[Tinuviel]

When I traveled to Romania several years ago, I was amazed at the horrific way the Roma people are treated. One of the presidential candidates at the time was heard to say on the radio, ‘I will take all the Gypsies, the Hungarians and the Jews, put them in the Bucuresti stadium, and kill them.’ I was shocked. Such racist, nationalistic feeling! There was a very high population of Roma homeless children, as well, and this disturbed me a great deal. From my perspective, it seemed that both the Roma and the ‘true Romanians’ (a term many of my friends call themselves) helped perpetuate the stereotype. For the Roma’s part, I witnessed many involved in harassment of foreigners and stealing from the general populace. But I also met several college-educated (and extremely wealthy) Roma people during my visit, and good, plain Roma people living quiet lives. But even the ‘good ones’ were distrusted by my friends. The ‘true Romanians’ (forgive this term, please), for their part, summarily dismissed the Roma as awful, terrible beasts beneath consideration or hope. Some of my Romanian friends are genuinely loving, caring people, but when confronted with a Roma person — of any class or education level — they became absolutely uncaring and cold. It was amazing to behold. I was raised in a multi-ethnic family within the United States so you can imagine how surprising this was to me. Roma culture appears to be very closed, and I can understand why when you consider the horrible way general European society treats Roma people. As a side note, Roma music is spirited, beautiful stuff. It seems to reflect both the jubilation and suffering experienced by the Roma throughout the hundreds of years they have lived in Europe.

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Name : Tinuviel, Gender : Female, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Bahai Faith, Age : 37, City : Albuquerque, State : NM, Country : United States, Occupation : Teacher, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower class, 

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