Meeting Others

We weren’t in the U.S. during segregation

Ludek ŠtastnýPragueJuly 2000The events described in my story took place this summer in the Rewaston settlement where we have a cottage. By reading the story you’ll learn something about us, about our neighbors, and also about Roma. The other day we were having a chat with one of our neighbors, hoping that he might have […]

I’ll never let anyone slander the Gypsies

Zdenka SvobodováPragueJuly 2000I heard this story from Tomáš Szalay, an eighteen-year-old student whom I met at a festival of Hungarian films. Afterwards we sat down in a park on the Kampa and had a chat in Hungarian – a language in which the word "Gypsy” does not have a negative connotation. “I was born in the Czech […]

Can those boys still be considered skinheads?

Lucie HrdlickováPragueSeptember 2000Standa Tiser is a boxing coach. A former national champion, he has been coaching young boys, mostly Roma, for a few years now. He’s a Rom too and knows how difficult it is for Romany youngsters from Zizkov to get motivated to do any sports properly – let alone boxing – , and to turn up regularly […]

I had let them know who I am

Lucie ConkováDoubravka Training CenterJune 2000My friend and I went to a discotheque. The bouncer told us he would not let us in. Since I worked as an office assistant, I knew what to do.The owner of the place told us: "I don´t let Gypsies in.” He told us to open our own discotheque, turned away […]

I’d lost my taste for apples

Emilie HoráckováPragueJune 2000 It was a beautiful morning. I had had a good sleep. The sun was pouring its warmth all over the countryside, and I was in a good mood because I didn’t have to go to work. I enjoyed that feeling a lot. I made some coffee and was thinking about cooking lunch […]

Romany families can be decent like anyone else

Kveta ConkováPragueJuly 2000Jana was a beautiful girl from a Czech family. She lived with her mother, stepfather, and an older and a younger brother. Tthough her parents were divorced, Jana grew up in a peaceful household. She still gets together with her Dad and his second wife, who has always treated her husband’s children with […]

Mind your own business, nigger!

Michal BasikRoztoky, near PragueJuly 2000The story I’m about to tell you isn’t very nice, even though it’s about me.It happened one summer about twelve years ago. My father, my stepmother, my sisters and I used to go every year to Mostek, in eastern Bohemia. There wasn’t anything unique about it. We would go mushroom-picking, look […]

Guess what I have in my backpack, mate!

Zdenka ŠímováNymburkAugust 2000Mrs. Vejtrubová works in the social department of our district council. Through her work she often meets Romanies and she has told me a few stories drawing on her practical experience with them. I probed further, wanting to know whether she had also had some experience with skinheads. In response to that question […]

Cheerio!

Olga FecovaPragueAugust 2000One day an old Romany village woman decided to get some shopping done in the nearby town. She got in the bus and a few minutes later she was downtown shopping. Excited by the traffic and lively atmosphere, she bought just about anything that attracted her attention. After an hour’s shopping spree the […]

Roma are free people

ROMA ARE FREE PEOPLEZdenka SimovaNymburkAugust 2000 The following story was told to me by Mrs. Vejtrubova, an officer at the Social Affairs Department in the Nymburk City Hall . She was very kind and told me about experiences that she has had working there. “I met a very interesting man at a training session recently. […]