Living in Europe, in its exponentially longer history and engrained traditions and tensions, it seems clear that modern mobility and the opening of European Union borders have created new conflicts and tensions. While invasions and migratory patterns have long stirred the pot, modern governments for the most part have opened their doors wide and are trying to embrace what this means: better trade flow, shared resources, and also, necessarily, a welcome for residents who don't speak a dominant language or share common beliefs, and who may bring with them a sinkhole of poverty and concomitant fears and needs.
The lessons from Martin Luther King, I think, are therefore timely and globally important. When Americans honor his memory, we are reminded of how the ideals of justice, freedom, and equality reverberate even now; we are acknowledging that these ideals fall far short of reality still; and we are actively re-committing ourselves to shape America, in rhetoric and in practice, towards the great promise of a nation where every citizen has an equal stake and any heritage and belief is welcome for its own sake. So, as immigrants freely move throughout Europe, it is my belief that Europe can learn something from our young country, which has written co-existence into its nature from the very first.
This week, England's Prime Minister, David Cameron, posed a seeming paradox in a question about such freedoms: Does welcoming the ideals of multiculturalism mean welcoming people who do not embrace these ideals of mutliculturalism? Cameron asserted that a genuinely liberal country "believes in certain values and actively promotes them: Freedom of speech. Freedom of worship. Democracy. The rule of law. Equal rights, regardless of race, sex or sexuality. It says to its citizens: This is what defines us as a society. To belong here is to believe these things." Cameron claimed that instead, the "doctrine of state multiculturalism" has wrongly allowed many Muslims to live in England without sharing its values. Germany's Angela Merkel said something similar in October. Such important discussion about the idea and limits of free society suggest to me the continuing relevance of Martin Luther King's ideas half a century later and half the world away.
While I was working with students on the vocabulary, ideas and metaphors of the Dream speech, two shocking things occurred. The first was the assassination attempt on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. The second involved a nightclub stampede that trampled three girls to death in Budapest. Each deepened my urgency to talk about King's words.
The night after the shootings in Arizona, I weighed how I was going to discuss this with the students, and how clearly this pointed to the importance and purpose of King's philosophy of nonviolence. At some point I realized that every single name I'd attached to the holiday had been shot: Martin Luther King, shot; Abraham Lincoln, the "great American, under whose symbolic shadow we stand," shot; John F. Kennedy, who sought to pass the Civil Rights Act, shot; Ronald Reagan, who signed the holiday into law, shot. Ridiculous. Among things I hadn't been thinking when I started this project was the importance of non-violence as an idea and its insuperable connection to his goals of justice and right: though we may burn with the wrongs we see, we must act always out of love and not of hate. Violence divides only, and we are already so divided.
However, though I pointed to the shootings and emphasized King's message of peace, I only explained the use of nonviolence in the most practical of terms. When King said, "We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence," I explained this way. If there's a stupid law, break the stupid law, but don't hurt anyone so the moral claim is easier to feel. If you're not allowed to eat in a restaurant, go sit there anyway. If enough people do this enough times, the police will come, but also the cameras and newspapers will come, and people will say, Hey, that guy's getting arrested for eating in a restaurant. That's stupid! Maybe minds change. But if instead you burn down the restaurant, the police and camera will still come, but people will say, What a jerk! And black people are dangerous!
While this explanation may have shown students something of civil disobedience, it did not get near the urgency of King's legacy in a world so broadly synthesized and quickly portrayed by Internet hunter-gatherers, whose limitless repertoire of images, videos, quotes and tweets easily line up to prove hypocrisy, inconsistency, subtext, and selfish tribal aggrandizement and favor. It is so easy, now, to find an enemy.
So truly, Martin Luther King's philosophy of non-violence offers far more than I explained. In a 1957 article "Non-Violence and Racial Justice," he raises five beautiful and generative points:
- Non-violent resistance does not seek to defeat or humiliate the opponent, but to win his friendship andfriendship and understanding.
- The attack is directed against forces of evil rather than against persons who are caught in those forces.
- Nonviolent resistance [...] avoids not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love.
- To retaliate with hate and bitterness would do nothing but intensify the hate in the world.
- Finally, the method of non-violence is based on the conviction that the universe is on the side of justice. It is this deep faith in the future that causes the non-violent resister to accept suffering without retaliation. He knows that in his struggle for justice he has cosmic companionship.
How more true this became for me when the second shocking thing occurred: the nighclub tragedy. In the West Balkan club, 2500 tickets were sold. It had been licensed for 307. Any trigger of panic in such conditions was bound to be deadly. While there is debate about the cause of the stampede, overcrowding and ignored safety measures are clear villains. What does any of this have to do with our work with MLK? The story being told all over the country is that Roma were behind it: Roma stabbed the girls, and the coroner and police who reported, repeatedly, that no stab wounds were found, are part of a national cover-up. That is to say, the government itself is involved in a conspiracy to hide and manipulate evidence on the tender flesh of young girls to protect their favored sons, the Romani. But when I told this story as an example of racism that foments hatred, when I said, This is the story going around, students said, Yes, gypsies killed the girls.
I am very aware of how little I know and understand here, and I am largely disconnected from Hungarian media. I cannot help but feel, though, that when a grievance consensus builds around rumor and dismisses published fact, when entire peoples are besmirched on so thin a thread, when conspiracies are told of national indemnification for people who are manifestly impoverished, the winds of something ugly are blowing.
I intended to teach Martin Luther King as a way of nudging students to see the disconnection and anger between Hungarians and Roma more empathically, as a way of showing how cycles of poverty and discrimination lead to the kind of simultaneous social need and resistance students observe; instead my own failure to communicate and to understand the history and news around me leaves me thinking I see fear and hatred, and Martin Luther King's messages--about the global threat of poverty, about justice, freedom, opportunity, and above all, love, seem ever more important.
I am going to end my thoughts about this. I know this blog is long and dense enough already, and it remains as unsorted and tangled as my current understanding of how things stand. I do want to provide three things more, because they provide me with what little context I have about Hungarian-Roma relations. First, here is an article from Der Spiegel, in English, describing, in part, the Hungarian response after a famous hand-baller was killed in a bar fight with Romani. Second, a Time article from last summer discussing gypsies deportation from France. Third, a description of a 2003 initiative from an organization based in Washington, DC, to benefit Roma in Barcs. It might also be useful to see how a man described conditions for Roma students in Barcs in 1996, which gives a little background to the 2003 initiative.
And finally, below, I give you student responses to questions I posed at the end of a quiz about Martin Luther King: "Is there discrimination in Hungary? If so, what does it look like, and why do you think it happens? If not, why do you think Hungary has been able to avoid it? If there is discrimination in Hungary, what do you think can be done to improve things? If there is not, what can America learn from Hungary?"
I sign out with King's closing from his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech:
"I have the personal faith that mankind will somehow rise up to the occasion and give new directions to an age drifting rapidly to its doom. In spite of the tensions and uncertainties of this period something profoundly meaningful is taking place. Old systems of exploitation and oppression are passing away, and out of the womb of a frail world new systems of justice and equality are being born. Doors of opportunity are gradually being opened to those at the bottom of society. The shirtless and barefoot people of the land are developing a new sense of "some-bodiness" and carving a tunnel of hope through the dark mountain of despair. Here and there an individual or group dares to love, and rises to the majestic heights of moral maturity. So in a real sense this is a great time to be alive."
12G
- It isn’t too hard people can live together without fighting or something like that, but it’s just words and shout in the street. It’s a big problem but I think it can be worth. Might be politics can do something but they have bigger problems. So I think people thinking about it should be better. Feel that: they are people too!
- In Hungary, Hungarian people don’t like gypsy people. It was a great mistake of the government, give too much for the gypsies. For example if there is a violent crime against a white man and the suspect is a gypsy, the punishment will be 2-5 years jail, if there is a violent criminal against a gypsy man and the suspect is a white man the punishment will be harder because the gypsy will say the other person is a racist. It was only an example. Nowadays there are many advantages of being a gypsy in Hungary. And gypsies are “more equal” than Hungarians.
- I think in Hungary the gypsies are too free. They have got a lot of plus money because they make a lot of children. I know some gypsies who work hard but I think it is very few. Unfortunately not only the gypsies make the problems.
- There are many gypsy people in Hungary. Sometimes they think they have more rights than us. Maybe we have a lot of problems with gypsy, because of vandalism
- There is discrimination in Hungary because lots of Hungarian people don’t like gypsies people but they’re right in some part because those gypsies people don’t like to work and some of them are very unfriendly and sometimes the gypsies start to fight with Hungarians without any reason. Or maybe the reason is that Hungarians don’t like gypsies but if it will continue nobody could stop it. In my opinion it isn’t a good thing that the government let to gypsies people not to work and have a lot of children just because of the money. It is a very bad thing and I hope that it will stop.
- In the country lives a lot of nation and I think Hungarian peoples, not everybody but so many peoples hate the smaller nations. For example gypsies. We hate gypsies because they don’t want to work, they fighting and I think they are not good peoples. I think we can’t be done to improve things for discrimination in Hungary unfortunately.
- Years ago a Roma killed a famous handball player and he’s still free but 3 years ago in Szigetvar a white boy hit a Roma woman and he got 3 years. I think Romas shouldn’t get more money than us because of their skin colour. Some white people hate Romas and they shouldn’t but Romas hate white people more.
- Hungarians think that gypsies don’t do anything, they are lazy and unable to work themselves, they are not able to work in a normal office or something like this. Hungarians can’t imagine that their language is a beautiful language. I think it is impossible to improve their problem. But maybe gypsies can do somethings for it. They just shout in the streets and use the slang. Maybe they should stop their bad habits.
- Hungarian people discriminate gypsies because they have different rights. If a gypsy hit a Hungarian people he can continue his or her life but if a Hungarian people hit a gypsy he must go to jail. And if you look at the Hungarian criminals, more than half of it gypsies.
- Roma people get more money for doing nothing and make childrens. I think when someone is poor they should have foods, clothes, books for learning instead of money. Because many of the Roma people don’t care about their children and the money they got the bought alcohol drinks and cigarettes. So they shouldn’t get money but the things their children need.
- There are many gypsy in the country. Gypsy are not work and they have a lot of children because they get a welfare. We don’t like gypsies because they are a very bad and lazy people.
- There is discrimination in Hungary unfortunately because there are plenty of gypsy people everywhere. I haven’t got a big problem with some of the m because some of them are really very friendly and helpful but there are loads of gypsy people who don’t working at all and we, Hungarians, don’t like them and this is discrimination I suppose. But there are some things, some resolutions that we can do that we sort out the discrimination and our country will be a better place. For example there will be more workplace where every people can work and that’s why we can maybe get rid of poverty. Yes, Hungarians can avoid the discrimination is everybody has civil rights which are guaranteed the work to everyone. But in my opinion it is a long way to cut down discrimination, but maybe we can do it, I hope.
- People discriminate the gypsies. Because everybody saw that 90% of gypsies are not work because they get welfare. I think this situation will worst than now because gypsies want different right which are unreal, because they don\’t want to be better people they can only wait for our money.
- In Hungary there is not discrimination. Just a bot. Because we segregation the gypsies.
- I think, discrimination is in Hungary. I don’t like this people, who isn’t work and they get money by people who work.
- No, in Hungary not discrimination.
- Yes, in Hungary is discrimination. There are black and white people. The white people are Hungarian. Hungarian doesn’t like the black people. The black people came from other outland. In Hungary live white people, not black. The black live in their own land. The black doesn’t work in Hungary, there is not good. The black haven’t rights in our land. The black people make many bad things in our land.
- Yes, the white man not like the gypsies, because they fear from the gypsies. There’s not jobs and they got some money, because they are gypsies. American can learn from the Hungarian foods.
- I think in Hungary isn’t so big discrimination than in America was. Here just some people with bad eyes to the other race, but they do nothing.
- In Hungary there is not discrimination because we segregation.
- In Hungary live many nationalities (from German, Croatia, Roman…). But in Hungary lives many gypsy. They are steal, and fight with the white peoples. The Hungarians are hatred the gypsies. The Hungarians say, “Come on, go in work.” The gypsy say, “I don’t work, ‘cause I’m gypsy.” So we don’t discriminated at gypsies. By the way, then a gypsy killed a Hungarian people is not bad, but a Hungarian man HIT a gypsy this is discrimination. I hate the Hungarian laws.
- I think in Hungary there is discrimination. But it isn’t look like in America. I think discrimination very bad, because the people didn’t like the others. The people should like the others. They should give opportunity and equality. They should have freedom and justice.
11k
- I think in Hungary not discrimination because every people equally everybody.
- There is discrimination in Hungary because the Hungarian people hates gypsies.
- Hungarians judge gypsies less many of them stole a lot, the government give them a lot of money and they are at home no working. Gypsy people have to learn harder and have to work.
- Yes, in Hungary live a few gypsy and they robber and hit the other people. They’re very violent, so Hungarian people hate gypsies.
- I think in Hungary not discrimination, because every people equally everybody.
- In Hungary has been a discrimination between the gypsies and Hungarian peoples. Hungary is unfortunately racist to gypsies. In Hungary gypsy peoples not learn and work. They nothing do all day long. They don’t want work or learn.
- Hungarian people don’t like Roman people (cigány). People judged by the color of their skin and they content of their character. If I say cigány or the roma or the black skin people will be kick me. The minister has to change the thing. He has to donate the poor roma people. He has to give a change for their jobs.
- There is discrimination between the white peoples and the gypsies. But not everything white people do discrimination.
- America is nothing learn from Hungary. There is discrimination with gypsy.
- There is discrimination between the white people and the gypsy people. America can’t learn from Hungary. History of Hungary don’t interesting.
- I hate the gypsies! I think the gypsies must work too!
- In Hungary have anti-semitism I think. The nationalism partty are strong in Hungary and they are a bit racist and they are anti-semitism. Have a lot problems with gypsies in Hungary, the gypsy identity and mentality. But the problem is, haven’t got work. And a lot of gypsies must robbing, drug dealing, pimping. The Hungarian society is like the outlander but don’t like very well the gypsies. Hungary can learn from USA! The American society is reasonable.
- There is a bit of discrimination because of gypsy people. But I think it’s the fail of gypsy people, because they don’t want to work, they live on our taxes.
- Many people hate the gypsies, because most of them doesn’t work and there is too many problems with them. I think the gypsies must work too, because they don’t know how hard the work is and then maybe less people will hate them.
- In Hungary is a little discrimination. There are many gypsies in Hungary. They want no working, they have no job, but they have many, many children. The Hungarian people don’t like them, because they don’t do anything.
- Gypsies sometimes fight with the white peoples. I think we can be done to improve thngs when we change our politics.
- In Hungary live many different people, like gypsies, germans. Some places in Hungary are discrimination but not everywhere. America can't learn from Hungary, because here is discrimination too.
- There are many gypsy in Hungary. They have lot of children.
- Hungary has discrimination, but republic helps. Here are living many of nations. It's gypsies, he is the Hungarian negro. They comes in Hungary to Romania.
- When in Hungary is a revolt, the police should stop the angry people.
- In Hungary, white and black people can go to everywhere (restaurants, schools), but there are regions in the country, especially in Budapest, where there are many black people, they're beaten by police, and it is injustice. Police rights must be cut, because they beat people in a revolt. Black people also sit in prison, because by the police there's special injustice. These are times they beat people in the streets, or in prisons.
- There are many gypsies in Hungary. They have lot of children.
- They have discrimination, but republic help and not usually, but sometimes they have violence. They have discrimination, improve things: people live together, not segregation.
- In Hungary is a discrimination too.
- There are many gypsies in Hungary. They have lots of children.
- In Hungary but many people, like gypsy, some places. In Hungary are discrimination but not anywhere.
- I think there is discrimination in our land. Lot of people don't love gypsies, because they are dirty and they work never and they don't go to the school, they want not to learn. They are lazy. But our state helps poor gypsies, and it's not segregation.
- There's discrimination in Hungary, too, between the Gypsies and the Hungarians. The opinions are several. One people say it's because of the gypsy violence. Other people say it's just because there are many gypsies and they're steal always. In my opinion, there are many Hungarians who steal and, an extreme situation, kill people because of money. It's really bad thing, but of the Gypsies and the Hungarians try to understand another, there aren't so many problems in Hungary then.
- Isn't there discrimination in Hungary and look like that the people's happy there.
- There are "black" people here who are segregated. I think that there are better positions than the black people was in America. There are fights because gypsies are more violent than white people.
- Hungary is a republic. I think there is discrimination in Hungary because Hungarian people don't like gypsy peoples. The gypsy peoples live here in our land. They doing lots of bad things in Hungary. Gypsy people are dirty and they never want to work. When gypsy people are going to work, Hungarian people likes they. When they don't doing bad things, we like they.
- There are many gypsies in Hungary. They have lots of children.
- In Hungary live many different people, like gypsies, germans. Some places in Hungary are discrimination but not everywhere. America can't learn from Hungary, because here is discrimination too.
- I think that in Hungary are discrimination too. Some Hungarian people feel discrimination for gypsies or black people. I think that discrimination is not a good thing. I think Hungarian people and other nations live together.
- No, no discrimination in Hungary. The all peoples is free, here isn't slaves. The American people is more to learn from Hungary.
- Yes, in Hungary there is lots of discrimination. Lots of people kill the famous people. The American people learn the peace of the Hungary people.
- In Hungary there is lots of discrimination. Easily we can listen to radio or watch TV: Hungarian people beat gypsy. But it is not more horrible than in USA. Because in USA the black people kill the white people, or white people kill the black people.
- I think in Hungarz hasn’t a discrimination because the people decide that who will be the president
- In Hungary there was discrimination but nowadays there isn’t. The constitution of Hungary doesn’t let it.
- Yes, in Hungary there discrimination. It look like the gypsies live in segregation. They learn different school than the white people. They haven’t got a job and they have a five children or more. They can’t work and they don’t want to work. They are very violent. In my opinion, we can improve things the gypsy move out of the country. They have to live in other land.
- Yes there is discrimination in Hungary. There are Hungarian people and gypsy people. Lots of people are bad, but not everyone. And I fear, if I go a street alone at night.
- There is discrimination, but not like in America. Here are many foreigner people with Hungarian citizenship rights, like gypsies, most Hungarians don’t like gypsies, because there are lot of them and they are violent. Here in every city, or even villages, have a “segregated” quarter for gypsies, even here in Barcs. I think gypsies should go home to Romania, and Hungarian from other land should come “home.
- In my opinion, yes, in Hungary, there is a discrimination. I think everywhere there is discrimination. Nobody can avoid it. I think everybody has different personality, and that’s why the high level of discrimination can be in the cities. In Hungary, some people, for instance, black people, Chinese, etc., are judged by the color or by the outlook.
- There is discrimination in Hungary. This is very bad. In my opinion discrimination is horrible. The Hungarian people don’t elfogadni (adopt) the Roma / Gypsy people.
- In Hungary there isn’t discrimination because I think somebody not different others. If there is discrimination, I think we talk to others, the problem solve, that we isn’t different.
- I think in Hungary has a discrimination. Because we can choose for four years a Hungarian president. That’s why the peoples have a lot of problems with him.
- In Hungary there is discrimination because the people are differently. I think the most important that we can speak the problem and we can’t done problems solve.
- There’s only a little discrimination between poor and rich people but I believe that it always have been and will be. From my point of view there’s nothing to improve as there’s no way back because our country is going bankrupt.
- Yes, Hungarian between Roman.
- Yes, discrimination is everywhere.
- There is discrimination in Hungary because it in the Hungarian personality. For instance a colored person have less chance than a white person for apply for some job. In my opinion we can’t do anything. It will disappear in time.
- Yes, I think there is discrimination in every country, so in Hungary too. To my mind that is happens very interesting, because I like the history.
- There is discrimination because there’s a lot of gypsy and a lot of white people hate them. I think gypsies have to work. Because in Hungary white people are working and a few gypsies too. A lot of gypsies get money from the state, and I think it’s not good because the white people work a lot and the gypsies are not and they have to work to get money.
- In Hungary have a discrimination. Gypsies fight with Hungarian peoples. I think if gypsies go to other country every Hungarian peoples was very happy.
- Some people hate gypsies because they don’t work but not every gypsy like this. Gypsy have to work if they have opportunity for it end Hungary people have to be patient with this thing.
- Hungary people between Romania people. Because Hungary peoples they don’t like Romania people.
- In Hungary, there’s discrimination, but just a little bit. Sometimes people talk from each other like bad people, but it happens, because their skin color. And they don’t have a job, but they live almost better than families who working, because they have more rights than a normal citizen. I think Hungary shouldn’t support these discriminated people too much, because that’s why people don’t like them. They live like a “normal family,” but they still not working long time ago. If they will be get a job, people willn’t be consider them bad people.
- I think is there discrimination in Hungary. Because in the first team the white skins people, and in the second team the dark skins people. If there is discrimination in Hungary and in America too. In Hungary the dark skins people are very segregated. All people are different the another people.
- In Hungary is discrimination because the different people. Nothing learn from Hungary.
- I think in Hungary there is discrimination. Here live in a lot of gypsy. They can do everything, because the country help the,/ I think we can improve things. Gypsy people travel to abroad. If gypsy don’t live in this country, Hungary will be clear and there are no lot of crime.
- Yes, there is discrimination in Hungary. Hungarian people work hard, but gypsies don’t work and they get Hungarian’s money. There are a lot of Chinese and they sell their clothes. Hungarians buy Chinese clothes and stuff, so Hungarian products stay in shops. I don’t know what should do. I’m not interested in politics, but I think gypsies get a lot of money. But they don’t work, they have their own culture.
- I think discrimination happens because Hungarian people have less laws than gypsies, and gypsies know that and do a lot of unfair things. Other problem is that they don’t want to work but they get a lot of financial aid from the government. On the top of that they can’t pay taxes because they don’t work. That’s why white people must work a lot to pay more taxes to the country. I think the government should increase aid and they should propose an act that doesn’t allow gypsies to not work. Another thing that they should propose is an act that allows for schools to expel gypsies who can’t learn.
- I think there is discrimination in Hungary. Gypsies has more rights than Hungarian people. For example: gypsy teens get more +25 points if they want to go to university. It is happening because the Hungarian Parliament gets a lot of support for them. The Hungarian Parliament tries to help them, but most of them is too “stupid” to use any kind of help for themselves. Reasons why they are in poverty: their surroundings is too bad; their family has not much money.
- In Hungary isn’t discrimination. I think people in Hungary don’t want to fight with each other because they want to live in harmony. Americans can learn that from Hungary, how to different nations live together. Because in Hungary live a lot of Romanian, Croatian and Serbian people and if there are some problems, we can discuss that with them, so this way don’t need to fight.
- Maybe yes, because the Hungarian people avoid the gypsy because they killed people. For example they killed the famous handball player, Marian Cozma on 8 February 2009.
- Hungary is not more money. Yes, America is to learn to Hungary. Physics, math, chemistry and biology.
- I think discrimination is find in Hungary too. Gypsies are the first who are segregated because they don’t have job and don’t do anything to avoid this problem. And some of these people without job drive in a cool car. But not everybody. The second I think the Chinese. A lot of Chinese migrated nowadays and opened stores and sales bad quality clothes and toys. In Barcs there are a lot of Chinese shops. I think everybody should work.
- In Hungary have a discrimination. In Hungary live a lot of gypsy. I think is bad. I think the gypsies not live in Hungary, then is not more crime.
- I think there is discrimination in Hungary. Gypsy people say they are being treated badly because nobody wants to give them a job. However, the truth is that they don’t even want to work. They get much money for sitting at homes and doing nothing, much more than other people would. And they are not satisfied and say they have fewer rights than other people. Also, for the same crime, a gypsy person gets lighter punishment, because if he / she won’t, then he / she will start babbling about rights and equality. Where is the equality and justice in that? I don’t know if there is a solution for this problem or not, but I believe something should be done. Everybody should be equal, and our country should provide workplaces for everybody, gypsy and other people alike. I know that it is not a simple thing to make workplaces out of nothing, though.
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