If we look at the Roma reality today, what we are faced with is a view of a helpless, hapless people who need to be uplifted by the society at large. Most pictures of Roma are devoid of dignity and depict squalor and hopelessness. I find it as obnoxious as pornography and it reflects what I call poverty porn. However, this depiction belies the historic reality of Roma. By that I mean that if you look at Roma, they have been living among foreign cultures for at least 500 years. Throughout these five centuries they have been oppressed and abused. They have never had any sustained
