Hoping to regain the dignity that has been stripped, over the centuries, from the Roma community, the Gipsy Kings, a popular French folk band, have stated that they intend to “reclaim” the term gypsy. Given that the image of the Roma, or Gypsies, that has captured the popular imagination is that of a migrant herd of vagabonds, suspicious of outsiders and mired in poverty, the move by the Gypsy Kings — who sing in the Gypsy dialect of Gitane — to transform the term gypsy into something that is positive is both welcome and heartening, and comes at a time when individuals and governments are attempting to address the issue of anti-Roma prejudice.    

The Roma, a historically marginalized group, continue, in some regions, to live in abject poverty. In some regions of Slovakia, some Slovakian Roma communities have an unemployment rate of 100 percent.  

One of the recent attempts to refigure and rectify the popular understanding of the Roma is Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journey, a 1996 book by Isabel Fonseca, an American author who is now married to Martin Amis. The book concerns the Roma population of Eastern Europe and documents the four years Fonseca spent in Roma communities. The title of the book is taken from a Roma saying — At least when I die, bury me standing, I’ve been on my knees all of my life.  

Popular literature may help to develop a more compassionate understanding of the Roma, but Hungary is now taking a more formal approach to the issue of anti-Roma prejudice. Hungary has implemented a three-year program, targeted towards the majority of the population, to increase their respect for the Roma minority. The program encourages the general population to increase their understanding of and interaction with the Roma community.  

Hopefully, it is through this multi-faceted approach of government initiatives, public awareness, literature, and music that the old saying — At least when I die, bury me standing, I’ve been on my knees all of my life — can begin to lose its relevance to contemporary Roma life.  

Mimi Hanaoka