Rescued by Racism: The Blonde Maria and the Dark Roma
Rescued by Racism: The Blonde Maria and the Dark Romaby Tunku Varadarajan Oct 22, 2013 5:45 AM EDT
And so the child, Maria, was taken into custody, and an almighty international alert issued. Has anyone lost a child who looks like this little blonde creature? Six days later, the story is still vividly alive on network news and elsewhere. Mystery Blonde Girl Found in Greece Prompts Search for Parents, was how CNN put it. The best-selling Greek newspaper, Ta Nea, carried the story on its front page: Mystery: A Blonde Angel Without an Identity. The childs blondeness became her talisman, the marker of her plight, her grace, and her salvation.
Think back to those amusing diversions, those little puzzles, one used to find in old-fashioned childrens magazines. Lets call this one Whats wrong with this picture? The answer came almost instantly to the Greek police: Everything! It was, of course, a Manichaean reaction: The possession of a blonde child by dark-skinned adults was wrong, ipso facto (as lawyers might put it). The fact spoke for itself. There was no scope for debate. The child had to have been abducted.
I am far from hysterical about matters of race, and I pray that this child is restored to her biological parents (assuming they are alive). It goes without saying that I feel for the child: I find her portrait disturbing. She looks fragile, scared, and unhealthy: It is easy to imagine trauma behind those blue eyes. But this story has made me very queasy. Without condoning the Roma couple at the center of this international genetic mystery (who seem, by most accounts, to be dodgy people, found to be in possession of weapons and balaclavas), I was struck by the alacrity with which the official mind raced from mere observation to damning conclusion, the alacrity with which an international incident flared up in the space of a few hoursall because a blonde child was found in the custody of dark, Roma parents. A very dark-skinned kid in the keep of blonde people is part of the natural order, proof, in fact, of benevolence, of the bigheartedness of the adoption process. But the converseas is Marias caseis not merely fishy, it is almost inconceivable. What is wrong with this picture? Everything.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/10/22/rescued-by-racism-the-blonde-maria-and-the-dark-roma.html
Pretzel_Warrior
(8,361 posts)Sometimes using logic and suspending the PC reflex yields actual good results. Like in the Greek case.
moriah
(8,311 posts)I personally find the Irish case extremely disturbing because of no allegations of criminality, neglect, or abuse -- just a neighbor's tip that the kid looked too pale.
Pretzel_Warrior
(8,361 posts)which did indeed turn into a child abduction case with adults in the house arrested. Could be start of more knowledge regarding child trafficking that is all too common.
moriah
(8,311 posts)There have been many stories, including one where the couple may have bought her for 1000 Euros, another that the girl's biological father is in contact with the family.
The charity said she had head lice, but no other obvious health problems (and my roommate's kids dealt with head lice last year, with three houses involved given his ex-wife's husband's girl sharing a bedroom with his girls when they're all there it's difficult to control, though it's finally been beaten). She's been with them long enough to speak the Romani language, though she understands some Greek. If she was abducted, it was when she was very small, and there's no evidence to suggest she was treated worse than the other children in the camp. To the contrary, reports seem to suggest the Roma thought she was special, too, because of her coloring.
But if we're going to start rescuing the trafficked children amongst the Roma, there are far more dark children who are being exploited and focusing on the pale ones is both racist and demonstrating an appalling ignorance of genetics.
CanonRay
(14,104 posts)So the Greek police should have left her there? They were asked for her birth certificate, and produced a phony one. I don't see a problem here except with people being over politically correct.