Rescued by Racism: The Blonde Maria and the Dark Roma

[moriah]

6. They still haven't determined the Greek "Maria"'s origins, either.

There have been many stories, including one where the couple may have bought her for 1000 Euros, another that the girl's biological father is in contact with the family.

The charity said she had head lice, but no other obvious health problems (and my roommate's kids dealt with head lice last year, with three houses involved given his ex-wife's husband's girl sharing a bedroom with his girls when they're all there it's difficult to control, though it's finally been beaten). She's been with them long enough to speak the Romani language, though she understands some Greek. If she was abducted, it was when she was very small, and there's no evidence to suggest she was treated worse than the other children in the camp. To the contrary, reports seem to suggest the Roma thought she was special, too, because of her coloring.

But if we're going to start rescuing the trafficked children amongst the Roma, there are far more dark children who are being exploited and focusing on the pale ones is both racist and demonstrating an appalling ignorance of genetics.