Racism in Eastern Europe is not limited to Hungary or the gypsy. The same historical and cultural facts that are the source of discrimination are shared among Eastern European nations. In addition, proclaiming that you are a Jew or wearing a yamaka in public are still not considered “cool.” However, while the Jewish population can easily blend in with the rest of the populous, gypsies have the disadvantage of having a darker complexion in general.
The reasons for racism against the gypsy are mostly socioeconomic whose beginning can be traced back to the communist times. Under the communist doctrine, all people were supposed to be equal in all aspects especially when it came to their socioeconomic status. All people were entitled to a home, for instance, regardless their income. While not having a job was also against the law, the fact was that bottom of the social ladder required support from the state. The portion of the Hungarian population that is ethnically gypsy is about eight percent. They are some of the poorest of the poor and the vast majority depend on the welfare system to survive. While there may be many reasons why this is, two stand out. While education is free to all children in Hungary, since the end of the communist rule the laws that force people to actually send their children to school are not strictly enforced. Without education, the gypsy are limited to unskilled labor as a means of supporting themselves, which is not a huge leap forward from strictly living off welfare. It has become a way of life for most gypsies to abuse the Hungarian welfare system angering the tax paying part of the population. What makes matters worse is that the prison population is also mostly comprised of gypsies, which indicates an even higher burden on society as a whole.
White Hungarians have also became complacent in relating to the gypsy. First of all, an overwhelming majority (pretty much most) of the white Hungarian population refuses to think of the 800 thousand gypsies as Hungarians. It is not uncommon for even a casual conversation to drift towards the dissing of gypsies and blatant racism at some point. I tried several times to point out the wrongness of blaming an entire group for anything, because they share the same blood to very little effect. The idea was so new and unconventional to pretty much everybody that the initial reaction was usually a confused stare followed by anger.
It appears that the only gypsies that manage to lift themselves out of poverty and gain acceptance by the society at large are the musicians. Gypsies have a strong musical tradition that they are recognized for the world over. The only other means for a way out for a gypsy is being “lucky enough” to have lighter skin so his/her ethnicity can go unnoticed. As a matter of fact, the leader of the largest right wing party and a former prime minister of Hungary is gypsy. That didn’t even occurred to me until his father was interviewed on TV one time. Then it was obvious. The irony of the whole thing is that being the leader of the right also makes him the de facto leader of far right such as the skinheads. While I basically brought this up due to its absurdity, there is another point I’d like to make: if he had advertised himself as a gypsy from the beginning of his political carrier, he would have never had risen to the position of prime minister of the country due to racism.
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