Today the Seattle Times reported a crime committed against old men. A woman seduced these men and together with an accomplice, duped them out of money. This is a sad story.
King 5 News on line reported this as a "Gypsy" crime, and that both suspects are Gypsy.
It's very revealing when the ethnic identity is inserted into a story. Almost always in a negative way. Associate crime with the targeted victims, and publicize the identity of any member of that group who is involved in a crime.
It reinforces stereotypes and helps justify oppression against an entire group.
That's been one of the propaganda techniques Italy is using to justify the fingerprinting of Roma/Sinti.
I agree, though I feel the opposite is just as harmful. Here in Milwaukee they had a rash of robberies at the Marquette campus. For a week or two they simply refused to say that the assailant (it was a pair of guys doing most of the robberies) was African American. So people had no idea who to be on the lookout for. Eventually they caved.
ReplyDeleteHowever most Americans have no idea what Romani look like, so to insert the word "gypsy" only serves to foster racist sentiments.