Dancing with Discrimination

Around Here / May 31, 2019

Before walking out the door this morning, I received an email from my photography professor. In the subject line was Roma Khamoro Festival parade, Prague, Czech Republic May 2011 & 2017. I found the power button to the right of my screen, shoved my phone into my bag, and told myself that I didn’t have the time to sit down and read the article right now – big mistake.

My first steps off the tram and out of from underneath the streets made my feet feel like cinderblocks; I was beyond thrilled to have a fun parade scheduled into my day, but didn’t have quite the same feelings toward the crowds I expected to be pushing through for a quality photograph. As starting time drifted closer and closer, the crowds seemed to swell a bit, but mostly just consisted of confused tourists and members of the parade itself. The day that I anticipated pictured a city turned upside down in celebration. The day that I walked into was short, a little confusing, and quite frankly, anticlimactic.

Upon arriving home this afternoon, I began to scroll through pictures searching for a story to tell and realizing how clueless I was about my picture subjects. A new tab was opened, an old article read, and a world of embarrassment unveiled. This festival is in honor of the Romani, a people group of the Czech Republic now composing only 2-3% of the population. My hopes of a lavish parade were not without reason; the day used to be just that nearly twenty years ago, with an abundance of world participants, dancing, and music, but funds have dwindled and locals are all that remain.

I had made a mental note about the crowds being flooded by temporary visitors with iPhone cameras; this is due to the immense, heavy discrimination that takes place toward the Romas to this day. Prejudice has been addressed and combatted in many parts of the world, but the Czechs are repeating history and continuing to isolate their biggest minority by segregation and unfair education policy.

Even so, the shoulders of the Romas were lifted today. I walked alongside a woman whose strength was exuded by her smile alone. I stood among a group of men with talent beyond compare – weaving together melodies of acoustics from guitar strings and vocals. I laughed beside a young girl, losing herself in a song, twirling and twirling and twirling.

Today I had the honor of photographing a people. A people with strength. A people with joy. A people with life.