthcare is either expensive or just plain inaccessible.
The Romani community is underdiagnosed and sometimes burdened with illness. This becomes a problem for individual Roma and the Romani community as a whole. A healthy community has more resources to advocate for themselves.
(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4772291/) (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-73182-1) (https://www.healthline.com/health-news/strange-ancient-clues-revealed-by-modern-science-020914)
Child marriage is a red herring
Child marriage is a problem for many impoverished and minority cultures. In some Romani communities, child marriage is an issue. But some Romani communities it is not practiced.
Child marriage is the result of poverty and the economic situation. It is not unique or inherently linked to culture. (https://www.worldvision.org/child-protection-news-stories/child-marriage-facts) Yet is often used as an argument to judge and condemn an entire ethnic group.
Using child marriage as a reason to question the morals of a culture instead of addressing the underlying cultural pressures that force parents and families into actions is destructive. Poverty is what causes child marriage. Poverty is what drives child marriage. 80% of Roma live below or close to the poverty line. It is not surprising that a population whose people have been forced into poverty has issues with child marriage. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2014/07/23/heres-proof-that-child-marriage-and-poverty-go-hand-in-hand/)
This is part of a series. (Part 1: The Romani People)(Part 2: History)(Part 3: Hollywood)(Part 4: Culture, Pop Culture, and Home)(Part 6: A Modern Problem )(Part 7: What You Can Do)
