I didn't write a blog post this week, as in, I didn't have a running theme that I engaged with on the page for several days in a row, that I polished up and edited to post on Monday. I have a big event coming up, and most of my time and energy has been taken up by planning and prepping for that One Thing, and the weather has been hot and humid, which exhausts me, so I've been pretty wrapped up inside myself and my daily to-do's to get everything done on time, or at least demonstrably close. one thing I DID do this week was write a letter to a local person who is the administrator for a facebook group that I was blocked from for standing up for my people, my family, and myself. so, I decided I would post that letter here, and call it a day (night). feel free to contact me if you want your name added to the signature line, or if you find any typos or anything. thanks, and enjoy ~
Letter to: Jim Dougherty
Email:
jdoughertybroker@aol.com
website:
http://www.lenderassetsolutions.com
and: Ulster Publishing –
Woodstock Times
PO Box 3329
322 Wall Street
Kingston, NY 12402
845-334-8200
(Fax) 845-334-8202
Brian Hollander, Editor: wtedit@gmail.com
322 Wall Street
Kingston, NY 12402
845-334-8200
(Fax) 845-334-8202
Daily Freeman
79 Hurley Ave.,
Kingston, NY 12401
845-331-5000
fax: 845-331-3557
Kingston, NY 12401
845-331-5000
fax: 845-331-3557
Tony Adamis:
Managing Editor, ext. 01095
Chronogram
Lower Hudson Valley
Chapter - NYCLU
297 Knollwood Road,
Suite 217
White Plains, NY 10607
Telephone: 914-997-7479White Plains, NY 10607
Fax: 914-997-2936
E-mail: lowerhudsonvalley@nyclu.org
Following is a letter to Mr. Jim
Dougherty, the administrator for the online Facebook group 'Woodstock
Bulletin Board'.
Mr. Dougherty -
I was distressed to learn that I was
blocked from the Woodstock Bulletin Board facebook group because as
an educated Romani woman, I chose to bring attention to the fact that
a White woman was appropriating my culture, and using an ethnic slur
for my people as the name of her business. I learned of this
'blocking' on August 2 - the 74th anniversary of the liquidation of
the 'Gypsy Camp' at Auschwitz-Birkenau, adding further insult to
injury. There were two businesses in the town of Woodstock who also
used this slur in their names, both closed, now, and while I didn't
patronize either establishment, I did make it clear to others how it
made me feel to see those hurtful words every day, and used them as
examples to explain the ignorance of others to my young son. While
there are many businesses who use the word “Gypsy” as their name,
as we evolve as a society and culture, there are quite a few business
owners who have realized that this is an inappropriate practice, and
have changed their business names out of respect for who we are, and
what we have faced, as a people. We have a right to live with the
same dignity that is afforded to every individual in this country,
this state, this county, and this community, and by blocking me from
a community group, it is made it clear that there are those who don't
think my family is entitled to the same rights as others, that my son
doesn't deserve to be treated with the same respect as other students
in our schools, and that we don't have the right to know when events
are happening in and around the community in which my family makes
its home. This thoughtless act clearly states that I either agree to
being demeaned, degraded, and silenced, or I can’t be in the group,
so I feel I need to speak up for both my family, and my people,
before this misinformation disseminates any further, and is allowed
to spread its hateful poison throughout the beautiful Hudson Valley,
which has long been home to many cultures and religions, as well as
minorities and refugees.
It is infuriating for us when non-Roma
choose to impersonate our culture with their swirly-skirts and
tinkly-bell jewelry to be seen as mysterious and exotic, while we
suffer the slings and arrows of “dirty gyppo, go back where you
came from thief/beggar/liar – Hitler should have finished the job!”
We have been accused of kidnapping little White children while it is
our youths who are systematically removed from their
families/culture/language, as with the recent case of 'Maria', a
blond girl 'found' among darker people, and taken from her foster
family, later found to be of Roma decent. The news story prompted a
rash of officials across several countries to go out and conduct a
witch-hunt against dark-skinned people with light-skinned
children...of which I am one. Given the recent horrific events
endured by immigrant families that have been savagely ripped apart by
Draconian government policies, it seems we are slipping farther and
farther into allowing the kinds of hate-speech and prejudicial
attitudes that brought about the Holocaust, and there are a great
many people who are willing to stand up and demand that it Not be
allow to happen Ever again.
Would the town of Woodstock, the
all-inclusive hippie-love-fest, peace and understanding art colony of
years past not gasp openly if a shop
using an ethnic slur for Jews,
African-Americans, Latinos, Asians, or Native Americans opened
its doors for business? Or would it be tolerated? What if it was
insulting the Whites? The slur to which I am referring is one you
may not even know is a slur. The word is Gypsy (please note the
capital 'G' – a lower case 'g' perpetuates disrespect for the
exonym). The word is highly controversial, and some of us use it
among ourselves with pride, though the preferred term – for those
of us who grew up having epithets hurled at us – is Roma, or the
more specific names of our subgroups (known as vitsas),
some of which include Kale, Manoush, Romanichal, Dom, Lovari,
Kalderash, and Sinti.
In all fairness, I'm sure the owner of
said business is probably a lovely individual, and my intent is not
to cause them any harm or embarrassment, but to give them the chance
to openly acknowledge their mistake, make the proper apologies, and
perhaps even do their small part to make sure their customers are
informed as to the truth about our people, rather than just taking
our name and using it for the benefit of their own finances. Another
business owner in a similar situation some time back agreed to keep
books about Roma and some printed materials with information in the
store, and on their website – would these local folks perhaps agree
to sell products or disseminate information in the same manner?
Would they consider sponsoring an essay contest, donating books about
the Romani people to the library, or sponsoring a forum?
They are creative people, and I'm sure they can come up with a
way to use their success to open a dialogue and engage positively
with those who find offense with the slur under which they chose to
do business.
The term 'Gypsy' comes from the
erroneous belief that our ancestors originated from Egypt. Our
language, customs, and DNA kits tell the true story – we originated
in India, before being spread in a Diaspora across Europe and the
Americas as slaves and servants, without rights, who have been
systematically oppressed and slaughtered to this very day. In many
countries we are still barred from schools, ensuring that our
children will not be educated, and therefore perpetuating the cycle
of poverty we have been held in for centuries. On the other hand,
many of us have managed to overcome great odds to become educators,
doctors, lawyers, artists, musicians, and bastions of cultural
literacy. We bristle at the Halloween costumes cultural
appropriators don every year. Our children are confused and shamed
by those who dress up as caricatures of our grandmothers, while we
ourselves fear to don our own cultural dress as it gives us away to a
society that has made it clear they only want us as models for their
own romanticized version of what being Gypsy means, which is usually
so far from the truth, it hurts.
Several Roma recently wrote in to
Hudson Valley One about an article written about a performance of
Macbeth performed at Opus 40 in which the director of the Dzieci
Theater Group misrepresented our culture, and we were treated to
dignified response stating that they were 'misquoted', and would be
changing the way they presented the performance in the future out of
respect for us, and our cultural heritage. That is how to “be a
good neighbor, and work to make things better daily”, a quote taken
directly from Mr. Dougherty's facebook page – not by blocking
community members from community groups. We call upon the business
owners, the town, the community, and activists of all stripe to
choose to do the same, and be on the right side of history with this
issue. Racism, xenophobia, antiziganism, and any kind of racial
intolerance is on its way to oblivion – let us use this as an
opportunity to advance together, and move into a more inclusive
future where the town of Woodstock can reengage with the statement
made on the Woodstock Chamber of Commerce and Arts website, “...where
the individual is always welcome and new and creative beginnings are
always possible.”
Sincerely,
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