sectarianism to racism in three easy steps

I have rarely felt such extremes in my pride/shame of being Northern Irish as I have done in the past few days. In the space of a few hours I have felt horror that overt racism has become reared its ugly head in my province, relief that it was immediately condemned roundly by large numbers of press and public alike, then shame when the backlash happened and a series of bitter voices were heard on radio phone ins and news reports claiming that “they should go back where they came from”, “coming here and taking our benefits”, “they shouldn’t be here, that’s all I have to say on the matter,” “stealing our jobs while our own teenagers are struggling to find anything to do.”

For those who don’t watch Northern Irish news I should offer a quick spot of exposition. Last week over one hundred Romanian nationals fled their homes in Belfast after being attacked and intimidated by locals. The particular area of Belfast is known as the village. It’s a working class loyalist area popular with migrants attracted by the cheap housing. Racist incidents have been occurring there for years but this particular episode and some other high profile attacks have brought it to the national media attention.

And this one has had more of an impact on me than any that came before. While the petty squabbling and small minded ranting was going on in the big city, far from me and those I know, I was able to pretend I couldn’t hear it – persuade myself that I was living in a much more tolerant society than we had seen before. But this time it’s bit a lot closer to the bone – I know one of the Romanians involved, and I am terrified for her.

This particular girl is an ethnic Roma – a group that have been persecuted throughout Europe, and beyond. She is no stranger to abuse. I don’t think I’ve come face to face with anyone who has put up with as many hardships as she has in her life, and come up smiling again and again. So the fact that the collective nerve of her community has snapped and they are so scared they feel they have to sleep on a Church floor for safety… well, it takes a lot for that to happen.

I was speaking to her only a day before this all happened. She was in good spirits, as usual. She was always very positive about her situation and thankful to the “friendly” locals who had helped her settle in. I was always surprised by her attitude. I have been with her when people have ignored her, glared at her, hurled insults at her from across the street. I’ve seen it – and yet she didn’t seem to. She seemed to take it all as some of the challenges we face in this life that lead to blessings in the next. Her faith leads her to believe that anything that happens now is only temporary and as such can be endured. But more than that – she believes that through suffering come opportunities for blessing. She talks occasionally of times when the Police have stopped her when she was selling papers on the street to check her credentials. She smiles as she recalls the members of the public – strangers – who came to her side to make sure she was alright and accuse the officers of harassing her. This unexpected support, though rare, has more effect than a thousand dirty stares.

But I still cannot understand the anger people feel towards her. There is a lot of dangerous ignorance shading the public perception of this girl and her community. Far from “stealing our benefits,” this girl works two jobs to help support her family – neither of which the locals would belittle themselves doing. She lives in a grossly overcrowded house with no housing benefit. She wears clothes that she bought in a charity shop while standing in the rain earning money to pay for her baby sister’s shoes. She gets no benefits. It is a horrible irony that most of the people complaining about these immigrants actually receive far more government aid than the people they are complaining about. In fact, through the work they do and the rent they pay a lot of Roma contribute more to society than a lot of their neighbours.

A few weeks ago in Church the minister preached on Matthew 6:

Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? … Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these… But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

And my mind turned towards my friend. Her faith is sufficient for her. So sure is she that God will provide that she can ignore the madness going on around her. She makes do with the little she receives, safe in the knowledge that she will enjoy riches in heaven. And in that way I find her inspirational. She is happy with enough. How many of us can truly say the same. We are actively ordered not to worry – we are told here and in other passages that what we need will be provided and that what we want isn’t always what we need. I always took that with the qualification that, obviously, God wanted me to have what I wanted and that a little excess was part of the deal – everyone needs a bit of luxury in their lives, no? As the minister pointed out that Sunday how many times have we opened the fridge door, looked in at the shelves full of food and said “there’s nothing here to eat.” switched on the TV, flicked through the hundreds of channels, and said “there’s nothing on.” Looked in our wardrobes (bulging with clothes) and said “I have nothing to wear.” Excess has become complacency has become vulgar dissatisfaction. That isn’t a problem those Romanians have.

And though my friend showed little worry herself – I feel worry for her now. I don’t know where she is now. I have no idea whether she will remain in this country or leave for somewhere less threatening. Part of me wants them to go somewhere they can be safe – but I would hate for the racists to achieve their goal. Some reports have branded Belfast the race hate capital of Europe. That is a horrendous reputation to have – and actually far from accurate - but I can understand why people would say it.
I work in a school where in several hundred pupils there are no black kids, no eastern Europeans, no Hispanics. The cultural diversity is made up of about four Asians and a white American. It has been a similar story wherever I have taught. These kids have never faced other cultures; the closest they ever came was meeting people of a different religious denomination – and look how that turned out. When I asked my pupils their opinion of the Romanians I was literally shocked by some of the comments they came out with.

As I type this two teenagers are facing court, charged with ‘provocation likely to cause a breach of the peace’ and intimidation. They have admitted to involvement but claim it was the first time they have ever done anything like it. If found guilty it will be a small victory for sanity – but will it do anything to change the opinions of those (including many of my pupils) who still believe that immigrants are stealing our homes, our jobs and our society. The court case will do nothing to remove the fear, the paranoia, the ignorance that led to decades of sectarianism in our country and now threatens to manifest itself as racism.



Update (tues 23 June): This morning I heard that the majority of the Roma have decided to leave. Twenty five have already left; seventy five would be leaving asap. Fourteen have decided to stay. I am happy for them and I hope they find peace somewhere. I am sad for our society. We have a long way to go before our Christian actions reflect our Christian preaching
The Church where the Romanians sought sanctuary initially has been vandalised (three twenty year olds have been arrested for that attack) and several people (many teens) have been arrested on race related charges.