COLUMBIA LAW REVIEW
VOL. 110MAY 2010NO. 4
ARTICLES
REPORT ON ROMA EDUCATION TODAY: FROM SLAVERY TO SEGREGATION AND BEYOND
Jack Greenberg
*
For much of their histories, the Roma in Eastern Europe and African Americans traversed similar paths. Both endured centuries of slavery and were emancipated, almost simultaneously, during the mid-nineteenth cen- tury. Both continued to suffer years of discrimination, poverty, inferior hous- ing, deficient health, and segregated education. During World War II, how- ever, their paths forked. Perhaps 1,500,000 Roma were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators during the Holocaust. While the post-war pe- riod in the United States brought with it the civil rights movement and legal victories striking down segregation, in Eastern Europe the Roma came under Soviet domination. Roma got jobs, apartments, and welfare, but were not equipped to function in modern economies. After the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, the Roma remained at the depths of Eastern European societies. Roma education, essential for climbing out of that abyss, has remained segregated and inferior.Because I was one of the lawyers who argued
Brown v. Board of Education
and, as head of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, litigated many school desegregation cases, in 2003 Roma leaders, beginning their own legal campaign to desegregate schools, invited me to Eastern Europe. Since then I have worked to uncover the reality of school segregation in the region.The European Union and national governments have passed laws prohibiting segregation and offered subsidies to promote desegregation. The European Court of Human Rights and national courts have entered a few judgments holding that schools have been illegally segregated. However, no European or national judicial or administrative organ has ordered the cessa- tion of segregation in any school, nor have they addressed the principal
*Alphonse Fletcher, Jr. Professor of Law, Columbia University, A.B. 1945, LL.B.1948, LL.D. 1984, Columbia University. I am grateful to Judit Szira, my guide on a journey through the complexities of Roma education, which has been not less arduous, but moreagreeable than the voyage of Dante Alighieri, Inferno, Canto II, 139–42 (AllenMandelbaum trans., University of California Press 1980) (n.d.). I am also grateful foradvice to my colleague Henry P. Monaghan, students Andrew Brantingham, Mary Kate Johnson, Ryan Keats, Kyle Kolb, Minsun Lee, Jennifer Sokoler, and Christopher Wlach(who provided extraordinary assistance), and friends Gwendolyn Albert, ChristianBodewig, Leslie Hawke, Lilla Farkas, Boyan Konstantinov, Magda Matache, MarianMandache, Rumyan Russinov, Andr´as Ujl´aky, Tudor Velea, and Perry Zizzi. JessicaGreenberg diligently took detailed notes of scores of interviews. Adam Carlis gaveinvaluable editorial support. Open Society Institute paid the expenses of my travel.
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COLUMBIALAWREVIEW
[Vol.110:919
means of evasion, white flight. Instead, they have left corrective action to uncoordinated, unconstrained municipalities.Not only is European and national government initiative lacking, there is no Roma civil rights movement. But there is ground for hope. I encoun- tered schools—-and even districts—-that were taking initial steps to end seg- regation. A few government initiatives have been designed to encourage fur- ther integration. Young, bright Roma aspirants to public office have ventured into politics. In some communities where desegregation has begun,Roma applications to integrated schools outstrip available spots. Founda- tions, the European community, other nations, and economic necessity exert pressure in the right direction. Success should encourage further proactive steps. In this Report, I report on my research into the current state of Roma school segregation and offer a few words about what might be done to pro- mote integration in the region.
I
NTRODUCTION
..................................................921I.D
EMOGRAPHY AND
H
ISTORY
...............................923 A.Roma History........................................923B.Roma Demographics.................................925C.Social and Economic Conditions.....................9281.The Roma Underclass...........................9282.Roma Health....................................9303.Roma Housing...................................931D.Education...........................................933E.European Union Law................................936F.Legal Remedies......................................9381.Litiation in European Courts.....................9392.Litigation in National Courts.....................943II.V
ISITING THE
R
EGION
.....................................946 A.Czech Republic......................................946B.Hungary.............................................9511.Budapest........................................9532.Miskolc..........................................9563.Hajd´uhadh´az....................................9574.Szeged..........................................9575.General Observations............................9596.Student Intern Observations.....................963C.Romania.............................................964D.Bulgaria.............................................971III.T
HE
L
ESSONS OF
U.S. D
ESEGREGATION
.....................977 A.Desegregation in Higher Education..................980B.Desegregation in Elementary and High Schools......981C.Social and Political Environment of U.S.Desegregation.......................................984IV.A R
OMA
R
IGHTS
M
OVEMENT
?.............................988 A.Religion.............................................991B.Advocacy Groups....................................994C.Politics..............................................996
2010]
REPORT ON ROMA EDUCATION TODAY
921 V.S
UMMARY OF
S
EGREGATION IN THE
R
EGION
.................997 VI.W
HAT
I
S TO
B
E
D
ONE
?...................................999I
NTRODUCTION
In 2000, as a condition of admission to the European Union, EasternEuropean nations pledged to eliminate racial discrimination,
1
including widespread segregation of Roma (Gypsy)
2
school children. In 2003,Roma rights leaders invited me to share with them my experience in themovement to end school segregation of African American children in theUnited States from 1954, when I was one of the lawyers who argued
Brown
1.See Council Directive 2000/43, art. 13, Race Equality Directive, 2000 O.J. (L 180)22, 23 (EC), available at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2000:180:022:0026:EN:PDF (on file with the
Columbia Law Review
) (“To this end, any direct or indirect discrimination based on racial or ethnic origin as regards the areas covered by this Directive should be prohibited throughout the Community.”). In December 2009, theTreaty of Lisbon, signed by the nations of the European Union, became effective. It contains a Charter of Fundamental Rights which possibly might bear on the Roma rightsdiscussed in this Report. But at this time there appears to be no reason to believe that it has changed the legal situation of the Roma or its implementation.2.Commonly called
Gypsies
, many now choose to be known as
Roma
or
Romanies
, aname preferred by official and international agencies. Nevertheless, most contemporary official reports and documents I have seen use
Roma
. A leading NGO calls itself the RomaEducation Fund. I usually use
Roma
because the Roma groups with which I meet use it.For a detailed discussion of nomenclature, see Ian Hancock, We Are the Romani People,at xviii–xxii (2002). G´abor K ´ezdi and´Eva Sur´anyi addressed the same issue this way:In Central and Eastern Europe the name Roma is used, as a noun (Roma plural)and also as an adjective. It is also used by some international organizations andinitiatives, such as the Roma Education Fund or the Decade of Roma Inclusion.The United Nations, the U.S. Library of Congress and other internationalassociations use the Romani name for an adjective and a noun as well (Romaniesplural). The name Gypsy is used by many non-Roma but not by the Roma: It is aname created by outsiders and is derived from the misconception of Egyptianorigin. Similarly to the alternative local names such as Tsigane, Cigany, Gitane orGitano, the name Gypsy brings negative associations about lifestyle or project [sic] images that are inaccurate for many Roma (e.g. the romantic image of travelers).G´abor K ´ezdi &´Eva Sur´anyi, A Successful School Integration Program 9 n.2 (Roma Educ.Fund, Working Paper No. 2, 2009), available at http://www.romadecade.org/files/ftp/Successful%20School%20Integration%20Program.pdf (on file with the
Columbia Law Review
) [hereinafter Roma Education Fund, School Integration].Ian Hancock speculates that medieval Europeans used
Gypsy
indiscriminately for anumber of foreign populations. Hancock, supra, at 1. Perhaps that Roma differed inappearance from settled groups in Eastern Europe (they usually have darker complexions)suggested that they had originated in Egypt or some exotic region. Cf. id. at 1–2(suggesting explanations for widespread association of Roma with Egypt).The differences over nomenclature bring to mind controversies over
Negro
,
Afro- American
,
colored
,
black
, and
African American
, each with a link to a particular historicalperiod, sometimes carrying different connotations to different speakers or listeners.
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