Madonna
Imagine paying in the high triple digits for a concert ticket only to get there and start booing the person you paid all that damn money to see? We can see that happening if the person just gave a horrible concert, but what if you were booing for reasons that had absolutely nothing to do with music or the performance?
Well, first off, you’re probably a true dumb-ass, but if you were one of the booing masses at a recent Madonna concert then you’re probably a bit of a racist as well. As part of her European tour stop in Romania, Madonna used several Roma or Gypsy performers as part of her act.
But when the Material Girl decided to speak up against the long standing, violent prejudice faced by Gypsies in Europe she received a shower of boos from the crowd of 60,000 plus.
Despite long-standing efforts to stamp out rampant bias, human rights advocates say Roma probably suffer more humiliation and endure more discrimination than any other group on the continent.
One fact that is often over-looked by historians of World War II is that, in addition to trying to exterminate European Jews, the Nazis were also looking to exterminate the Roma as well. Recently, in Hungary, six Roma have been killed and several wounded in a recent series of apparently racially motivated attacks targeting small countryside villages predominantly settled by Gypsies.
“There is generally widespread resentment against Gypsies in Eastern Europe. They have historically been the underdog,” Radu Motoc, an official with the Soros Foundation Romania, said Thursday.
Roma, or Gypsies, are a nomadic ethnic group believed to have their roots in the Indian subcontinent. They live mostly in southern and eastern Europe, but hundreds of thousands have migrated west over the past few decades in search of jobs and better living conditions. Romania has the largest number of Roma in the region. Some say the population could be as high as 2 million, although official data put it at 500,000.
Until the 19th century, Romanian Gypsies were slaves. While discrimination is widespread, many East Europeans are enthusiastic about Gypsy music and dance, which they embrace as part of the region’s cultural heritage. (Wait, they were slaves, the Europeans embrace their music and culture, but not them? Well, we’ll be damned if that don’t sound familiar! Does the NAACP have a European chapter? We’re not sayin’ … We’re just sayin’!)
Watch the reaction to Madonna below:
August 28th, 2009 at 7:24 am
dang, ppl get discriminated against everywhere, isn’t it amazing?
September 12th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
It is easy to remark on things a person seems to know very little about. That is what Madonna did, and then considered that those who protested her to be racists. That is her opinion. It would be easy for me to delve into a little history and lump the Roma people into a class of people who are downtrodden by society. I could carry much empathy. However, I have traveled through Romania a few times and did not gather my opinions by simply spending time with a few select individuals I work with to understand my experiences. The Roma people are not unlike so many other groups, including stereotypical whites. In America, some whites are labeled as ” white trash ” by their behaviors and by the ways they live. Likewise, some Roma are hard working and not a burden to others. But, many Roma have disdain for society and are dangerous to decent people everywhere. The naysayers in Madonna’s crowd probably have a much greater appreciation by personal experience in the complexities which Madonna did not take time to consider to evaluate the Roma. For instance, many Romanians get lumped with the Roma, simply because they live near the Roma. They unjustly sometimes bear the stigma throughout Europe of Roma thefts, dishonesty and downright evil. The crowd did not want to hear praise on the people who so often steal from the Romania they love. Just because you become a celebrity, you do not get a free ride as God.