Today the Mulatto Association in Bucharest is beginning to bring them together. �This is the goal of our association so that they can meet others like themselves and realize that they are not the only ones,� says Elisabeta Parvu, the association founder and single mother of a black girl.
Though Andrea was forced to change five schools in an effort to escape the physical and verbal abuse she never met another black person like herself till age 18 when she bumped into Ms Parvu�s daughter on the street. �It was definitely a turning point in my life,� Andrea says.
Their meeting hall is Ms. Parvu�s dining room. It is a cheerful room where the walls are layered with hanging plants and flowers. The association is more like a club than anything political. It is a �safe house� where any of the 300 members are welcome and visit quite regularly to talk, to eat or just watch some television. Ms. Parvu doesn�t consider herself �founder� or �president� but rather mother to them all.
�She makes great pickles,� chimes in Dana Lukusa. �You are always sure to get something to eat here.�
... Combating prejudice ugly head is yet another major goal of the association. Though prejudice in Romania is something that is often denied by its officials - it exist here like anywhere else.
�There was a famous Romanian journalist who once said to me, �there is no racial hate in Romania�,� says Elisabeta Parvu. �I was very angry that he said this and I invited him to walk out in the street with me behind a group of mulatto and he will see that they are shouted at and called names. He wouldn�t believe me and refused to see for himself.�
�It�s better now than during Communism,� adds Andrea Nica. �I had allot of problems when I was in school. They used to shout at me, �go back where you came from�. But where else am I suppose to go? - I am Romanian!�
�What happens allot now is after a long stare I am asked where I am from,� says Dana Lukusa. ��Oh so your a Romanian,� they say. �Your mother is from here - right?� There is the general knowledge that only Romanian women marry black men and they say it with a double meaning indicating your mother is a whore... But generally I try and ignore it.�
For the new generation of black Romanians life is more secure. Prejudice reactions towards nine year old Idrees Hassan existed only on his very first days of school. According to Idrees, once his classmates got to know him they became best friends and he no longer has problems.
Also to his advantage is the extraordinary high rate of media exposure and success of Romanian blacks. They are no longer just a passing blur along the boulevard, but rather making daily visits in living rooms across the nation. They are coming out in a big way - with a Saturday night variety show hosted by two black Romanians, a popular morning newscaster, they are seen on the Romanian music channel as a V.J. and singers, they are top Romanian models, soccer stars and authors.
They are young, able and rapidly exceeding their peers - and in the process becoming role models for an entire nation. Slowly, they are conquering this �alien� stereotype thrust upon them and in sense - conquering Romania