Red's Roots

[TightEnd]

But we gotta hear about how your visit to meet HM The Queen at Buck House went...!

Is she a blondeite?

Could we get her to dye her hair? Or Charlie Boy?

which sites do the Windsors play on then Tom?

clearly this must have been part of your discusssion with Her Majesty

[Ironside]

 Or Charlie Boy?

please do not add to the media lies it was only a little weed that harry took

[Robert HM]

Tom

That is an amazing revelation. Over the years I have had a lot of contact with the Romany Community and especially the Romany Guild leader, who nominated me as their official solicitor, I remained so for a few years but spent most of my time referring the membership to other firms who did specialist work, such as planning and the like.

The leader of the Guild, for many years, was a chap called Tom Lee from Stratford, in the East End. He was a fascinating man and the world is worse off following his demise. He was a mass of facts as to Romany history and constantly saddened that people did not recognise the Gypsy's own holocaust, one estimate is that 500,000 died in camps etc under the Nazi regime.

During my time in close contact with the community it became obvious that many people were simply scared and non-plussed by the way of life of travellers and reacted aggressively. Yes it has to be said, like any community, there were bad apples, but the resentment was saddening to see. Something that did shine through was the pride of the Romany both in their accommodation, life style and their family.

Good on you Tom, my friend.

[TightEnd]

Tikay has said far too eloquently what I might say. All I will add is I think all should be proud of their roots, and withstand often ill-informed prejudice.

That said I fully understand the concerns of those such as I, a while back, who had to face an encampment of travellers in the field behind my house with mess, noise, threats to the local community and in a couple of isolated instances violence, before they moved on.

At the time, having had no experience in my past with such communities, I wouldn't have made the distinction between travellers and gypsies, I don't mind admitting it

A thread such as this enlightens me a little further.

[Rod Paradise]

I enjoyed reading that Red-Dog.

I'm told that I have 'Irish Tinker' ancestry from my mother's side.

I know nothing more aobut it as my Gran wasn't happy about it & it wasn't discussed  .

No-one should be made to be ashamed, or to abandon their heritage. Every time I hear of the 'cricket test' or similar I want to smack someone - it's racism disguised.

[ariston]

Gave me somethink to think about there Tom I must admit. We live with a large field behind us that is "occupied" every year or 2 by travellers and the problems that come with them. The first words we mutter are admittedly usually along the lines of "fkin gypsies are back"- does this make me predjudiced? I think not- probably just missinformed. When you have had your house broken into by these scumbags, had your child nearly run over by a 12 year old on a quadbike and your terminally ill father threatened by a big toerag you do tend to become a little predjudiced. I did go toe to toe with said toerag (although Im a big lad I am not violent but when it comes to family I would happily die defending them) although I admit I was very stupid to do so and very lucky I wasnt up against the usual gypsy hard man. I do read all the papers and have never considered it a  "witch hunt" because of my own experiences. I will now change these views (Tom you have converted one person at least with a well written peice) because I am really intellegent enough not to generalise so easily. What if we all classed every muslim with a rucksack as a suicide bomber?

[snoopy1239]

I have to confess, I know absolutely nothing about Gypsies. However, when someone mentions the word 'Gypsy', I immediately think of caravans in car-parks. And like Tikay said, this is where the problem probably lies. If people don't educate themselves on various cultures, societies, etc, they tend to go with the generalisations and stereotypes that modern society presents us.

[TightEnd]

Ariston raises an important point: "what if we classed every muslim with a rucksack as a suicide bomber"

I was ashamed of myself a month or so back

I very nearly got caught up in the July bombings on the London transport system.

I commute into London every day, rush hour there and back on the train

In the weeks after the atrocities I found myself consciously sitting as far away from those that even appeared to be Muslim (if it it even possible to ascertain this, which it isn't) on the public transport I use. I accept decisions I made at the time displayed little logic and in themselves helped promote the effect that the terrorists were seeking...to sow conflict, dissension and fear into our everyday lives

My reaction to events shocked and disappointed me, and reinforced to me the point we are all raising here about generalisations and irrational prejudice.

[RED-DOG]

Yes I Know Creamy, He's one of the  Price's

The visit to the palace was amazing, we had to be vetted by MI5 (I think it was) first, we met The Queen, Had tea on the Biggest lawn you have ever seen, then we were allowed to stroll around the grounds and  mingle with the great and the good, we were also allowed to walk around some of the public rooms in the palace, staring wide eyed at priceless objects, completly unatended, Mind you, I did bump into a 7ft 15" Beefeater, he sat and had a chat with us, it was a surreal day

I have to point out that I also have camped illegaly for most of my life, there are 'Official sites' but they are very few and always full, they are horrible horrible places, the difference is, we always tried to camp where we would cause no trouble, and we always left it spotlessly clean, we used these camps for years, but others have spoiled this for us now

[TightEnd]

why are the Official sites horrible places Tom?

If you don't mind me asking, what sort of place do you live at now?

[Robert HM]

I should add that "official sites" are becoming rarer each quarter.

[ACE2M]

Tikay,

As regards diddy k's (i don't know what that means?).

Are you not generalising a group of people yourself? Which is what Red is trying to educate people about?

Tarring all with the same brush?

Forgive me if i'm wrong, just seemed like a bit of a sweeping statement.

[tikay]

Ariston's very honest reply is THE perfect example of the point I made, a big up to him for ilustrating the point so perfectly.

He "took against" Gypsies, for the reasons he explained.

But now he knows they were NOT Gypsies, they were Diddy Ky's. And he's onside now.

That's one person who now knows better (one who has a voice too - and knows how to talk.....) so Tom's post has already been worthwhile.

It was always my belief in life & business that NO problem was too big to solve. But it has to be broken down into digestible, bite sized chunks, & dealt with bit (or bite?) at a time. So Ariston's newly enlightened understanding of the situation is just great. There will be more. I mean, if Ariston can understand it........

[ariston]

I always say it as I see it and am never afraid to put my views across be they right or wrong, however I would never class myself as a racist or a biggot and to tar everyone with the same brush was shortsighted by me. I will never generalise again (dont all old people smell of wee, talk bllcks about the olden days/trains etc and are forever missreading their hands  )

[snoopy1239]

I will never generalise again (dont all old people smell of wee, talk bllcks about the olden days/trains etc and are forever missreading their hands  )

Now that IS a generalisation. I never here Tikay speaking of the olden days.