Stand Together Against Racism
JVL Introduction
JVL is pleased to publish and endorse this statement from the Jewish Socialists Group, which has been a prominent voice in the struggle against racism.
JSG made contact with the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) community many years ago and have always promoted their commemoration of the Nazi genocide of Europe’s Roma and Sinti communities, the Porajmos.
Racism towards the GRT community persists and will be compounded by forthcoming laws, especially the Police, Crime, Courts and Sentencing Bill.
JVL will be joining the Jewish Socialist Group and other Jewish Groups on the 19th March demonstrations against racism.
This article was originally published by Jewish Socialists Group on Mon 14 Feb 2022. Read the original here.
Joining the dots in our struggles against racism
Group statement
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One of the joys of living in Bradford is the flowering of Roma culture here. Some 4000 Slovakian Roma came to Bradford in the 2010s to escape the racism ‘back home’. Here the woman from the council knocking on the door is there to say the children must go to school not to forbid it. In the doctors surgery people are genuinely asked to wait their turn not to ignore them until they give up. etc etc.
We see displays of Roma music, dancing, cooking, story telling at our festivals alongside those from all the other cultures in this city. Roma children paint pictures saying ‘We luv Bratfod’, which is the local pronunciation shared by all Bradfordians.
Our local poet Kirsty Taylor makes videos showing how all these cultures come together, distinct but joyous in their mash up.
Why did they come here? No one seems to know. Bradford has always had a strong Irish traveller culture. The Roma were originally from where many Bradford asian people originated. Romani words are now part of normal Bratfod youth slang.
I do not know much about Jimmy Carr and cannot say what his motivation was but the reaction here is superficial. It seems to me that his point was that nobody talks about Roma victims of the Holocaust because nobody really cares what happens to Gypsies. This caused great offence essentially because it is true. Being confronted by a cruel but accurate parody like this should make people examine their own prejudices more closely, not simply condemn the speaker.