All the documents contained on this site have repeatedly stated that
those factions within the Roma community, who resort to crime for their existence,
are their own worst enemy. Any negative images the outside world has about these
people are, right or wrong, based this propensity towards crime. Coupled with the
gypsy’s self-induced isolationism they are forever at odds with all other
cultures. To claim that racism, bigotry, and forced assimilation constitutes the
basis for the problems now faced by the Gypsies might provide good material for
academic debates, but do little to foster anything that remotely resembles a
solution to the problems as they exist.
For those who have digested the information contained within these pages,
you will have noticed how quickly Roma activists are to condemn as racists and
bigots all who dare suggest that some factions within Romani society do indeed add
to their own problems. For instance, many academicians have accused such people
of holding victims (the Gypsies) culpable for their own victimization. Or, put
another way, blaming the victims for being victims. But there are exceptions to
what we are led to believe are absolute truths.
It seems that when politically convenient, some people of power are
allowed to state the obvious. One such person was the Dalai Lama, of India.
Here’s some excerpts from an article about a meeting between the Dalai Lama and
Roma activist Ian Hancock:
On March 12th 2003, Roma Parliament member for the United
States and American Board Member of the Roma National Congress Professor Ian
Hancock (o Yanko le Redjosko) had a 40-minute private meeting with the Dalai
Lama at his home in Dharamsala, India, to discuss the situation of Romanies
throughout the world.
The Dalai Lama’s first point, which he stressed emphatically, was that
the strength of the people must originate in the family. The family unit must
remain strong, because it was from here that real love and support—sometimes the
only love and support—comes. In a hostile world where children are made
to feel worthless and unloved, the family is their refuge. He said that our
language must be spoken in the home, and our cultural values taught and
practiced. He was particularly emphatic about keeping our language alive, and
said that this was especially important for a people without a homeland.
At the same time, he
stressed that while it is imperative to maintain our traditional practices, only
those that have contemporary value should be passed on. Any customs or beliefs
that we have which hold us back and prevent us from integrating into the bigger
national society should be abandoned.
[emphasis added]
Dr. Hancock said that
for some groups especially, pollution taboos were particularly strong, and
served to keep children out of school and kept the barriers between Romanies
and gadje (non-Romani) firmly in place. He told the Dalai Lama that such beliefs were
hundreds of years old, a legacy from India, and would be extremely difficult to
change.
The Dalai Lama said he
understood that, and that his own Tibetan people had similar traditions, but had
learnt that they were ultimately holding them back. He made a number of
comparisons with the Jewish people who, until 1948, also lacked a country of
their own. Dr. Hancock pointed out that Jewish people place great emphasis on
literacy and education, and have produced many scholars, while we are only now
attempting to do the same.
That a refusal to provide their children with a
formal education is no doubt a part of the predicament now faced by American
Gypsies, it is by itself only a symptom of a far greater problem. Missing
from Hancock’s response is any mention of crime or other similar antisocial
behavior. Then, too, neither did he see fit to attack the Dalai Lama for
suggesting that Romani people should integrate into the bigger national society.
Historically, Hancock, etal., have viewed such integration as nothing short
of forced assimilation; something they neither want nor shall allow to occur.
Or so they sometimes say.
Herein enters yet another
example of the Romani activist’s reliance on doublespeak. Depending on who is
conducting the interview, Hancock promotes two conflicting ideologies, believing
both to be true. He loathes anything that even resembles assimilation,
viewing it as forcing beliefs and customs of others on his people. He
simultaneously uses himself and other law-abiding Roma as shining examples of what
can be accomplished by following the advice of the Dalai Lama, that is,
integrating into the bigger society by abandoning any customs or beliefs that run
counter to those held by the bigger national society. In other words,
assimilation.
So what has Hancock had to
abandon to achieve admittance into this bigger national society? He is
allowed the freedom to believe and say what he wants, travel freely, practice his
religious beliefs, vote, hold public office, work when and where he so chooses,
and seek legal redress for any wrongs directed at him. In reality he had to
give up nothing.
In return for citizenship
Mr. Hancock, like all citizens, is expected to obey the laws and resist any
temptation to wrongfully interfere with the life of his fellow citizens. If
these expectations are to be viewed as an insurmountable problem for other Roma,
then they shall forever remain social outcasts. As noted elsewhere on this
site, and contrary to popular belief, America is not a melting pot. We do
not lose our cultural heritage when becoming US citizens, nor are we expected to
abandon our beliefs. If anything, American is a rich stew, containing a
diverse citizenship that add to and enrich the communities in which they live and
work.
