Ethnic Identifiers

Here is a sampling of the many sites that deal with organized crime.  Although ethnic identifiers are used in each of these and other reports, there is an absence of any law-abiding citizens within these ethnic groups accusing anyone who uses such terms as being racists.

RUSSIAN ORGANIZED CRIME GROUPS RAPIDLY PENETRATING U.S.
EVALUATION OF CHINESE TRIADS IN GREAT BRITAIN
THE JEWISH MAFIA
NIGERIAN ORGANIZED CRIME

Why is everyone so upset over the petty crimes being committed by a few Gypsies? Don’t the cops have better things to do with their time?

Murder, robbery, battery, child abuse, elder abuse, burglary, bribery, felony theft, insurance fraud, welfare fraud, pickpocketing, home improvement fraud, large-scale shoplifting, theft by deception, income tax evasion, auto theft, black market operations, fencing of stolen goods, forgery, intimidation of witnesses, threats to injure or accuse of crime, unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. 

From this partial list of crimes committed by the organized gypsy criminal groups, I will leave you to decide what, if any of them, should be accepted as “petty” and unworthy of any serious law enforcement intervention.

Why are so many cops, and others, so obsessed with the topic of Gypsies?

One cannot read the dissertations written by Romani scholars and activists without noticing a deep-seated loathing of any non-Romani who studies, reports, or comments on the Romani/gypsy history or present existence.  Terms like “so-called Gypsyologists, self-appointed experts, gypsy lorists, and uninformed meddlers,” are commonly used to exhibit a marked distaste for such interlopers. To ward off anyone who meddles in Romani affairs, some activists have devised a shotgun approach that leaves the accused with little or no chance of survival.  Here are some samples of how this is accomplished:

1. If you do not conduct any research on the history of the Romani people, you are ignorant and therefore unqualified to render any opinions. 
   

2. If you do conduct extensive research on the topic, and report anything the activists deem negative, you are either obsessed, a racist, a bigot, an ethnic labeler, or all the above.
   

3. If you are a qualified academician, who is willing to ignore all negative findings, and you lend your full support to the Romani activists, you are nevertheless not a Rom, and should therefore remain silent until your services are requested.
   

4. If you challenge the statements of Romani leaders, you are guilty of ridiculing them.
   

5. Here’s the clincher:  If you never heard of the Romani people, you’re guilty of unintentional persecution. 

Given the frequency of such attacks, it should be clear that such activists have no tolerance for honest debate on facts, or any desire to discuss the interpretation of those facts with those who possess different worldviews.  To intentionally fuel such an adversarial relationship suggests that perhaps they have much to hide. 

Another point that always seems to escape notice, involves those who insist that one must know every conceivable detail about Romani history before making any comments.  Clearly such people do not hold themselves to the same standards when criticizing law enforcement.  To the contrary, many of these critics have admitted that they know little or nothing about law enforcement procedures, criminology, or investigative procedures.  Even more hypocritical is their admission that they have no experience with the gypsy criminal groups or the crimes they commit.  One such critic told me that, until recently, he did not see a need to address the crime issues.  Another voiced his loathing of such criminal groups saying that he would not have anything to do with them. 

That law enforcement has no other choice but to address the crimes committed by such groups is something none of these activists has considered.  When asked how such groups should be dealt with, they either say that they should be handled the same as any other criminal group, (which is already being done) or that such groups should be ignored with hopes that in time they will align themselves with the law-abiding Rom.  In other words, they don’t have a reasonable answer.

Aren’t efforts to highlight the crimes being committed by the gypsy minority groups just another example of blaming the victims?

This question has it roots in something the academicians call differentialist racism.  This new strain of racism is defined as:

A theory or belief that does not postulate the superiority of certain groups or peoples in relation to others but 'only' the incompatibility of life-styles and traditions. 

This is a classic example of expanding the meaning of words to suit one’s beliefs. If you can’t prove someone is a racist based on the meaning of existing words or terms, then create ones that do include them.  Hence, differentialist racism.  Here is how one activist explained this theory:

“The main themes,” says Bernard Rorke, “are familiar to every ethnic minority in democracies old and new.  Attributes of deviance, criminality, fecklessness, welfare-sponging, hardly absent from the dominant culture, are foisted upon the minority as if they were the sole repositories of all that is asocial.” On Racisms Old and New by Bernard Rorke, Program Manager, RPP from RPP Reporter, Vol. 1, No. 2, June 1999 

Mr. Rorke listed an example of this differentialist racism by citing a remark made by former Hungarian Prime Minister Gyula Horn, during a 1998, speech:

“It is a well-known fact that Romani society has well-organized local communities, and that inner solidarity is very strong among them.  This fact has several positive results.  Unfortunately, for historical reasons, this solidarity is often extended to offenders of the laws as well.  Today, however, such phenomena are unacceptable even for an ethnic minority.  It is my conviction that this phenomenon results in grave damage in the moral reputation of minorities.  This is why I believe it is very important for the Gypsies to face this problem and to separate themselves from the criminals.”

In using the tern “inner solidarity,” the Prime Minister was no doubt referring to the organized criminal groups present among the Romani society.  It would be a stretch of the imagination to believe that he is unaware of the crimes committed by the members of other ethnic minorities in Hungary, or that he intended to blame all of Hungary’s crime problems on the Gypsies.  He simply noticed the obvious fact that the law-abiding Rom lived side by side with the organized criminal element, and for whatever their reasons, the honest Rom lent their support to these groups.  This in turn fostered problems between the Gypsies and the so-called dominant culture. 

As for the dominant culture in this particular example, we need to consider that Hungary was for the first time in a half century no longer under Russian control.  What they were left with, was a population of little more than 10 million and shrinking, tough economic conditions, diminished living standards, and increased poverty.  Annual inflation exceeded 25 percent, crime was rampant, and unemployment had reached 11 percent.  It would seem that the dominant culture was no better-off than the gypsy minority groups. 

One final note on the dominant culture theory.  Use of this particular theory amounts to little more than a diversion that promises to solve absolutely nothing.  This theory promotes the belief that if you are a minority who possesses customs that run counter to that of the dominant culture, then you will never be able to reach your full potential.  You are a victim with no control over your life. 

Luckily, many minority groups have chosen to leave the theories and defeatist attitudes to the scholars who study and comment on such complex social issues.  For the boatloads of Vietnamese who came to America with no prior exposure to the ways of the dominant culture, or any knowledge of the English language, such theories meant nothing.  Within several years of their arrival, many could speak the language fluently, and run successful businesses.  Despite their differences, Vietnamese children soon began outperforming all of their dominant culture classmates.  As they went on to college, they continually posted the highest entrance scores. 

During these successes, Vietnamese gangs (especially in California) continued to pose significant problems that did not escape notice from the news media or the police.  Neither did it escape the attention of the law-abiding Vietnamese community.  A 1994, Los Angeles Times poll showed that the greatest number of Vietnamese in Southern California named crime, street violence, and gangs as their chief community problems.  With the help of community leaders within the Vietnamese community, special police gang units were created to address the problem, and soon afterwards gang members were identified and held accountable for their crimes.  In all, the Vietnamese prospered amid less than favorable conditions, held onto to their cultural identity, tackled the problem with Vietnamese criminal gangs head-on, and never once thought it necessary to consider themselves victims of racism, stereotyping, of the evil dominant culture.

Contradictions? What Contradictions?

To accept the theories and accusations of those who hold everyone collectively responsible for the problems the Rom now face, you must first learn to ignore their many contradictions.  To address each of them, here, would only add to an already confusing topic, but here are a few examples that appear so often, they tend to be treated as facts. 

Anti-Rom attitudes also exist in the Americas to one extent or another.  Misrepresentations of the Romani people in the popular press, books, films, and television have contributed to negative stereotypes and characterisations. Special “Gypsy units” in some local police forces exist to warn the gadje population of "Gypsy" activities.  Patrin

This contains more than one contradiction.  For one, as previously noted, most Americans have never heard of the Rom, nor do most know that Gypsies still exist.  An unfortunate situation, but a fact nevertheless.

Saying that the Rom who call themselves Gypsies are being misrepresented in the media fails to mention that many of these myths and misrepresentations come from, and are kept alive by, members within the gypsy criminal groups.  Such people tell us what they do, how they do it, and why they have no intention of stopping.  Citing the views of those within these criminal groups is also said to be racist.  As some Romani leaders see it, this is just an example of using a small sampling of the available gypsies to support pet theories.  As mentioned previously --- you just can’t win.

Another contradiction involves the insistence on classifying the word gypsy as both pejorative, and as an acceptable ethnic designation.  It can be one or the other, but not both.  As you will notice in the Patrin quote, they begin with anti-Rom attitudes and two sentences later they are speaking about gypsies.

As for those nasty gypsy police units going about reporting on gypsy activities, we once again witness reluctance among the Romani activists to acknowledge the existence of crime as it relates to the gypsy criminal groups.  The only activities that interest the police, and the ones they caution others to guard against, are criminal activities..

If creating a panel, special unit, or a task force is now an unfair or racist act, then every law enforcement agency, government subcommittee, or other investigative agency is guilty as charged.  It is true, that here In America, as elsewhere, law enforcement has established temporary “Transient Criminal Group” task forces, whose duties included studying crimes being committed by groups who called themselves Travellers or Gypsies.  Again, one must ask if it is reasonable to believe that such units were created for the purpose of persecuting the Romani people.  Obviously some critics believe this to be the case. Then, too, some people believe the earth is flat, and that Elvis Presley is still alive.  

Direct and indirect racial discrimination continues to be the main barrier to full participation in society for all Roma.  Such discrimination is a contributing factor to the poor living conditions that many Roma throughout Central and Eastern Europe endure-- the slum-like housing, chronic unemployment, poor health, lack of access to public services, segregated schools, and, increasingly, the racially motivated violence that authorities fail to prevent or punish.  Asserting the rights of Roma to equal protection under the law and empowering them to become active members of their communities and the larger society is a top priority for the Soros foundations network.  Roma Participation Program Website

If all Rom are being denied full participation in society, then we must now ignore the millions of successful Roms we are told about who are college professors, doctors, police officers, lawyers, political activists, etc.  Then, too, if all Rom includes those in countries outside Europe, like the United States, then there is a noted lack of any credible evidence showing that they are being denied equal protection under the law, or the right to participate with the larger society.  If it is true, and some Rom do not want anything to do with the larger society, whom we are told they mistrust, then refusing to participate should not be confused with being denied such opportunities.

We must also consider those programs in Europe, and the United States, where such groups are afforded adequate housing, health care, and a host of other benefits, and yet the problems persist. (See article on Traveller community project). 

Although we often hear about the failure of law enforcement to protect these groups from “racially motivated violence,” seldom are we provided with verifiable examples that would support such claims.  Animosities between these groups and the local populace do in fact exist, but that they are not being investigated has yet to be proven. 

Sure some Gypsies steal, but after years of persecution they have no other choice.

This fallacious statement is used when it becomes impossible for the Romani activists to pretend that the organized criminal groups do not exist.  Other erroneous companions to this statement include such things as (1) it’s only petty crime,  (2) no one is ever really harmed, and (3) there are criminals present within every culture, so what’s the big deal?”

As already mentioned, members from within the gypsy criminal groups have frequently made it clear why they engage in criminal activities, and why they have no intention of stopping.  After viewing the obscene amounts of money these thieves have, the luxury cars they drive, the expensive jewelry they wear, and their extensive criminal records, such statements cannot be viewed as anything other than factual.  Despite all the evidence, some activists continue to pretend that these are only obscure cases, and have nothing to do the majority of the Romani population.  What remains a mystery is how they could possibly know this.  Since they admit to having little or no contact with the criminal element, then how could they know how many there are, or anything about the extent of the crimes they commit?  Then, too, there is nothing that even comes close to an accurate census on the number of Rom in the world, let alone what percentage are actually involved with the criminal groups.

There are only a handful of Gypsies who give all other Gypsies a bad name. (Also  known as the Numbers Game)

Not to be overcome by factual data, some Romani activists have devised a way to downplay or otherwise discredit the many police reports that prove the existence of organized criminal groups who call themselves Gypsies.  In one such attempt, a European critic, after reviewing some of the U.S. reports had this to say: “ I could not help but notice that the same names appear again and again.”  He used this observation to support his belief that only a small number of Gypsies were actually involved in such offenses, and that the police were overreacting.  This conclusion might be understandable if made by someone completely ignorant of this topic, but is inexcusable for those who profess their expertise on every conceivable issue.

Although the same names do in fact appear frequently on police reports, such names belong to different suspects.  What the gypsy criminal groups have long since discovered, is that five thousand people using the same name, and date of births, makes police investigations into their criminal activities difficult if not impossible. 

Another tactic includes using a different name on each arrest.  One such suspect, Rumba Lakatos, possesses more than 45 aliases, which happens to match to the number of times she was arrested.  And let us not forget the words of Ronald Lee, who was cited earlier, “They change their names as often as their houses.” This intentional diversionary tactic is so effective that the Gypsies within these clans are only known to one another by their Romani names or, in most cases, their nicknames, i.e., Bobby Big Eyes, Blackie, Wallpaper Wally, and so on.

For various reasons, law enforcement cannot cite with any accuracy the number of Romani who are involved with the criminal gypsy clans.  However, they do know that such highly organized groups exist in every metropolitan city in the United States and abroad.  They also know that no city, town, or township, regardless of its size, is immune to the many crimes practiced by such groups. 

The activists who insist on playing the numbers game do so knowing that most people, which includes investigative reporters and academic researchers, just won’t take the time to check the accuracy of such claims.  Not having to worry about accuracy makes it possible for some activists, who wish to prove a particular point, (such as a comparison between honest Rom and those associated with criminal gypsy clans) to simply make up any numbers they wish.  To paraphrase a group of Rom from Texas, who were discussing the importance of Romani population estimates,  “when it comes to estimating how many of us there are globally, it doesn’t matter so long as it makes us appear to be a more numerous.”  Document source