Madonna Lectures Romania on Gypsy Discrimination
Madonna performed in Romania on Wednesday in front of 60,000 people, and lectured them on discrimination against Gypsies, otherwise known as Roma. Madonna told the crowd:
“I’ve never been to Romania before and I am happy to be here. But I found out that there is a lot of discrimination against gypsies in Eastern Europe and that makes me very very sad, because we don’t believe in discrimination against anyone. We believe in freedom and equal rights for everyone, right? Gypsies, homosexuals, people who are different; everyone is equal and should be treated with respect, OK? Let’s not forget that.”
The crowed booed Madonna when she gave her short condescending speech, and then as she began to perform her next song some in the crowd cheered.
Madonna’s publicist, Lizz Rosenberg, said Madonna was told by the Roma that they were discriminated against:
"Madonna has been touring with a phenomenal troupe of Roma musicians who made her aware of the discrimination toward them in several countries so she felt compelled to make a brief statement. She will not be issuing a further statement."
Madonna heard what she wanted to hear from the Roma performing with her, but didn’t bother to gather any other information from anyone else, which she should have done since there are always two sides to every story.
Roma children are more likely to drop out of school than their peers from other ethnic groups. Many Romanians label Gypsies as thieves, and many are outraged by those who beg or commit petty crimes in Western Europe, believing they spoil Romania’s image abroad.
A man named Ionut Dinu (23) who attended the concert said:
"I jeered her because it seemed false what she was telling us. What business does she have telling us these things?"
On YouTube the comments for this video were almost universally opposed to Madonna’s lecture, with some of the more outraged comments below:
ilovemusicofanykind
Shut the f*ck up, alright?
If you were near me right now, I would have kick your a$$ .. You have NO F*CKING? IDEA how is to live in a City dominated by gypsy gangs in YOUR OWN F*CKING COUNTRY … You have no idea how is to pay f*cking taxes everyday when you get out of the school gates to the gypsies and you also have no idea how is to be spitted in the faces when you don’t give money to the beggars, f*cking ignorant monkey !YOU STUPID AMERICAN, MIND YOUR OWN F*CKING BUSINESS…CUZ U DON’T KNOWYou don’t know how real life is not even in your own country …and u? talk about romania ?
Do u know how’s the life here ?! Have u ever been here before ?! Stupid ignorant b*tch … with your discrimination excuse.
That’s just an excuse …for the killing raping and stealing …ColonPatrol
The criminal gypsies of Europe all come? from Romania. We have to live with them in this country. They turn everything to shit. You’re a sh!tty American telling us how to treat problems in our own country? Do you live here? If you lived here for a few days and saw what gypsies are all about, you wouldn’t be preaching for equal rights, because our hate for them isn’t based on stereotypes, but on facts.
F*ck the gypsies.
That anger and hatred toward Gypsies, aka Roma, didn’t come from no where, or from misguided stereotypes.
In Spokane, Washington a Gypsie family with the last name of Marks had their homes searched in 1986 for stolen items. Police found $1.6 million in cash, and $160,000 in jewelry. The Marks family successfully fought felony charges because some family members had their homes searched, who weren’t under investigation. The Washington State Supreme court upheld the Felony charges, but said the evidence could not be used for a trial because some of the searches were illegal. Despite an obvious gang of thieves, in my opinion, the case was dropped due to the rules of evidence in felony trials. The gypsy family claimed it was a civil rights victory for Gypsies, when it was really felony criminal thieves getting away with a crime, and no justice for the victims in my opinion. Romania has experienced the very same victimization by Gypsies, who have defined how others see them with their behavior, so it seems the stereotype is accurate in their case for the most part.
Madonna should have lectured the Gypsies to stop stealing, aggressively begging, and victimizing their neighbors so they can earn respect as all other people have to, but that’s not Madonna. Madonna looks for an underdog, then tries to be their champion. In this case, it proved what an ignorant person Madonna really is. Discrimination is a reaction by some people to bad behavior by other people in some cases like this one, so its supposed to discourage the bad behavior. If Gypsies want to stop the discrimination they are going to have to change their behavior.
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3 Responses to “Madonna Lectures Romania on Gypsy Discrimination”
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In my opinion, gypsies are no more discriminated against than they discriminate against the rest of us. It is trully sad to see a people discriminated against, but the way gypsies live their lives, what they do with their lives is up to them, and we only react to their behavior.
Some commented on Gypsies lacking proper ID’s, not being given opportunities. Maybe so, but them not having ID’s is mostly their own fault. Some refuse to get married in a legal fashion, they refuse to give birth in hospitals, and once they give birth, they don’t register their new born babies, making it difficult for the state to give them a proper ID card when the time comes.
Gypsy children often don’t go to school, and they don’t get any proper education at home either (education is free in Romania for everyone, including gypsies, so nobody can say that’s a financial issue for them). Gypsies, not all of them, but plenty, refuse to submit to the laws of the countries they live in, and they are angry at the rest of us for not giving them the same opportunities. If they would try to stop stealing, harming people , if they would get jobs and be law obiding citizens, nobody would have any issues with them.
I’ve read some quotes from Florin Cioaba, King of the Gypsies (in Romania at least), saying that he would like to give Madonna a golden statue, or something of the sort. He was not joking, and any Romanian or Gypsy could tell you, he does have the gold to do it. Did anyone wonder, how come King Cioaba of the Gypsies has all this gold to give Madonna?
I am all against discrimination of any kind, but I have lived here in Romania for 25 years now, and I have seen why the Gypsies are disliked, or even hated. It’s not their old customs, the real nomadic Gyspies are long gone, it’s the fact that a lot of them steal and beat up, or kill, regular people, who do nothing more than go to work and try to live their lives.
You might think having people beg for a living is not such a bad thing for the rest of us, it shouldn’t inconvenience us into disliking them. Maybe so, but they have a way of begging that is rather agressive, they grab you sometimes and follow you in the street, threaten you, call you names, spit at you if you don’t have or don’t want to give them money.
I have also seen cases where people do take pitty on them and offer them food, they refuse it, they only want the money. And Lord knows, they do have the money to build themselves huge brick (ugly) houses but, don’t take care to put in any plumbing, so they go around not washing themselves. Believe me when I tell you , you can not imagine the smell they leave behind, or how dirty they look, nobody in their right mind would want to go anywhere near them. I’m not saying everyone who is poor and can’t wash should be totally outcast cause of their looks and smell, but it’s not the lack of money or opportunities that’s keeping the Gypsies from washing themselves.
I do have friends who are Gypsies, who are really nice people, and I would never say anything bad about them. They went to school, they work hard , and are standup people in every way possible. The booing at Madonna’s concert or these comments are not about them. They are about the ones who don’t really want to be a part of our society, they only want to be handed all the money, the rights and opportunities, without working for them at all (unless you want to call stealing working).
Nobody gets that, not even the luckiest of us.
Im Italian and have been to italy many times over the years. Let me tell you that there are alot of gypsies from eastern europe there, and they are infamous for stealing. My grandmother was a victim of theft right in her home and it was a gypsy.
I hate to say it, but Madonna doesn’t have a clue about what’s REALLY going on in Romania.
While it’s true that gypsies are being discriminated against, Romanians are also being discriminated against in their own country. Fact: if a Gypsy mugs a ‘white’ Romanian (a very frequent occurrence, happened to myself once), it’s “just” a crime. If a ‘white’ Romanian mugs a Gypsy, it’s a hate crime; said gypsy will retaliate, and bring friends. Ditto for gypsies disturbing the peace (happened every other day), gang fights, indecent exposure, swearing and spitting. In some places, gypsy gangs are out of control, and the police does little to stop them (sometimes, the police are working hand in hand with the gypsies).
To top it off, gypsies are the heads of virtually every crime ring in Romania, no matter how big and small – on-the-street currency exchange, cigarette and alcohol smuggling, “debt recovery” (usually involving bullying the victim into paying by beating them to near-death, kidnapping family members, property damage and much more). And don’t even get me started on the bad name gypsy thieves, rapists and murderers have given Romanians abroad.
Don’t get me wrong: not ALL gypsies are like that. I’m not generalizing, and I’m not a racist. But I’ve lived in Romania for eighteen years, and I’ve had trouble with gypsies on more than one occasion (from being mugged at knifepoint to seeing a friend get beat up by two individuals while their friends jeered on).