There's the poor, and then there's the Roma

In class a few weeks back, we learned about the injunction in the Bible for Christians to help the poor. This isn’t a commandment, but it certainly isn’t an option. Throughout the Old and New Testaments (In particular, Proverbs, Leviticus, and the Gospels come to mind), Christians are reminded of their duty to help those in need. In Leviticus, farmers are told to leave some of their crop for the poor and the alien, a process called gleaning. In Proverbs, this call is so important that God promises to make comfortable the lives of those who give to the poor – He will provide for the righteous, and especially for those who give to those in need.

This brings me to a subject that seems far away from my dorm room in Texas, but is still very important: the Roma. In an article published in the NYT this past September 17, Suzanne Daley reports on the current movements of the Roma throughout Europe. With the advent of the European Union and the “lessening” of borders between countries, the Roma have begun migrating from places they have traditionally lived – Eastern Europe and Romania – to the more affluent Western Europe. Unfortunately, the majority of the Roma live below poverty level, and have been known to beg and steal in whichever country they are living in. So, Western Europe has not taken kindly to them becoming their neighbors. Of particular note is the situation in France, where they are being singled out for deportation, some critics claim.

My question is, what should the Christian response be? The Roma have for centuries been living at the poverty level, and have a reputation for living in slums, not getting a good education, and in general not being of much benefit to where they are living. But what sort of help are they getting? Everyone foists the problem off on Romania, their homeland, which provides little if no help in providing proper education, or ways of rising above the poverty level. Shouldn’t it be everyone’s duty, though, to help them, regardless of where they are from? But what if they have been given help (admittedly, I don’t know much of their history, but I assume they have been given help before) for centuries and nothing has been getting better, is it the givers’ problem, or the receivers’? Should Christians not help the deservedly poor? Is anyone deservedly poor? Lots of questions…