With many families adopting from Eastern Europe and Asia, it's important to understand not only the positives from the countries of our children's birth, but also the negatives. As children grow and home country visits become possible, parents need to be aware of as many potentials as possible.

Although not one of the primary focuses of prejudicial thinking and racial bias in the US, antiziganism, like all bigotry, is damaging in even small doses.

But, it's not small doses that are the case in Europe.

Antiziganism is anti-gypsysm, and negative stereotyping against Gypsies, the Roma and Sinti population, is so common in European countries that many don't even recognize the cruel characterizations as anything other than fact.

The European Center for Antiziganism Research, (EZAF), a scientific institution with the aim of investigating antiziganistic attitudes and actions in those countries where members of the Sinti and Roma people live in numbers, has this to say:

While the hate against Jews, the persecution and annihilation of the Jews, old and new anti-Semitism have been experiencing a great amount of public attention and broad scientific analysis for quite some time, this does not hold true in any way for the attitude towards the Sinti and Roma minority. Antiziganistic prejudice is still rampant in broad areas of the population, but also in the media and the social institutions, where it remains unchecked and manifestly established. It is publicly voiced unfiltered. This is obviously a declaration of enemy status within society, in both a mental and a physical way.

Ask almost any Englishman, German or Frenchman about gypsies and you'll hear warnings about thievery, dirty bodies, and beggars. Bias against the Roma and Sinta people runs long and deep and with almost no guilt or come-back.

Just like Blacks in America before the Civil Rights movement forced change, Roma children are not allowed in mainstream schools, but segregated into "special schools", while families are denied housing in anything but Roma areas.

Does this sound too familiar?

It was presented some video-projection with advertisement for washing powder whichs name is ARDEC. That advertisement had the following message: If Gypsies would have washed themselves with this detergent, they will grow white and they will no more have a black skin.

A conference in Hamburg, Germany brought together people from all over Europe to discuss the issue.

Dr. Karin Karingo (working in European Parliament for human rights) emphasized that Romas are marginalised, a lot of them were killed by skinheads, and that a great number of people received informations about Romas from the medias, where they are introduced as criminals and beggars. She said 14 million people don't want to live with Romas. Media usually don't go directly to make reportages about Roma, so students did that, showing Roma in a negative sense. Second negative attitude is the image of Romas. Usually they sit beside refuse, dirt, so it is associated that Roma are similar to refuse. Some media in France, Germany and Austria present Romas siting beside refuse, but not individually but in groups, so the spectator has automatically in his conciousness the collective psychology of Roma as an entity near refuse.

Oh, my!

And there's more ...

Els de Groen (Representative in European Parliament for Romas) was speaking about general Romany situation. She noticed Romas in Bulgaria who are named Mangalias because of their skin colour. Those Romas live in buildings without windows, houses are not repaired for many years, girl-children are procured and registered like prostitutes, and a great number of Romas illegally get across to Italy and there were trained by mafia. She said that European commission had given a lot of money for the betterment of Romas lives, but 66% of that money was taken by miscellaneous ministries and humanitarian organisations, where the money was used for their individual needs, not for the target group. She emphasized that she wants to see more Romas in Parliament because none knows illness diagnosis better than the doctor. She request that Romas have to be more active, to take note of problems in their environment and to send each problem which is worthy of attention to the European Parliament as regards all Roma, and she will envisage it with European commission.

Although we're used to hearing many this/verses/that ... Black/ White, Hutu/ Tutsie, Croat/Serb, North/South, East/West, Up/Down, whatever/where ever ... there seem to always be another way to divide and conquer.

Continued ...