I work for a homeless charity that is commissioned to carry out services for homeless individuals and have a real problem with how we are treating the Roma population.
Recently, a large number of Roma have started sleeping rough in tents in local parks. They have hurt nobody, but the approach from the council and police and now ourselves has been just one way: the destruction of the tents and the presence of UKBA officers to serve them papers. The main objection to them staying there has been the presence of human waste and their use of the black market, but I fear we are indiscriminately targeting one group of people who do not look like us and cannot defend themselves as they have nobody to advocate them. We treat no other nationality the same way, and people sleep rough all over our borough and refuse our assistance without their structures being destroyed.
Of course, these Roma differ from the average rough sleeper in that they have homes back in Romania and are primarily interested in working for a few months and returning home. But I fear that we are quickly grouping them all together as a single monolithic group and treating them as such, without going to the effort of understanding who they are, where they have come from, and what they want. We are responding to the worst excesses of humanity, those who have the racist attitude of being afraid to walk through parks with Roma simply standing about talking, rather than the best.
There is no end game here, as Roma have had centuries of experience having their structures removed all over the world and are unlikely to be put off by a group of british police and councillors removing their tents. All they do is move from one site to the next, appearing elsewhere. If these were Syrian refugees, how would we treat them. Anyway, thoughts you may have some thoughts on the matter. Would appreciate hearing them.
Recently, a large number of Roma have started sleeping rough in tents in local parks. They have hurt nobody, but the approach from the council and police and now ourselves has been just one way: the destruction of the tents and the presence of UKBA officers to serve them papers. The main objection to them staying there has been the presence of human waste and their use of the black market, but I fear we are indiscriminately targeting one group of people who do not look like us and cannot defend themselves as they have nobody to advocate them. We treat no other nationality the same way, and people sleep rough all over our borough and refuse our assistance without their structures being destroyed.
Of course, these Roma differ from the average rough sleeper in that they have homes back in Romania and are primarily interested in working for a few months and returning home. But I fear that we are quickly grouping them all together as a single monolithic group and treating them as such, without going to the effort of understanding who they are, where they have come from, and what they want. We are responding to the worst excesses of humanity, those who have the racist attitude of being afraid to walk through parks with Roma simply standing about talking, rather than the best.
There is no end game here, as Roma have had centuries of experience having their structures removed all over the world and are unlikely to be put off by a group of british police and councillors removing their tents. All they do is move from one site to the next, appearing elsewhere. If these were Syrian refugees, how would we treat them. Anyway, thoughts you may have some thoughts on the matter. Would appreciate hearing them.
via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/1s4aLRW
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