International Roma Day is celebrated every year on April 8. In 1971, the First Roma World Congress was held on this day, where the delegates decided that the ethnic group would call itself Romanian. Since 1990, the international community has been celebrating that the Roma have something and whom to be proud of. In the course of history, we have met Roma athletes, actors, musicians, and war heroes who have embraced their Hungarian identity, and even now we can be proud of many Roma role models. - can be read on the website of the Mária Kopp Institute.
Among other things, they write: in 2021, many people in the 118 villages participating in the "Efzárkózó Tépülysek" (FETE) program, with a much larger Roma population than the national ratio, were able to take advantage of the opportunities offered by family measures: home building, babysitting, child welfare measures, for example the free meals for children, free camping, the services and discounts provided by Biztos Kezdet Gerekházak or Tanodák are direct help to many Roma families. Family allowances demonstrably and effectively contribute to Roma families being able to move forward.
In the KINCS value survey of Roma families, family and family security are the most important for the interviewed Roma. Two-thirds of them feel particularly happy. In their identity, in addition to the family, their belonging to the Hungarian nation is also decisive. Our surveys clearly disprove the prejudices about the Roma, according to which they consider themselves less Hungarian. The Roma are definitely proud of their Hungarian citizenship. 88 percent of them agreed with the statement that "I would much rather be a Hungarian citizen than to be a citizen of any other country", while in the case of all the respondents, the same indicator was less, 85%.
On the occasion of International Roma Day, we remember the past, cultural values, and community achievements of the Roma ethnic group, but we also cannot forget that there is still work to be done to catch up with the Roma people. This day is an excellent opportunity to draw attention to the fact that our Roma compatriots in our country are important and privileged members of the broad community of Hungarians. Let's voice the fact that being Hungarian and Romanian is a matter of pride, in the words of József Kovács Hontalan Roma poet:
"I confess and undertake that I have two gold bands on me: one is Hungarian culture, the other is my gypsy identity, and I am unwilling to renounce either of them."
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