Hate Speech In San Diego

Update: more at hate speech in San Diego II

Uhmmm. Well. The Pagan Prattle linked to the following story"

Gypsy arrested on Illinois theft warrant

That's the headline, I kid you not. There's no mention in the story (full text below the fold) if Ms. Demetro is an American citizen.

Evidently The San Diego Union-Tribune, Shannon Tangonan, and/or Escondido police Sgt. Chuck Gaylor wouldn't object to a headline such as:

Kike arrested on Illinois theft warrant
Nigger arrested on Illinois theft warrant

Gypsy, in this context, is about as offensive.

At least AP gets it better. How about:

Con Artiste arressted on Illinois theft warrant

Good sources of information on Romani culture: Patrin Web Journal. The Rom are American citizens-- PBS's POV documentary; film's homepage; interview with the filmmaker.

Traditional Gypsy Women in Romania The Rom are struggling throughtout Europe.

By Shannon Tangonan: UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER August 27, 2004

ESCONDIDO – Police arrested a Gypsy yesterday who is wanted for allegedly scamming an Illinois woman out of $80,000. Police believe she may also have duped local residents.

Fatima Demetro, 31, on the run for more than a year, was jailed on a $400,000 theft warrant out of Lake County, Ill., Escondido police Sgt. Chuck Gaylor said. She was arrested about 10 a.m. after a sting operation by Escondido police.

Demetro, whose brother lives on Ash Street, has been in town for at least a month, Gaylor said. The self-proclaimed psychic, palm reader and healer is known to target Latinos, police said.

Demetro is accused of befriending a mother and daughter in McHenry, Ill., who used her services because they were down on their luck and overweight, Gaylor said.

Police say she convinced the older woman that her luck would change if she cleansed her life savings of $80,000. The woman withdrew the money, all in $100 bills, and gave it to Demetro, police said.

During a seance involving vegetables and live lizards, the cash was wrapped into a white handkerchief, Gaylor said. The women were asked to stare at a candle, police said.

Image Source

They were given back the handkerchief and told to place it under a bed for several days, police said. "When they open up the (handkerchief), they find cut-up newspaper," Gaylor said.

The women reported the theft to police in Round Lake Beach, Ill., in July 2003.

Demetro also is wanted in another Illinois case. She is accused of telling a client that his wife had been unfaithful and he was not the father of their unborn child, police said.

The man paid her with his wedding ring and ended up killing his wife, stabbing her 80 times, police said.*

Round Lake Beach police contacted Escondido police after learning that Demetro might be in town. When Escondido police arrived at her brother's home, it looked as if he had moved out.

Detective Mike Bronson noticed a car was parked at the residence with a fluorescent "For Sale" sign and a phone number, Gaylor said. A block away, another car for sale had a similar sign, he said.

Police then set up the sting, using an undercover officer to pose as a potential buyer. When Demetro and her husband arrived, police made the arrest, Gaylor said.

Anyone who believes they might have been victimized by Demetro is asked to call Escondido police at (760) 839-4972.

Shannon Tangonan: (760) 737-7567; shannon.tangonan@uniontrib.com

--------------------
*lurid story, isn't it? Only I haven't been able to find any corroboration--other than "stabbed 80 times" is a popular figure.

---------------------

"Gypsies" have been part of the European/Western imagination for centuries:

Image source: The Fortune Teller, c1596, oil on canvas, Musei Capitolini, Rome: "Gypsies were popular subjects for plays and paintings during Caravaggio's lifetime, it is no surprise then that he would have painted a genre scene containing one.  The sub-text of the painting is to be wary of what gypsies say and also to not be foolish by amorous intentions."

Is Ms. Demetro a gypsy of our imagination? You can even buy a kit to become a "gypsy fortuneteller."

We all have the images in our mind:

Look, I'm not defending Fatima Demetro's actions. I'm just saying labelling a con artist such as Demetro with a racial name is offensive. However, there's a long history of using an offensive name (Gypsy), and of using said offensive name of the whole to label the criminal part, thus besmirching the reputation of those who do not live by con and swindle:

Unfortunately, although License to Steal has many strengths, it also has many faults. One is a somewhat defamatory tone throughout much of the work. Although in the introduction and epilogue the authors take great pains to differentiate between the Gypsy (Roman)) people in general and the Gypsy (Roman)) criminals, throughout most of the chapters they fail to maintain this distinction. Quotes like this are common: "Gypsies are opportunists, and automobiles provide an abundance of avenues to illegal wealth. They exploit every avenue brazenly, audaciously, and ingeniously" (p. 168).

Roma woman with Nazi soldiers; image source.

Don't forget, the Rom were subject to persecution before the Nazis came to power, but the Nazis were more efficient. The Nazis exterminated the Rom as well as the Jews.

There's a web site that furthers the mythology that Romani = Gypsy = Criminal:

In fact, the Illinois Department of Criminal Investigation began compiling any reported data it could on large-scale Gyspy fortune telling crime and between 1982 and 1988 documented a sum of $4,286,764 stolen from people by Gypsy psychics. And that only reflects cases that were reported. Most aren't since the victims are far too embarrassed to tell anyone they've been conned in this fashion.

Authorities who study Gypsy con artists believe that nationwide the Gypsies run a multi-billion dollar crime industry.

You need to understand that crime is part of the Gypsy culture, just like members of the Mafia see what they do simply as "business".

Also, you have to understand that Gypsies belong to a very unusual, very strict society that in many ways hasn't changed for a long, long time. Gypsies have many rules and traditions, a quasi-Christian belief system that's more about warped, superstitious rules that define the social order of the Gypsy culture than it is about practicing any Christian values as we know them (and has nothing to do with truly helping gadje or non-Gypsies -- other than helping them out of their money).

Gypsies are basically brainwashed themselves into a very powerful culture. Breaking the laws of Gypsy society means facing the possibility of being outcast from it. As mentioned in the previous question, "What is a Gypsy?", Gypsies are taught that their ancestry involved stealing in the name of God, and as such God has thus rewarded them with the license to steal from non-Gypsies as a means to live.

In learning how to con people, Gypsies have been able to scam incredible sums of money from their victims.

(Source: License To Steal: Traveling Con Artists, Their Games, Their Rules -- Your Money, Paladin Press, 1994)

Why did this guy become such a racist hatemonger? His girlfriend dumped him, he went to a "fortuneteller" for help, and he was scammed.

Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal has a much less inflammatory essay on confidence tricksters and the history of Romani fortune-tellling for money:

Typically the practitioners of the egg/tomato trick are gypsies, the term having derived from "Egyptian" due to a mistaken notion of their ancestry. They were actually exiled from northwestern India in the first millennium a.d., and in the Middle Ages sought asylum in Romania, hence their other designation as Romanies or (as they prefer) Roma ("Gypsies" 1960; Popp 1997). They constitute an ethnic group who "essentially live outside the cultures of the countries in which they choose to reside" and who often treat non-gypsies as "fair game for their fortune-telling, curse-lifting and other superstitious ministrations" (Randi 1995).

And don't forget the non-Rom Irish Travellers:

Irish Travellers are a distinct ethnic group which has existed for centuries. Often they are mistakenly considered part of the nomadic Romani, an ethnic group which originated in the region of India and is now widespread throughout Europe. The Irish Travellers are indigenous to Ireland. The two cultures are not related. While both are nomadic, the Irish Travellers are Roman Catholic and speak a language that is theirs alone. They have their own culture, customs, traditions, and language. They are noted for their musical and story telling abilities.
[snip]
Irish Travellers are poor, undereducated, and on the receiving end of discrimination. Their life expectancy is lower than average while their infant mortality rate is higher than average. As is the case with the Romani, the Irish Travellers are seen by many as a group of immoral, ignorant, criminals and con artists. People distrust their nomadic culture and their language, Shelta. Many think its a secret language specifically developed as a tool to help the Irish Travellers trick innocent people. However, it is an old language, which has evolved with time and circumstances. Once heavily infused with Irish Gaelic, it is now infused with English.

Irish Travelers emigrated to the United States in the great exodus of the mid-1800s. The most notorious is Madelyne Gorman Toogood.

There is a long and scholarly page maintained by Alan Katruska, who was (and perhaps is) a graduate student in anthropology at the University of Pittsburg.

A few Irish Travelers emigrated to America during the Potato Famine of the mid-19th century. Their 7,000-10,000 descendants still speak the secret Traveler language, a dialect alternately known as Shelta, Gammon, or Cant, which includes elements of Irish Gaelic, English, Greek, and Hebrew. They are also devout Roman Catholics who rarely marry outside the group. Their tightknit, insular clans spend the winters in such sunny locales as White Settlement, Texas, and Murphy Village, S.C., then hit the road come spring. Many U.S.-based Irish Travelers, including Toogood's husband, work as itinerant roofers, pavers, and painters.

Police frequently warn the elderly about home-improvement scams operated by a few Irish Travelers. Wandering contractors have been known to charge gullible customers thousands for "sealants" that are nothing more than watered-down lubricant; the con artists quickly leave town once the check is cashed.

Rick Ross began covering the Irish Travelers after Toogood was arrested; I don't know if he is still following them. His site is generally a reliable source of information.

Comments

[Azygos]

You might be just a little judgmental and harsh on this one. For years I have had to deal with Gypsies who come to the various hospitals I have worked at in Phoenix. They come to the ER with 15 to 20 relatives and steal everything that is not bolted to the wall, literally. During these invasions security has to be increased at great expense to the hospital. Why do I call them Gypsies? That is what they have chosen to call themselves. Years ago a doctor friend was working at a local ER and a Cadillac drove up to the ER doors and the male inside honked the horn. Inside they found a dead naked male. The other male in the car, also naked, told the doctor that the man in the car was the King of Gypsies for a particular clan. His words not mine. Should we not honor what this group requests we call them?

[Liz]

Azygos is a nurse practitioner in a big hospital setting in Arizona, and sees a grittier side of life than I do.

I saw what I saw in Paris in the early 1970s (the grossest racial prejudice and abuse), combined with a partial view of life among the Rom (thanks to a friend of a friend who was an anthropologist.)

One of the reasons I was so strong in the opening paragraphs is that any old swarthy sleaze bag can claim to be a Gypsy--which rebounds to ill effect upon those who actually are Rom.

Also, I'm not defending criminal behavior, I'm questioning how those iin authority characterize individuals who are engaging in criminal behavior.

[Edd Bartol]

I find it interesting that it seems offensive that the news article referred to Fatima DeMetro as being a Gypsy. What's really offensive is this mutant ripping off the elderly of the life savings. But of course, let's overlook the fact that this woman is a career criminal. Let's just worry about her being referred to as a Gypsy.

[liz]

this is a repeat of part of the post above:

Look, I'm not defending Fatima Demetro's actions. I'm just saying labelling a con artist such as Demetro with a racial name is offensive. However, there's a long history of using an offensive name (Gypsy), and of using said offensive name of the whole to label the criminal part, thus besmirching the reputation of those who do not live by con and swindle:

[stacy]

fatima demetro is a gypsy i know her personaly as also i am a gypsy fatima comes from a family thats involved in diffrent types of criminal activity her mother is a fortune teller,her brother gary is a criminal facing charges in indiana,her uncle mitch claims to be connected with the mafia.the funny thing is that the brother donald demetro that she was staying with in escondido is a traveling criminal his wife christine is a fortune teller and donald sells fake birth certificates and social security cards to illegal citizens and at the time fatima was arrested donald also has a warrant for his arrest in illinois,this is a gypsy family but speaking for all gypsies this is just a bad family

[Saint Nate]

I got a chance to see first-hand some of the hatred towards gypsies when I was traveling through Romania a few years ago.

My guide and hostess, a native of the area, was normally a very sweet woman but when the word "Gypsies" was mention she'd clench her teeth and almost spit while saying, "I hate them so much." According to her, the Gypsies had every chance to leave their society and get a state-sponsored education and otherwise respectable jobs. At the time I found the concept of someone surrendering their identity in their ancestoral community more than a little unrealistic, but didn't argue because I didn't know much about the situation.

A year later at a TESL conference I met a former Peace Corps worker who had worked with gypsies and she informed me that this was not the case. A Romani who leaves his/her own culture will be ostracized by everyone - old friends and family, who see this person as a traitor, along with the new culture that still assumes the person is a Gypsy with all the appropriate negative associations. The truth is, most Romani stay in their communities because it is not only place they feel safe and it is a strong part of their identities as a people.

As Liz showcases and Azygos demonstrates, anti-Gypsy prejudice is still very much alive here in America. Stacy's comment shows that this is not an accurate representation of the culture any more than all people of Irish descent should be judged by the Irish Travelers' community or all Italians by Mafia stereotypes. There are a few bad apples in every ethnic barrel, but to judge the whole culture by these examples is prejudicial.

[eyebrows]

i am a irish traveller i run a honest paving buisness you people no nothing of what your talking about and as far as poverty goes like the first says why dont you take a drive thru white settlement and see for your self the houses/manchens and mercedez porsche caddillac aston martins etc. and then call us poverty i think yous are jelous that you people cant do what we do and have what we have. but keep on liveing in the past like we are a buncha scammers like it was in the 1800s. but theres bad in every groop if one black man kills a cop does that mean all black men are cop killers umm no. so run us down and try to make things hard for us b ut remember a good horse can run on any track

[NickDeMetro]

this comment was offensive and was removed by the owner of this blog

[donna gypsie from chicago]

my comment is regarding fatima and donald and gary i know them personily they are not irish gypsys and i think they should be left alone they have had there share of suffering trust me anything they have done god has got even with them please leave these poor people alone if anything keep them n your preys

[anonymous]

"manchens and mercedez porsche caddillac aston martins"

White Settlement has no "machens", and no Astons. That is for sure.

Please get past 8th grade English.

[Lemons]

Why do people hate or fear what they don't understand? People are just people. Some are good and some are not so good in every society and race. My ancestry comes from about 22 different nationalities including Irish Traveler on my Mothers side of the family.
I think it's sad when a whole group of people are judged by the actions of a few. It's human nature I guess. It's time to stop judging and start living and thinking for ourselves. I think we should also stop calling people 'Gypsies' especially the news media who should be more professional than that.

[Gypsie Queen]

Speaking as someone who lives and works in White Settlement, I can say that the "Irish Travelers" cause more problems than they solve. Most retail stores suffer from internal theft, but here in this small town in Texas we suffer from gypsie blitzing. Lock up your Coach, Prada, and Louis Vuitton, because the gypsies are coming! And then they come back to return their steals and employees can do nothing to stop them. In our store we fear that one day they will just hold us up, take all our merchandise, and then return it the following weekend.
Law enforcement needs to lock up each and every inbred of the clan.

[Karoline Keesling]

Yes, just wonder how that woman in Illinois proved any of her $80,000.00 loss. And how convenient that the supposed money was all handed over to the "Gypsy" in $100.00 bills!

And here we go again. Just yesterday I could not believe my ears when I heard this on the news ... about a "band of Gypsies" scamming senior citizens in North San Diego County.

STORY

Seniors Falling For "Smoking Car" Scam

Posted: Jan 15, 2009 06:43 PM PST

Updated: Jan 15, 2009 06:43 PM PST

It's a scary scam that every senior in San Diego County should be aware of.
The scam starts with con artists preying upon an elderly driver. The scammers from their car then frantically wave the senior down, yelling that their car is on fire. Once the senior pulls over, the con artists say 'Pop your trunk', one scammer then takes the elderly victim away from the car while the other one sneaks around back and actually starts a fire, faking an emergency in the back of the senior's trunk.

Carlsbad Police Detective Patty Parra says she's searching for a pack of gypsies.

"Not all gypsies are criminals, let's start with that right now," she said.

But in the past four months, Parra says these gypsies who last hit in Arizona have hit three sets of seniors in their 80s in Carlsbad alone.

"It's very alarming to an elderly woman if a man contacts her and says your car is on fire, you can't drive it," she said.

Not only do the gypsies make it seem like they just saved the senior's life, they claim that their smoking car is a stroke of luck.

"'You are so lucky, because I am a mechanic and I can fix that right here,'" Parra said.

The crooks then convince their victims to drive to the nearest bank, where they scam the seniors out of $2,000 or $3,000.

"It's scandalous, it's just horrifying," Parra said.

Detective Parra says she's looking for six gypsies in all, four men and two women seen driving a gold Chevy Yukon with 22-inch chrome rims. After working a certain part of the country over about two months, they move on, only leaving a paper trail of police reports behind.

"So if you don't catch them when they are here, they are going to be in another state by a different name within a week or two," Parra said.

Because law enforcers don't want the life savings from other seniors going up in flames, six agencies across the county are working this case, including the sheriff's department and police agencies in San Diego, El Cajon, Escondido, Oceanside and Carlsbad.

Law enforcers say the gypsies' scams also include offering to work on your roof or fix dents in your car.

If you have a tip for Carlsbad police about these crimes, call (760) 931-2100.

http://www.cbs8.com/Global/story.asp?S=9683801

My Response:

“First off - referring to any people as Gypsies is highly offensive and derogatory. It is the same as calling an African American the N word.

So what exactly did these "Gypsies" look like? What language did they speak? Did they have an accent? Do you have a description of any one individual in the "band"? A composite sketch? What tribe of the hundreds of different tribes does this "band of Gypsies" belong to? Are they Rom, Romanichels, Cale, Sinti, Ludar, Romungre, Irish Travelers, Scottish Travelers ...

FYI - Jonny Depp, Elvis Presley, Diamond Jim Brady, Michael Cain, Lana Turner, Charley Chaplin and half of the Rolling Stones - are all what you call "Gypsies". And those are just the people who come forward with it.

So what does a "Gypsy" look like? They look like you and me, and they are probably living next door to you, sitting next to you in school and working in the cubicle aside you at your job - each and every day. So, watch it with the finger pointing, name calling, racist profiling and negative wording and generalizations!

And don't forget the Porrajmos (The Romani Holocaust) that wiped 80% of the European "Gypsy" population off of the face of the earth.

http://www.chgs.umn.edu/histories/victims/romaSinti/jewishResponses.html

[Erin]

I feel so sad that people have to hate other people just because they came from different places. Here in America we're all a big meshpot of God only knows what.

I have dutch, german, irish, native american, and I don't know what all else is there too. Several different creeds of native american too from different parts of the world and different clans. I'm not native american enough to be a part of that community nor am I irish enough to be a part of that community but I feel pride for being native american and pride for being irish.

St. Patties day is a day I look forward to and when I see all that green on the shelves, I feel pride and I don't know one single solitary full blooded irish person. When I see movies where native americans are being killed and tormented and shoved like animals into pens I feel pride that I share some of their noble blood.

When I see the white men in the same movies doing what they did to the indians, what they did to the blacks, reading what people (probably mostly whites) saying what they say about the Roma... All I can feel is shame. Shame that I share the same pool of genes as those people who can treat others so terribly when most of them can't even trace just who or where they came from because it's so very mixed up.

I hate racism in all forms and every time I see it or hear it or read it... I feel even more ashamed and I wonder... why ever couldn't I have been full blooded Native American or full blooded something instead of the mixed mushpot of whiteness that I am. So whoever you are, if you're full blooded anything... be proud that you don't have to be one of us. And if you are one of us and you feel shame for what our people have done, be proud of the few things in you that survived and marched onward long enough to run through your veins. Be as proud as I am to have Native American blood in my veins.

Then go on and do your best to never judge anyone for who or what they are or where they came from.

[shelly]

i am a traveler and every thing you said was not true were not a group and were not poor get your fakts right

[aruba beach weddings]

wow this is so interesting.

[Mac Leedom]

"were not a group" and yet you say "we". What are you, then?

[Mac Leedom]

At any rate, the Irish Travellers paragraph above was talking about the Travellers who remain in Ireland. Not the ones who are here in the states. Get your own facts right. And please, learn how to spell. Else you're only reinforcing the "uneducated" bit.

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