I guess there are some people whom it is still acceptable to hate - even post-election when we are supposed to all join together. Well, it's to be expected, what with Joe Bomber playing the wasp-continuo in the background. No change - just redirected prejudices. I wrote this at oh-dark-thirty after a poor night's sleep:
Dear CBS;
It was fewer than 48 hours after the new President of the United States and other speakers called for an end to separations of race, creed, and nationality - an end to prejudices that I thought would be towards all. And then I turned to CBS at 2100 hrs last night (1/22) - to indulge in my Joe Mantegna fetish.
What I saw made me rage and then made me very sad; sad to realize that in these United States of America there are still certain unwarranted prejudices in which the media is free to indulge itself. I speak of the Romani people and the broad brush with which they were tarred.
The Romany are a people with a rich heritage and culture that values family and the arts. And until you can documentarily prove the old canard of gypsies stealing children; I shall instead remember that in 1758 Maria Theresa of Austria issued edicts that forcefully removed Romany children from their families in attempt to eradicate their culture. that in 1886 the United States issued a law which forbade the immigration of Romany. I shall remember Jasenovac where Romany and Jews and Serbs were sent to their deaths together. I shall listen to the music of Django Reinhardt. I shall light a candle in memory eternal for all the hate crimes suffered by these "others" whom you've deemed "not us", and for the myriad attempts to destroy their culture - actions that have been ongoing since the 13th century.
http://www.rromanes.com/4791/index.html --- perhaps your fictional Romany translator on "Criminal Minds" would translate this page for us all. I am not Romany and cannot read the page - but I wept at the pictures.
But I am only one person, one single person whose platelets have saved the lives of children of who knows how many races and creeds. I am personally invested in peacemaking, in acceptance, in honoring of "the other" . And unwarranted slander, hatred, and persecution - these are mine to protest.
I ask your writers and producers and actors to take a moment and learn about the Romani, there is a fairly large community in Southern California. I ask a broadcast apology at the beginning and end of next week's broadcast of "Criminal Minds". I ask you to rethink the meaning of racism. Perhaps I ask for the impossible and perhaps your answer to me shall be "No We Can't". This is a chance I am more than willing to take.
In Peace,
Jean Poole
Port City, USA
11 months ago
Posts
4 Splenetic Ravings:
They made it very clear that it was a small group, similar to IRA terrorists to the Irish, or Italian mafia. The trappings of the Sopranos and Godfather movies are Italian-American culture.
I was horribly concerned at first when watching the episode, but they repeated several times that it was a "small group that has perverted their culture's traditions" (a paraphrase, but they used the word "perverted").
What kind of manner could they have portrayed a serial killing cult family that would have suited you? The show is about catching people who commit horrible acts, and those people will and do exist in all cultures and races.
A,
I called what I heard. I don't tivo and hence had not the opportuinty to interrogate and deconstruct the desk. I'm just Jane Blow the drive-by viewer. I have good hearing and I didn't hear what you seem to have heard - and I did listen during that single viewing. I even postponed my ambien for it.
BUT
They could have nicely portrayed it as cult-qua-cult free of historo-racial contextualization. It's a common enough trope and can be done with quite good effect if the writers are twisted and creative enough to be able to pull it off.
Call me outraged. And thanks for taking the time to prepare a good post on the reasons.
This thing smacks of the kind of anti-Jewish hate-mongering that used to make Lent and Easter a time of terror for that diaspora in Europe. As we Christians begin Advent, the echoes especially hurt. Those oh-so-subtle disclaimers went nowhere, lost against the dramatic weight of the filmmaking.
Not only does CBS owe an apology, and not only ought the episode be withdrawn -- except for teaching what not to do in filmmaking classes -- but equal time ought to be devoted to a counterbalancing presentation of a rich, wonderful and totally disrespected ancient culture.
I do not think it is excusable for CBS to do this, even if they attempt to qualify by saying it is a "small group" and I would argue that they should pull the episode. If this were a representation of any other American minority, people would be outraged, but because few Americans know of, or anything about the Romani; because what they do know is often based on myth and racist nonsense; and because the Romani lack adequate representation, the media knows that they can carry on as they like painting them in whatever way they see fit.
It is exactly that sort of thing that has led to a history of slavery, hatred, and genocide for these people. The last thing they need - however the media tries to qualify it so that they can make money - is to further encourage the beliefs that the Romani people steal children or that they are "backwards" "ritualistic" "mystical" people or any other such nonsense. And I am not speaking solely in terms of the past - the persecution still exists today. This is unbelievable.
Post a Comment