Dear Jasmine,
Bonjour. I moved to France with my father and brother about two years ago from Romania in hope of a better life. I am currently in my last year of school and I will be going to Johns Hopkins University in America next year.
Life for me seems pretty good, however, the harassment and stereotypes I get stuck to in school and even the community are very cruel. I have a very thick Romanian accent. People here do not like Eastern Europeans much at all. And when I tell them I am from Bran, Romania, almost instantly they are saying, “Vampire, vampire!†(Bran is home to Dracula’s Castle).
I am also an Orthodox Jew. There are many Arabs living here and France is “on the Arabs’ sideâ€, therefore being a Jew here is not too good. Not all of the Arabs are cruel, but a very large amount do not respect Jews at all because of these stupid fights going on elsewhere in the world.
Then, I am also mostly gypsy. Of course, nobody likes gypsies because they are labeled as thieves. I am not a thief, however it seems every time there is a robbery, who do they check first? That’s right, my family because we are gypsy. It has never once been us, but most people insist that it is.
All of these things cause a lot of harassment and I honestly don’t like it. It’s not so much the government, but just the people around here who put me to stereotypes and just dislike me for who I am. I want to be proud of my very unique heritage, but how can I when people are constantly attacking me because of it? What should I do about this, if there is anything?
Vladimir
Marseille, France
Dear Vladimir,
First off, I would like to say that you should be very proud of yourself and all your accomplishments. You have come a long way and it sounds like you are on your way to school soon in America. Congratulations, it certainly is no small accomplishment.
To address your problem that you are encountering at home, sadly it comes as no surprise to me. Many people are very ignorant about what goes on in other cultures, or they think they do and therefore they just assume all this stuff they read is true. Racial discrimination is still not uncommon in our soceity today and it is sad to see that there is still so much ignorance out there today.
Even if you are your family are the first to be pointed out as thieves, your family has proven again and again that it is false. Even if certain people who have no idea what they are talking say it is true, they are living in a fantasyland and you should welcome to reality, where your family has not done anything wrong. For those ignorant people, it would be difficult for them to change, and its unlikely that they will anytime soon.
What you have to remember is that you should be proud of your heritage. Do not let ignorant people ruin your sense of pride in your heritage. You have accomplished a lot and you don’t need to let these people’s ridiculous behavior affect the way you feel about yourself and your heritage. Stand proud for your heritage and who you are, don’t let ignorance will.
I know it is very bothersome to be pointed at or laughed at by these people, but really you should be feeling sorry for them because they do not have the mental capacity to see a person beyond their ethnicity. They are very narrow-minded and will never be able to experience the things you will because you are nothing like them. So don’t let these people belittle you because they have no idea what they are even talking about.
Always here,
Jasmine
