My children are becoming racist and I am starting to panic!

I recently asked my son how many children are in his class, so that he might invite them all to his birthday party, as had been our usual practice back in the UK. His response “I’m not inviting any of the Tsigeni or Kupinari to my party.” After years of teaching our children to respect other people’s beliefs, lifestyles, colour and creed, it seems that a bunch of racially prejudiced six- and seven-year-olds has undone all of our good work.

When I explored the question further, I was informed, “nobody likes the Tsigeni and Kupinari, because they break all of the toys and they’re stupid”. This outright discrimination was learned partly through their own observations and directly from some of their Bulgarian classmates, mimicking the views of their parents, who often forbid them to play with “gypsy” children outside of school or kindergarten.

The Roma are believed to have originated from India and migrated to Bulgaria and the rest of Eastern Europe as far back as the Middle Ages. The intolerance against the Roma minority in Bulgaria has existed for hundreds of years. It started when many of them converted to Islam and adopted Turkish as their native language, during the reign of the Ottoman Empire. During this period, the Turks and many of the Turkish speaking Roma persecuted the Bulgarians calling them “raia”, which means a herd of sheep.

Resentment brewed under the surface with the Bulgarian people and today this racial prejudice is perpetuated by the media and political parties like the extreme nationalist party Ataka. Ataka, who place nationalism above respect for ethnic diversity, won nine per cent of the vote in the 2005 elections and 21 parliamentary seats out of 240.

Today, most Roma families speak their own dialect as their native language and many children start kindergarten at the age of three and four without being able to speak a word of Bulgarian. One teacher from Dobrich told me, “In the beginning the children are scared and don’t speak or understand the Bulgarian language. But they get used to mixing with the Bulgarian children and the personnel at kindergarten encourage all children to play together”.

The Roma form the largest ethnic minority in the EU and they exist in many countries outside of Bulgaria. They make up 4.7 per cent of the Bulgarian population*[1] and are the second largest minority and third largest ethnic group (after Bulgarians and Turks). Based on data from sociological polls, labour offices, social assistance and information from the Ministry of the Interior, the unofficial estimate puts the Roma population at around seven per cent.*[2] They are not a united community in terms of culture and lifestyle and they have no political muscle. Within the Bulgarian Roma population as a whole, there are several subgroups and inter-marriage between these groups is rare. The largest and most widespread group are the yerlii or the “local Roma”, which are in turn divided into Bulgarian Gypsies (daskane roma) and Turkish Gypsies (horahane roma). The former are mostly Bulgarian Orthodox, while the latter are Muslim. Other Roma subgroups include the Kalderash (sometimes referred to as Serbian Gypsies) and the Rudari who speak a dialect of Romanian and are known as Vlach Gypsies or Romanian Gypsies. They are further subdivided into three groups by their traditional craft: the Ursari or Mechkari (bear trainers), the Lingurari or Kupanari (carpenters) and the Lautari (musicians).*[3] Yet, a common label used by the indigenous population is “Mangal,” a derogatory name on a par with “Nigger.” The term “Roma” is also rarely heard, in fact most expats questioned on the correct name for the Roma actually thought it was “tsigeni” or in English “gypsies”. Indeed, the Bulgarian language contains no end of linguistic references to the Roma. Phrases such as “gypsy work” to denote a slapdash job, “as black as a gypsy” in English this phrase translates as “as brown as a berry”, “you lie like an old gypsy” or “you snore like a gypsy’s horse.” Even the bits of popcorn which fails to burst when microwaved are called “gypsies”.

A condition of Bulgaria’s accession to the European Union was that it worked towards integrating the Roma population into its society and to this end, Bulgaria participates in the “Decade of Roma Inclusion”, an international initiative to improve the socio-economic status and social inclusion of Roma. Eight other governments belong to the scheme and all are committed to “work toward eliminating discrimination and closing the unacceptable gaps between Roma and the rest of society”*[4]. The rights of the Roma people in the country are also represented by various political parties and cultural organizations, most notably the Civil Union “Roma”. and the recently formed pressure group “Cega”, which support “local and regional development for better social inclusion and emancipation of marginalised communities in Bulgaria.”*[5]

Prejudice and racism still appears to be prevalent in the education system despite the attempts of teachers, heads and government legislation aimed at integration. While schools and kindergartens include all children equally in activities and performances, Roma parents and children still feel marginalised and maltreated. Extensive interviews with both Roma children and parents indicated a number of recurring complaints*[6]. Most Roma cannot understand why the Bulgarian people don’t want Roma children educated in their schools. They also find it insulting that all children are not educated in Roma history, culture, music and that their children are reprimanded for speaking their home language to one another, when children of other nationalities, like the English are not. At school the greatest problem faced by the Roma children are the difficulties they have learning. Georgi Boyev from Rogachevo said, “I have friends who are Kupinar, Tsigeni, Turkish and Gaugaz. Some of them find learning difficult because they don’t have the support from their parents at home, but our school has a homework club and they can go there every day to get help from a teacher.” He went on to tell me that his family had no problem with him playing with Roma friends outside of school and that he believed more should be done to find work for them.

Some schools in the Vidin area received praise for their progressive attitudes towards their support and practices for the integration of Roma children into the mainstream school system, in the EU’s report on “Equal Access to Quality Education for Roma.”*[7] Ventsislav Stanev, principal of the Tsar Simeon Veliki Upper Secondary School, in Vidin ran his school on the belief that “the children are all equal. Diversity is also more effective and necessary for development.” Silvia Pradoeva, deputy principal of the Mathematical Upper Secondary School, Vidin maintains “All are Bulgarians and they should all go through one and the same programme.” Not everyone is as liberally minded as these heads and many share the opinion of Principal Gerasimov, of the Otec Paisii Lower Secondary School, Vidin, who suggests, “Roma children should study with non-Roma, but in limited numbers, in order to be more effective in the integration process.”

There are many positive changes to report about the integration of Roma pupils into the education system. A teacher from a kindergarten near Albena told me “We offer equal conditions for all the children in our village, regardless of their faith or race. We seek out their data from the municipal; no child is left unsearched. We research every child personally to see what conditions they live in and we explain to their parents the conditions for joining the kindergarten. The city hall offers daily transport for the Roma children with an assistant to accompany them and our staff includes a nurse to ensure they are healthy and well. Wherever possible, we offer the children in extreme need help by giving them clothes, shoes, toys, etc.”

The “Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union”*[8] clearly says that discrimination based on the grounds of race, colour, ethnic or social origin, language, religion or belief is prohibited. Yet how many parents realise that each time they make jokes about “gypsies” in front of their young children or openly tell them that “gypsies” are no good, they are violating a basic human right? Some children were playing at a Bulgarian friend’s house recently, when they spotted a Kupinar girl from their class playing in the same street. One of the girls ran inside to her mother’s permission to play with the other girl and she was told categorically “No.” When she protested that she played with this girl at kindergarten her mother informed her that she was not interested in who she played with inside of school, but there was no way she was having that girl playing near her house. When her daughter had disappeared outside, she leant over to me and mouthed the word “tsigena” (gypsy). The irony of this situation is that in the same class there are two adopted children, both clearly of Roma origin. They are regularly invited to play and when I questioned this, I was told that while everyone (except the children themselves) knew that they were born “gypsies”, they were now considered as Bulgarians because their adoptive parents were.

Toma Marinov, a father from Varna has a more tolerant view of different races and counts many gypsy people in his community friends. “I don’t remember my parents telling me something bad about people just because they were gypsies, Turkish, Muslims, Americans or Brits. My parents said bad things about people who were not good, who didn’t have a good upbringing and they didn’t want me to play with these kids - most of them were Bulgarians. My own daughter goes to a kindergarten. I never say anything bad to my daughter about the other kids, but I don’t want her to play with badly behaved children, no matter what their nationality. The problem is that at the present time, a big part of the gypsy population falls into this category.”

The issue in the main seems to be not one of racial prejudice based on skin colour or religious beliefs, but one borne out of the fact that as the poorest members of society, the Roma are often associated with begging, theft and lack of education. The areas that they live in have become more like ghettos, where children hang out, unsupervised all day and litter abounds giving a very unattractive picture to Bulgarians about how Roma “like” to live. Their problem is not dissimilar to that of the unemployed in the UK, who attend low achieving schools, have a high rate of non-attendance and academic failure, have higher rates of association with crime and often live on council run housing estates, where the average Brit would never set foot. British buyers in Bulgaria are also renowned for asking how many gypsies live in a village before they buy a property and many are guilty of the same prejudice as some of the local population. Many expats also choose to send their children to private Bulgarian schools for fear that their children’s education will be disadvantaged by the inclusion of Roma children in the Bulgarian education system.

Sadly, there are very few Roma role models for Roma children to aspire to. The talented, 19-year-old PFC Levski footballer Marian Ognyanov is from the Roma minority and there are some Roma musicians, Azis, Sofi Marinova and Ivo Papazov. Yet, Roma children tend to deny their heritage rather than be proud of it. Luci Robson from Northumberland said “When we first bought our house in Bulgaria, children from the local orphanage came to talk to us, there was a mixture; some white and some darker skinned. At that time, I didn’t realise that they were gypsies, but as the dark kids were introducing themselves and telling me their names, they were also telling me that they were not gypsies. I have no prejudice against them but they clearly expected me to have and it’s a shame that these people feel they have to denounce their heritage.”

The Council of Europe says, “No child is born a racist, and it is the task of all of us to make sure that no child becomes one. “*[9] Racism cannot be justified or tolerated ­ it must be put to an end, unless we wish to experience once again, some of history’s more unpleasant moments born out of ethnic hatred. Raising awareness in all fields of life is the key to defeating racism.

Meanwhile, after a “little chat” with my sons on why Roma children break toys and have trouble at school, we have sent every child a party invitation and I sincerely hope that all of his classmates can attend!

*1. National Statistics Institute, 2001 Census
* 2. The Roma in Central and Eastern Europe: Avoiding the Dependency Trap p. 25. United Nations Development Program (UNDP) (2002).
*3. Roma minority in Bulgaria: www.wikipedia.com
*4. Decade of Roma Inclusion: www.romadecade.org
*5. www.cega.bg
*6. Roma Info Centre www.ric-bg.info/en/news
*7. Equal Access to Quality Education For Roma, Bulgaria. 2007. Open Society Institute EU Monitoring and Advocacy Program: Education Support Program Roma Participation Program
*8. My Fundamental Rights in the European Union. European Commission Directorate General Justice and Home Affairs
*9. www.coe.int/T/DG3/RomaTravellers