Roma Injustices

Racism has followed the Roma population across the globe for hundreds of years. According to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum website, the German word for Gypsy, "Zigeuner," is derived from a Greek root meaning "untouchable."

Beginning in the 14th century, records show that Roma were captured and traded as slaves in the Balkan countries of Europe. It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of Roma lived as slaves in the Balkans; slavery was not abolished there until the middle of the 19th century.*

Some historians theorize that the Roma population were persecuted early in their time living in Europe because Europeans associated their dark skin with the Islamic population that had recently cut off Europe's trade routes to the East. Western European countries attempted to rid their populations of Roma by shipping them to the Americas as early as 1661.^

During World War II the Nazi regime systematically studied the Roma population, removed them from their homes, sterilized an unknown number of Gypsies, and killed tens of thousands of Roma in Auschwitz-Birkenau and other concentration camps (USHMM).

Even today, local laws exist in Europe and the United States that some people say are intended to criminalize Roma culture and lifestyles. Even when laws are not in place, Roma feel that they are discriminated against. In Spokane, Washington, a local school declined to follow through with a viewing of American Gypsy due to pressure from the community (see related article).

* and ^from Ian Hancock's The Pariah Syndrome, available on the web at www.geocities.com/Paris/5121/pariah-contents.htm