Borders: Reading Response

"The relationship between nomads or 'gypsies' and the Italian citizenry is an extremely negative one...there are about 80,000 in the whole of Italy, some of Italian but most of Balkan origin. They live in appointed caravan sites on the edges of the cities, sometimes deprived even of running water and electricity, let alone the normal city services such as rubbish collection"
--Immigration and Social Identities

To be perfectly honest, I don't know how I feel about this quote. On one hand, I feel it can and should be compared to racism in the United States before Abraham Lincoln, something we are much more familiar with and that seems more real to us. And if it is a similar situation, it is a terrible thing that should be eradicated. On the other hand, I grew up in Romania where the exact same thing is happening, and am thus somehow numb to the concept. The few times I questioned the morality of it out loud, I was soothed with explanations that gypsies are happy where they are, proud of who they are, and undesiring of change. Furthermore, I was told that they are dirty, deceitful, and unfit to be treated as equals --and that although this does sound like a stereotype, most of them fit the stereotype. Unwilling to think about such sad things any longer, I accepted the justifications and went on with my life. Now, looking back on it, are either of those justifications possible or even realistic? Who would want to be forever treated as an outsider? Are humans born with a certain human nature that we cannot change and that we inherit from our parents? ...or is human nature developed in time and based on our surroundings as much as our genes?

While I was re-reading the quote above, a chilling feeling ran through my body and I started to feel slightly nauseous. Is it possible that I'm currently living in a place where the same mistakes that were made years ago before (and even after) the civil war are being made again? Am I standing by and doing nothing while people are suffering unjustly every single day? Am I perpetuating this unfair treatment by glaring at gypsy beggars on the street and refusing to speak to them? ...but then my body began to relax as I thought again that it must be a different situation or somebody would have done something by now. I can't be the first person to notice and to care, can I? My mind worked rapidly and continued to soothe my aforementioned worries with assurances that times have changed and that nothing that terrible could be happening in our world today...that there must be a reason behind it all and I just don't have enough information to know it yet. Isn't it funny how humans are able to console themselves through just about anything?

I still feel nauseous. The negative stereotype of gypsies and many immigrants is a self-fulfilling prophecy. How can they be clean if they are not given running water? How can they live without begging if they are not allowed jobs? How can they have self-respect if everybody around them treats them as less than human? How could I help? One thought that ran through my mind was to talk to one of them and find out how they really feel about what is going on and maybe get a better perspective on the subject. However, besides the obvious language barrier, there are numerous other problems with this idea --namely the fact that I would feel extremely uncomfortable doing it. Maybe I will do it purely for that reason: to step out of my comfort zone and at least learn something about myself, if not about them.

I feel better. In a few minutes, I will get dressed and leave for Italian class. In less than half an hour, I will have completely forgotten the horror and pity I felt at my realizations. However, I will try to revisit the thought every day for the rest of my time in Rome and create a clearer picture of what is actually going on.

Somewhat neutral for now,
Ciao