The Gypsy/Gitano question

Since nearly half of "Domino's" principal actors (including our star), and about half of the crew, are Spanish Gypsies (Gitanos), I thought it might be of interest to talk a little about the topic.

Gitanos have been in Spain for over 500 years. They are proud of their culture.  It is thought that as a race, they originated in north western India.

In addition to being Gitano, they are Spaniards, and make up 10%-15% of Spain's population.  Most of the remaining Spaniards are Castillanos, although in recent years when the economic bubble was in full force, many thousands of immigrants entered the country to work--lots of Latin Americans (especially people from Ecuador), as well as Senegalese, huge numbers of Moroccans, and others (including some Japanese).

Domino's cast & crew are divided between Gitano and Castillano.

Although Gitanos have been part of Spain's population for such a long time, in most regions of Spain they are discriminated against and many Castillanos actively dislike them as a group.  Racism?  Yes, indeed.

The city where I hang out (Jerez de la Frontera) is one of the very, very, very few that has a reputation for actually "accepting" its Gitano population.  This, it has been surmised, is partly because they were a very important part of the labor force for the vineyards which up until about 30 years ago were a mainstay of Jerez' economy.  (Jerez is a wine-making town).  More recently, Gitanos have brought in a lot of money for the city because of their participation in flamenco, which in Jerez is big business.

Literally thousands of foreigners and locals come to see flamenco in this and other theaters.

To give only one illustration of the general racism, a friend of mine who is Gitano was recently interviewed about his origins.  He brought out his whole family (father, sisters, children and grandchildren) for a family photo to illustrate this story.  He talked a bit about the origins of Gitanos and the specific origins of his family, and then went on to say a great deal about how proud and happy they were to be part of Jerez.

The story and photo were published in the daily newspapers of three nearby cities.  On-line response in Jerez was divided.  About half said nice things about my friend, his family, and Gitanos in general.  The other half were scurrilous.

Bar Gitaneria, where we filmed a scene, is Gitano owned.

On the other hand, on-line responses from the other two cities (27 responses within the first 24 hours in the case of one city) were really nasty:  Gitanos "don't belong here," "they" should go back to wherever they came from, "they" don't follow our laws, "they" are the dregs of society, "they" don't work, "they" are good for nothing--you get the picture.  My friend, deeply offended, called the newspaper editor and asked that all the on-line comments be removed and no new ones be allowed.  He also asked the paper to print a second story that would palliate his family, which had also been offended-and they were mad at HIM.

(Being a "big man about town" in Jerez, he was given all he asked.)

So now you know--the U.S.A. is not the only country were racism abounds.  I could go on and on about this topic--how Moroccans and Jews are received, how there is racism in France, and in Rwanda, and in China, and in....

But enough already.

OUR NEXT BLOG will be about shooting in southern Spain.