The Red Cross and the Roma
Friday, July 25, 2008
Imagine, if you will, the Red Cross entering the poorest areas of Southwest cities, going into the weekly motels, and rounding up everyone they can find of Mexican heritage. They write down their name, fingerprint them, and take mugshots. The government demands a permanent file, and the Red Cross obliges.
Sound far fetched?
It's happening in Italy.
I don't know very much about the intricacies of Roma (gypsy) relations with Italians. I do know that the state is rounding up an entire ethnic population, and singling them out not based on accusations but on heritage.
The most disturbing thing is the Italian government's promise to give Roma children citizenship. In my mind, by giving children citizenship but not their parents interferes with the fundamental rights of the family.
A sovereign nation does have the right to regulate who comes into the country, enforce their laws, and control crime. But the wholesale roundup of an entire people, in order to catalogue and document them, goes too far. Especially when that government begins treating members of the same family unequally.
Judge people by the content of their character, not by the color of their skin.
Sound far fetched?
It's happening in Italy.
I don't know very much about the intricacies of Roma (gypsy) relations with Italians. I do know that the state is rounding up an entire ethnic population, and singling them out not based on accusations but on heritage.
The most disturbing thing is the Italian government's promise to give Roma children citizenship. In my mind, by giving children citizenship but not their parents interferes with the fundamental rights of the family.
A sovereign nation does have the right to regulate who comes into the country, enforce their laws, and control crime. But the wholesale roundup of an entire people, in order to catalogue and document them, goes too far. Especially when that government begins treating members of the same family unequally.
Judge people by the content of their character, not by the color of their skin.
Labels: In The News
posted by Milehimama @ Mama Says at 7/25/2008 09:14:00 PM | Permalink |
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