* I met a friend this morning and we had a conversation. He is a
Rroma/Gypsy man and a great person. We have had many
discussions regarding the situation of the Rroma community in
Nădlac.
  It is no secret that in general the Rroma population of Europe
is looked upon in a negative manner.
    My friend told me a little story concerning his 9 year old son.
The child came home from school and was somewhat bummed out.
His father asked him what happened. He said that in class, that day,
the teacher passed out papers to work with but the Rroma kids
didn’t receive colored papers like every other child did. He told his
father that the reason was because he was Rroma.
   It is a very small thing and it sounds incredibly trivial. Logic says
that it is something that should not require two minutes of interest.
  Despite the trivialness of it, a child of nine arrived home after
school with a feeling that he was being treated differently because
of his origins.
  We know that when a child is born they are clean slates. It is
interesting to see how these notions of discrimination, prejudice
and other unjust themed emotions enters their being.
  We can’t say that just this instance could make a child ’go over
the edge’ and feel that he is being discriminated against. I am sure
that it is more an accumulation of other incidents. That one just
reinforced in the child’s mind … he is Rroma, he isn’t as good
and he isn’t going to be treated fairly.
  I am seeing first hand how prejudice and discrimination seeps
from one generation to the next.
  With situations like this how does a child grow up and not be
beaten out of his self-esteem? How can he believe that his dreams
will ever come true?
  Yeah, there are a few stories of the person who overcomes it all.
But think of this, for every success story there is probably 1,000
ones of failure. The result of ambitions smothered due to the
idiotic concept of the 'illusion of superiority over others'.
  Maybe that teacher was taught that it was the way to treat
those ... 'different' ... kids. Was it a subconscious act, possible.
Or did she simply, just want to do it. Either way, damage is done.
  It just proves that there is nothing too big or small that can be
used to stoke the flames in the furnace of discrimination.
  I have heard the Rroma make remarks as to the color of their
skin. The darker their complexion, the bigger the chance that
they will be discriminated against. 
  The irony is in the association between the color of their skin
and a colored piece of the paper.
  It is amazing to think how something as simple as a colored
piece of paper in the wrong hands could affect a child's spirit.