I don't want my daughter disguising herself as a Gypsy in the caldereros. I don’t want Gypsy children at my daughter’s school to dress up as Gypsies in caldereros. Because being a gypsy is not a disguise. Because being a gypsy is not a party that takes place once a year, with exotic clothes and a charcoal-stained face.

Being a Gypsy means living through more than five hundred years of persecution, repression and discrimination. To be a Gypsy is to resist the community and the resilience and to fight every day so that the Gypsy does not lose or disappear directly. To be a Gypsy is to be part of a village and to be proud of it.

I do want my daughter to be told about the history of the Gypsy people in school, I do want my daughter to be told about the Gypsy culture, and I do want her to meet the Gypsies who have made great contributions to our society.

Let us celebrate the Gypsy culture without prejudices and stereotypes. It’s enough to celebrate just a few parties.

The holidays will be anti-racist or they won’t be!