[314] Rome & Jerusalem, 23 Set 2010

North Africans, Jews, Gypsies & Mexicans…

This prompt asked us to respond to what these four groups have in common, and explain what we have learned throughout the semester. The connection I found was immigration and oppression. To oppress is to stifle the growth of another by imposing strictures that deprive one of their right to a truly human life. Through the lens of the oppressor, I set out to explain how the walls that we build up between ourselves oppress the individuals on both sides.

Immigration is not just an Italian problem, or solely a European phenomenon, but a global issue. But, a truly Italian notion is bella figura, the beautiful image. This innate need to project beauty keeps oppressive structures in place. This image keeps us blind. So what do we do with the sight of Gypsies begging and North Africans hawking goods? What do we do with the remnants of Jewish ghettos and the modern ghettos the Gypsies call home? Sight oppresses us just as much as blindness, but offers us the chance at liberation.

Oppression is born of fear: fear of our own weaknesses, fear of becoming oppressed, fear of the unknown. At the root of it, we fear the loss of our naïve, yet beautiful image of the world. We react in many ways, including stereotyping. Oh yes, we, as in all of us. We oppress to allow our realities to remain unmarred by the image of the world. By upholding this image, we are contributing to oppression, which proves our weakness.

Oppression has been made manifest in the world culture upon many groups of peoples, including North Africans, Jews, Gypsies and Mexicans. For the purposes of this paper, I am going to discuss the situation of North Africans, Jews and Gypsies in Italy, and the situation of the Mexicans in America. But, these groups are not only found in the locations that I will discuss. North Africans and Gypsies flee to America as well, and oppression is not far behind them.

Gypsies, North Africans and Jews faced, and face, oppression of ghettos. Starting in the 1500s, Jews were quarantined behind walls, allowed to live but not thrive. They were misunderstood as bearers of bad luck and were feared as businessmen. Liberation came in the form of a unified Italy at the end of the 1800s, but less than century later, Jews found themselves ghettoed again, but the Nazi party. The work of the Nazis was to systematically destroy the life of those outside the Aryan ideal. Gypsies fell into this category too. Close to half a million Gypsies perished during the Holocaust, one of the largest ethnic genocides in history.

Today, the term Gypsy encompasses a lifestyle, not just the Medieval Indian caste that set left the oppression of the caste system to make lives for themselves. North African immigrants who live in camps and work illegally are also Gypsies. The Gypsies in Italy live in modern day ghettos, authorized by the government, that have police at every entrance. As you can deduct, not much has changed. Even America, a nation of immigrants, has not learned to stop the cycle. Mexicans are more than just the butt of jokes, they have become both the backbone and vain of our existence.

The walls that divide us - be them the walls of ghettos, or the metaphorical walls that are erected by stereotypes - oppress both sides of humanity. As the oppressors fester with misinformation and fear, those that are oppressed learn to hate the other population, disdain them for the pain that has been inflicted upon them. Who can blame them? If we, as a society, can make sweeping generalities about them, what stops them from doing the same? Us and them … that is the crux of the matter. The oppressed have been relegated to the “other” status. How can one deny the humanity of another human being?

I want to shout, “The dominant image of my culture is not me!”

And I am sure that sentiment is shared by those who face the oppression I symbolize. This is the mantra of both sides of the border of oppression; the mantra of misunderstanding. Here is where image overrides reality; where the beautiful image points not to progress, but to oppression. This image is smoke in mirrors, it’s photoshopping, it’s a mask … it’s not real. So what is real? Knowledge is real. I think it is even fitting to let you know that knowledge is power. And with knowledge comes responsibility. Instead of dressing up your reflection with makeup, keeping that beautiful image, and compelling the decay, look in the mirror and critique your reflection.

By oppressing these people we are stifling the growth of our minds and the development of the world. One must know history to know self, and know self to know the future. I believe that the true beautiful image is yet to be…