By Andrijana
We have something to say about how Europe is going to change. It involves the Roma.
The power of racial prejudice is a lot more complex than it seems. The power of the racists is not convincing the Serbs, Croats and Hungarians that they are superior to the Roma or that the Roma are not capable of success in anything we do. Any fool can believe they are superior if they are told it enough times.
The power of the racists is that for generations they have convinced the Roma that we are inferior. If you can make a Roma feel nervous if he finds out that a fellow Roma is the pilot of the plane that he is a passenger of, then the racists have won.
But there is a great wind that is blowing in from the Kingdom of God. There is an army, small and at the moment weak, but an army of young Roma men and women who no longer believe the lie that we as Roma are destined for failure.
That new wind blowing across Central Europe is causing young Roma to shout not with words but with actions. You will not press me down…I am Roma and Roma in the hands of God are beautiful, powerful, intelligent and creative.
The days of telling your fortunes are coming to an end.
The days of playing violins in your rich restaurants where you throw coins to us like monkeys in the zoo, those days are soon to be over.
The days that you can think of our women as cheap sex objects is coming to an end.
We are beginning to march.
Not marching in the streets throwing stones. We are way beyond that. But we are marching into education, into the arts, academia, fashion, the sciences, architecture, politics and in all the areas of social leadership.
As we march we allow our lives to do our protesting.
We allow our accomplishments to silence the old worn-out words of the racists. The wind that is blowing has begun and nothing in heaven or earth is going to be able to stop it.
About the writer
Andrijana lives in Croatia and is currently studying theology. She and her family have been involved in a church plant in Darda for many years. She takes joy in serving in children’s ministry. You can read more about Andrijana here.
