Roma Immigrants Stigmatized In Pennsylvania

Roma Immigrants Stigmatized In Pennsylvania

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Roma asylum-seekers face violence and discrimination in Europe, where they’re often called ‘Gypsies.’ In recent months, Roma asylum-seekers have made their homes in the small Appalachian town of California, Pennsylvania. After a recent funeral celebration, 150 residents assembled to complain about immigrants unwilling to assimilate. Activists say the complaints are overblown and rooted in xenophobia.

After the incident, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson interviewed George Eli, a Roma-American filmmaker. Carlson made repeated unsubstantiated claims that Roma are a nuisance to the Pennsylvania town; something Eli says is just media misrepresentation. To discuss, Worldview is joined by George Eli and Adriana Helbig, a professor of Ethnomusicology at the University of Pittsburgh.

Here’s a video from Adriana Helbig showing one of the residents of California, Pennsylvania, apologizing for the trouble they caused to the local Roma community: