Blaming the victim

Minority groups are particularly vulnerable because they are subject to discrimination, unequal access to resources, and lack of opportunity. Instead of actually helping these groups, many efforts seem to be just paying lip service to their problems. Only a relatively few organizations, individuals, and sometimes the government are truly dedicated to helping vulnerable populations. And as long as the majority group continues to hold prejudices, they will remain vulnerable. This is illustrated by the Roma population in Italy.

Often it is too easy to blame the victim. The very same attributes that are the consequences of vulnerability are misidentified as the causes (e.g. unemployment, poor health, HIV infection, lack of adequate housing). In the US, we feel that if these vulnerable people could just pull themselves up by their bootstraps then voila, problem solved. However, this view depends solely only on human agency and neglects the structural barriers confining these groups in their present positions. Vulnerable populations don't just exist, they are socially constructed and their problems must be socially ameliorated.

everyone is deserving!

“Are such vulnerable populations deserving of help or non-deserving?” I never thought that was even a question of debate. Who is not deserving of help? Vulnerable populations are still human beings and as human beings, we should all help each other. Yes, racism is prevalent, but I never understood what drove people to discriminate against each other, for example having a picnic while watching two gypsies die on the shore. Is that a new form of entertainment? They should do something! I was speechless when I continued reading along the article. How can someone find pleasure in one’s death?

I guess most of our prejudice comes from stereotypes. Gypsies are portrayed as witches who cast evil spells on those they hate on television. We know that they are not evil and just normal people trying to protect and raise their family. Italian government reinforces this stereotype by confining the Roma “animals” into camps where they are forced to work in black markets or beg for money. The government itself is turning its citizens against them. Both Christina and Violetta are both Italian born, so why the hate?

I was confused which side the Italian government was supporting, help or not helping the Roma camps. It seemed like they were trying, but not trying hard enough. Who initiated the discrimination against gypsies? Who agreed that they were “non-deserving” of help? Most of the Roma health issues are due to Italian government and its poor infrastructure. It seemed like the government was fragmented itself. One possible resolution for Roma equality and rights is to fix the Italian government. This also applies to other situations- to fix something, you must start at the root of the problems. In this case, the government must protect the Roma population from discrimination and provide health care. Instead, they promote the discrimination of gypsies among the blood-born-Italians. They live in Italy, thus Italians too! I found this quote very intriguing, “You cannot have one law for the Roma and one law for everyone else.” Everyone should be deserving of help. They should have people work with them, not against them.

I personally do not understand the role of gypsies and how they are perceived in the society they live in. I'm unsure of how I regard the topic of who is deserving and who is non-deserving of help. I believe that as humans, no doubt everyone has the basic human right to life, and as residents of that country they must be provided with the basics to live. When it comes to receiving help and giving public help, there are levels in which some people should be given priority due to physical ability (ex. handicap), health status (ex. chronic disease), living conditions, and other similar measurements. I don't have much of an opinion on the topic but as a future health care provider I believe everyone is entitled to and deserving of some form of help. With limited resources one can only receive so much and must work with that.

A question of social ethics.

The question of whether any particular group within society should be excluded from the social network is a contentious one. Distinctions are often drawn along ethnic or religious lines, notwithstanding the issue of social class or income. However, some things tend to be uniform, and those excluded are usually poor, socially mal-adjusted, and often badly educated. The Roma population of Italy, and indeed most of Europe, would fall within these parameters. When any given society looks to tackle social ills, it is almost inevitable that the majority of the population will search for easily identifiable causes, and when it comes to crime, violence, and a lack of commitment to the “social contract”, then the poor, the disenfranchised, and the isolated are an obvious choice. As with all predetermined conclusions, it is never hard to find a reason to hate someone if you are just willing to look hard enough. Even in societies that are ethnically uniform, and lack the easy finger pointing available with fresh immigrant populations, the same need to identify the “bad element” exists. This sub-culture is always the same, whether they are called “white trash”, degenerates, the criminal element, or any other of the labels applied to the lowest echelons of society. A lack of opportunity, combined with a lack of education and the squalid living conditions associated with poverty, results in a disproportionate amount of violence, crime, and ill health. This in turn is then taken to be “proof” of the undesirable nature of the population in question.

The fallacy in this kind of scapegoating is easily apparent once you step back from looking to apportion blame, and start to try and tackle social problems at their root. As with all issues related to the idea of a common social contract, affording protection and responsibility to all includes the need to provide services to the folks living below the poverty line. The issues of healthcare should be viewed in the same light as that of education. How can a society flourish unless it continuously bolsters the young, encouraging them to develop and mature? Education is the foundation of citizenship, and the only hope for the continued evolution and life of the whole. Similarly, a healthy population is a pre-requisite for survival. No politician would think to deny a ghetto child from obtaining a basic education, and yet many feel it is okay to allow that same child to be stunted and warped through inadequate healthcare. The madness of this position is cruelly apparent to all, surely?

Ultimately, the need to have a strong social contract that includes all of society is an absolutely undeniable aspect of any modern democratic state. With that in mind, the initial question becomes less of a debate about the exclusion of any one section of society, and evolves into a national dialog on exactly how much society is willing to invest in its future.

No La Dolce Vita for Roma Gypsies.

It is truly shocking to see an image of two Roma gypsies lying dead on the beach while other people enjoying their picnic in just a few feet away and not even caring or surprising at all. This just demonstrates of severe inequalities and racial discrimination toward gypsies (minorities) in Italy. Most importantly, gypsies seemed to encounter social inequalities from virtually all aspects including from the basic living conditions (shelter and clothes), health care, education to criminal justice.

As most of blogger mentioned, they definitely deserve help from others. Why? Because they are the most vulnerable population who wandered around and settled at Italy for better life. They are not criminals, beggars or terrorists; they are very fragile population who simply ask for equal access as any other citizens in Italy do. They ultimately became the victims of social prejudice and hatred and perceived as just outcast, instead we should all respect their lives and basic human rights. Moreover, most of them have poor health and no access to the health care; therefore they indeed are in great need of help in terms of food and water sanitation, proper shelters and education. Without someone’s help and support, the next generation of gypsies will continue to go through same phases of intolerable hatred and racial discrimination as previous gypsies.

This just made me think the most vulnerable population in America; they can be homeless, disables, immigrants from different countries, or elderly/ young children. Whoever the vulnerable populations are, instead of rejecting them, we first need to embrace them as any other human beings, and then eventually they would blend in the society. I understand that this easier to said than done; however, we must to mainly focus on most vulnerable populations when we establish health care interventions and policies.

Vulnerable population in Ghana

There was 13 years of civil war in Liberia from 1990 to 2003; the country suffered an enormous amount of death and disability. It killed more than 200,000 people and about 500,000 people were forced to leave their homes and became internally displaced refugees who had to flee to other countries. The UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) who is in charge of protecting the rights of refugees reported 42, 000 Liberians lived in Bujumbura Refugee Camp in neighboring Ghana, including 18,000 children and over 4,000 of these children were born in the camp. Their human rights were violated and they had to live their entire lives as refugees. Some of the refugees arrived in boats, canoes, helicopters and a few on cars. I remember watching the news with constant casualties and young children holding guns on the news in Liberia. One of my Liberian friend mentioned that another way to survive was to join the rebels and fight for that particular group, in that sense they could be able to arm and protect themselves. As he mentioned, it was just another way to survive. Perch my Liberian friend suffered cuts and a gunshot in his arm. Even though he is married to a Ghanaian woman, with two beautiful children, he still suffers some sort of mental health problem. It is possible that, his initial plan wasn’t to work as a car mechanic and settle in Ghana but due to the situation he found himself changing his career, just to make the best out of his stay in Ghana. The vulnerable population such as the Liberian refugee suffered mentally and psychologically from the war in their country. To enable the Liberian refugees who settled in the Bujumbura Refugee Camp in Ghana, they created the Liberian Dance Troupe project which used theatre and dance help them remember and maintain Liberian culture, to teach the youth within the camp about HIV/AIDS, teen pregnancy and drug abuse. Adult leaders were able to train over 100 children and youth in theatre, the arts, oral and written literature, dance and music. Youth who receive cultural training carried out weekly cultural training seminars in primary schools located in the camp which have provided support to over 1000 children. This project has also enhanced the literacy skills of young members of the Liberian dancing troops and supports their psychosocial rehabilitation. All these activities were used to raise awareness about important health and social issues. The youth were encouraged to participate in this project to build their self-confidence, acquire d dignity and develop renewed sense of identity and to continue with their way of life in Ghana.

From the link given, I 'm surprises and horrified by the picture with the two dead people and the two people sitting by the beach enjoying the breeze. How can they just sit there and not call for help or do something? It’s interesting to see how these dead bodies are covered with towels and to see how normal it is for the others around. Is it because they are used to such a problem or what?

 

The Power of Fear

First of all, what human being is non-deserving? Just because someone is born privileged in a higher social class doesn’t make them any more deserving then those who were not. So I guess I’ve already answered the question, but I’ll go on…

Second of all, racism is EVERYWHERE. I thought I knew where there were sever social problems from my experiences in Latin America volunteering, studying, working and living and seeing slum conditions. However, now my ignorant self realizes, it is EVERYWHERE. What is it about human nature that convinces certain groups to believe they’re superior to others? I must do it too, I mean, I’m human, but I’d like to think I judge at a minimum.

I was just talking with my brother over the weekend about the power of fear. We believe this is the main reason why so much hate and violence exists. The fact that gay marriage didn’t pass and people are dying because of the faulty health care system goes to show that fear of change and other different groups allows inhumanity. I use to wonder growing up, how could the Germans allow the massacre of millions of Jews? Now, I understand – it also traces back to fear. Why are the poor not provided health care? Fear that the wealthy won’t receive quality care? Fear of a unified health care system among so many different groups? The list goes on…