Discrimination and racism must finally stop
Discrimination and racism must finally stop
Statement from RomaniPhen e.V.
In preparation to this collaboration Inga spoke with Svetlana Kostić and Isidora Randelović in the rooms of the RomaniPhen e.V. Archive. We talked about the extent to which it makes sense to make demands on the health system if we cannot enforce them. Isidora stated that it is important to make only those demands that we will pursue. They both said that of course, in any given situation in the German health system, many discriminatory experiences can be traced that Rom:nja and Sinti:zze experience. But discrimination against Rom:nja and Sinti:zze is by no means limited to the healthcare system. It would make more sense to approach the question of demands on the health system through the concept of Reproductive Justice. By Reproductive Justice we mean not only the right to sexual self-determination, such as the right to abortion. It is also the right to have children and to have one‘s children grow up in good conditions. RomaniPhen e.V. organised a focus group on this issue and shared the results with us.
“Unfortunately, the discrimination is so big that for many Rom:nja I work with it is normalised because it happens every day. I have been working in Berlin as a social worker for four years and for the last 10 minutes I can‘t decide which case study to talk about.”
On 20.01.2023 we, Isidora Randjelović and Svetlana Kostić, met with six other Romnja in the RomaniPhen e.V. Archive. In a focus group, we exchanged our experiences in the field of reproductive (in)justice. The participants ranged in age from 17-58 years old and worked professionally as family helpers, school social workers, scientists, social workers, cleaners, and in the field of education, and one person is still a student. All participants have a migration history.
First we introduced the concept of Reproductive Justice. It comes from the USA and has been developed by Black women and women of colour. Black women and women of colour did not see their needs represented in the white mainstream women‘s movements in the 1970s. It would be correct to speak here of people who can become pregnant and bear children, since people who see themselves as male or inter* also have the ability to bear children. In the legal context, this language has not yet become established. When we refer to women, the term is to be understood in the sense just mentioned. The experiences of white women differed enormously from those of BIPoCs when it came to reproductive rights. This is because the white mainstream debates only focused on abortion rights and contraceptives. Whereas BIPoC women had to face other challenges when it came to their reproductive rights and still have to face them today. Challenges such as racism, racist stereotypes of motherhood, classism, sexism, poverty or homophobia. Loretta J. Ross is one of the most well-known names when it comes to the topic of reproductive justice. The term Reproductive Justice combines Reproductive Rights and Social Justice and is a human rights-based concept that combines theory and practice from an intersectional perspective and is based on four principles:
1) The right to have a child under conditions of one‘s own choosing.
2) The right not to have a child using contraception, abortion or sexual abstinence.
3) The right to raise children in a safe and healthy environment free from individual or state violence.
4) The right to sexual self-determination.
After introducing the concept of Reproductive Justice, we explored in a discussion how and to what experiences it can connect here in Berlin and from our lives. The conversation immediately turned to our first experiences of motherhood:
“I always felt that somehow I was not welcome here by the doctors. When I gave birth, I wanted to deliver my child in the birthing tub, but the midwife refused, because otherwise she would have to clean the tub again.”
“During the birth I experienced violence from the doctor. I have always experienced discrimination in the context of my children‘s births. I have also often experienced discrimination in different areas with my children. Be it at school or daycare, shopping etc.”
In the area of motherhood, many different situations and experiences were described, such as: having no space for the children, small flats, sometimes living with seven people in a one-room flat, having no privacy for the children, no space to do homework. In addition to their own experiences, the pedagogues‘ professional experiences also played a role here. They described how their clients feel powerless: On the one hand, because they neither experience support nor know their way around the systems themselves. But many women are aware that they are Romnja and that’s why they cannot get a flat. In addition, there is the low income and lack of resources (paid employment, guarantees, Schufa information) for affordable housing. There are many barriers.
For the mothers themselves it is no problem to have many children, they love their children, but they experience criticism and “education“ from schools and social workers that they should not have so many children. Sometimes it is said as a joke. One discussant reported:
“Unfortunately, the discrimination is so big that for many Rom:nja I work with it is normalised because it happens every day. I have been working in Berlin as a social worker for four years and for the last 10 minutes I can‘t decide which case study to talk about. As a social worker and family helper, I see discrimination against families every day. Whether at school, in the day care centre, at the youth welfare office or district office. Single Rom:nja parents are particularly affected by discrimination.”
A single mother with two children with disabilities goes to the Charité hospital to make an appointment for childbirth. The receptionist says: “You already have children, are you pregnant again? It‘s good that they have so many children, but they don‘t know German!"
Children from the Rom:nja community are disproportionately given “I status“, i.e. special educational needs, due to their lack of German language skills in the school enrolment test. These language barriers are attributed to the children‘s intelligence. Parents are also pressured to sign documents in schools without understanding what is at stake. Thus, parents may sign without their knowledge that their children will be put back or given materials for lower classes, or that their children will be given “I status“.
A 22-year-old woman who does not yet have children and does not plan to have any in the near future visits the Centre for Sexual Health in Charlottenburg. The young woman has an appointment because she wants to inquire about a suitable contraceptive. The social worker on site asked the young woman why she wanted to use contraception. “Surely you already have 5-6 children at home and that‘s why?“ The woman was referred back to the gynaecologist for further tests, told to come back in five to six months and not to get pregnant during that time. However, she had been to the gynaecologist before and had a referral with her.
A woman turns up for her appointment with a gynaecologist. She is the last one in the waiting room. When the gynaecologist comes out and sees the woman, the doctor goes to the reception and says to the medical assistant in a loud tone, so that the woman could hear it in the waiting room: “We are closing, no more patients today". The patient had an appointment and her insurance card had already been scanned. Irritated, the patient left the practice.
The concept of Reproductive Justice encompasses many more areas than the health sector. Nevertheless, clear experiences of racism, stereotyping and the lack of access to and in the health sector were addressed. Also stressful for pupils and their parents are the experiences of discrimination in schools and at youth welfare offices, but above all the incorrect classification of a supposed need for educational support. Another stressful factor in their lives is the different social and legal treatment of Rom:nja refugees, the emergency accommodation, the fear of deportation and the unacceptable housing conditions.
“Our people must also be given humane access so that we can live in safety and with dignity with all the resources that a human needs to live and age healthily in this society.”
It can be assumed that all these experiences have an impact on health, as traumatic and physical experiences. If we make a demand after only one round of talks, then it cannot only refer to the health sector. Discrimination and racism must finally stop and our people must also be given humane access so that we can live in safety and with dignity with all the resources that a human needs to live and age healthily in this society! Because racism makes us sick!