I have a lot of respect for Madonna. Not because I like her music (not really), but because she is an amazing businessperson. When she first came to celebrity more than 25 years ago, girls started wearing their underwear on the outside of their street clothes. Women everywhere sighed with relief as heavy, dark eyebrows became acceptable. She made it fashionable to jog while pregnant and for women to marry men several years their junior. Now, I don't argue that the woman has talent, but I'm pretty sure that many others with as much or more talent than Madonna have never made the big time. She's a very smart woman, and she knows how to market herself.
Knowing all this about her only makes it all the more surprising that, during her "Sticky and Sweet" tour of Europe, she was recently booed by thousands at a concert in Bucharest merely for making a supportive statement about her fellow performers. Her comment, "It has been brought to my attention that there is a lot of discrimination against Romanies and Gypsies in general in Eastern Europe...It makes me feel very sad", was a statement of truth, reflecting her disappointment with such biases. It wasn't inflammatory, and she didn't add, "And all of you here are part of the problem, I'm sure!" She wasn't being accusatory. Yet thousands of her own fans jeered at her. Why?
Well, when I first read this article I immediately thought of Cher's "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves"; the fact that the word "gyp" comes from the name for the Roma; and that many still consider the word "gypsy" synonymous with the notion of a band of rootless troublemakers. These people have been enslaved, scapegoated, targeted by the Nazis and persecuted by almost everyone else. They've been in Southeastern Europe since the early 1300s and in Western Europe since the 15th century. Still, Europeans aren't used to them.
Roma, I've learned, are a tribal people, who guard their culture fiercely and consider all non-gypsies Gadje, or barbarians. Because of their (largely) itinerant lifestyle and their dispersion all over the globe, it is hard to know their exact numbers. You know, this description sound quite a bit like another group of historically oppressed people: Strong cultural identification, closeknit community, scapegoated for society's ills, enslaved for centuries and the victims of Nazi genocidal strategy. Hmmm. When will people learn? Kudos to you, Madonna.
Knowing all this about her only makes it all the more surprising that, during her "Sticky and Sweet" tour of Europe, she was recently booed by thousands at a concert in Bucharest merely for making a supportive statement about her fellow performers. Her comment, "It has been brought to my attention that there is a lot of discrimination against Romanies and Gypsies in general in Eastern Europe...It makes me feel very sad", was a statement of truth, reflecting her disappointment with such biases. It wasn't inflammatory, and she didn't add, "And all of you here are part of the problem, I'm sure!" She wasn't being accusatory. Yet thousands of her own fans jeered at her. Why?
Well, when I first read this article I immediately thought of Cher's "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves"; the fact that the word "gyp" comes from the name for the Roma; and that many still consider the word "gypsy" synonymous with the notion of a band of rootless troublemakers. These people have been enslaved, scapegoated, targeted by the Nazis and persecuted by almost everyone else. They've been in Southeastern Europe since the early 1300s and in Western Europe since the 15th century. Still, Europeans aren't used to them.
Roma, I've learned, are a tribal people, who guard their culture fiercely and consider all non-gypsies Gadje, or barbarians. Because of their (largely) itinerant lifestyle and their dispersion all over the globe, it is hard to know their exact numbers. You know, this description sound quite a bit like another group of historically oppressed people: Strong cultural identification, closeknit community, scapegoated for society's ills, enslaved for centuries and the victims of Nazi genocidal strategy. Hmmm. When will people learn? Kudos to you, Madonna.
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