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</span><br/><span style="font-size: 18px"><i>I</i></span><i><span style="font-size: 18px">n a celebratory mood, Tamas and Livia Vélas, their children Viktoria, Margit, Erika, Nikolae and Amadan were waiting to be seated at Abantal, a restaurant in Seville, Spain. Although the restaurant was completely empty, the waiter refused to serve them.</span></i><br/><span style="font-size: 18px"><br/>
<i>“This table’s reserved,” he told them of every table in the establishment.</i><br/>
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<i>"But we have the money. We wish to be served." Livia replied, stunned at the waiter's curt response, obviously a lie.</i><br/>
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<i>"Fine. Then we wish to speak to the manager." Tamas demanded.</i><br/>
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<i>The manager emerged from the back of the restaurant, caught one look at the family and asked them to leave.</i><br/>
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<i>“I don’t need your Gypsy money, now go!" the manager responded rudely.</i><br/>
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<i>When Tamas began to argue with him, he offered to move them into a back room.</i><br/>
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<i>Tamas said, "Fuck you, fuck your restaurant, you can go to hell! I’m not giving you a cent.”</i><br/>
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<i>"Get out of here you filthy gypsy, before I call the police." the manager demanded.</i><br/>
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With the manager's final insult, Amadan and his family finally left the restaurant. But it wouldn't be the first disturbing racist incident he would be exposed to, nor would it be their last. The Roma faced blatant discrimination and indignities so often, the band decided it was better to stay in the Roma section of town where they were welcome, rather than deal with the racist attitudes of the Non-Roma community. The people of Seville believed that the Roma belonged to a subhuman category, were prone to criminal activity, early pregnancy, and straining their welfare system. Since the arrival of the Roma to the continent during the Middle Ages, they were considered heretics for practicing fortune telling and palm reading. <br/>
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To avoid persecution, they adopted a nomadic lifestyle and practiced trades they could take on the go. Yet, despite some of the Roma no longer practicing traditional occupations or traveling nomadically, antiquated clichés of gold-draped gypsies living in caravans that read the fortunes of strangers and swindled outsiders of their money dogged the Romani people in Europe. Millions of Roma were scattered in bands across the continent, living in dilapidated shanty towns. Living on the fringes of society, poor and destitute Roma families were denied social services, their children were segregated in public schools with non-Roma children and their youth targeted by police. <br/>
</span><br/><div style="text-align: center"><span style="font-size: 18px">+++++++++++<br/>
</span>​</div><span style="font-size: 18px">Amadan thought he left the negative climate behind him along with the Roma culture when he departed Spain for greener pastures in the United States of America, but it was only partially true. Casa Marianella was like a warm, nurturing cocoon that separated him from the outside world. His distinct accent, and his complexion defined who he was as a human being, especially one in a foreign land. He learned to speak and write in English, but he'd never really lose the Spanish inflection when he spoke. Still he remained positive and in good spirits after enjoying Convivio with Detective Tony Deschenes for a few days, until he had good reason to become upset. <br/>
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<i>One thing Amadan remembered Tony saying that night was, "Look around you. Not everyone thinks you're a bad person."</i><br/>
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Apparently someone<i> did.</i><br/>
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Section 312 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) required that Amadan had to demonstrate an ability to read, write, and in the English language, and have a knowledge and understanding of U.S. history and government. He'd been taking classes at Casa Marianella in order to meet the requirements of Section 312 of the Immigration and Naturalization Act (INA). Amadan had taken the naturalization test to become a naturalized citizen. The naturalization test consisted of two components – an English and a civics component, and Amadan passed the test with a 92.<br/>
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Before he was able to schedule the necessary interview leading to the naturalization ceremony, Amadan checked the status of his application at Casa Marianella, and was informed that his application had been placed in suspension until further review.  There had been a shitload of bureaucratic red tape and hoops he had to jump through on the journey to becoming naturalized, and in order to apply for his Form N-200, he had to pay $725 which he had to save up for by doing odd jobs and playing his violin for money. <br/>
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Amadan studied for his tests, and worked his ass off in order to swear an oath of citizenship to the United States. He was trying to figure out why his application was suspended, so he called to speak to someone at USCIS. He was placed on hold and connected to another person three times before the clerk informed him that his recent arrest was the reason his citizenship was now in jeopardy. Amadan was livid. He'd held off on calling Tony, thinking perhaps the detective might be busy with his investigation. Amadan would have preferred to call because he wished to invite Tony to dinner and a movie.<br/>
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It just didn't go that way, and as much as he hated to have to call him because of this stressful event, Amadan picked up the receiver to his cell phone and dialed the phone number Tony had exchanged with him at Convivio. The phone rang three times before it connected to Tony's voice mail.<br/>
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<b>"To-nee? This is Amadan Vélas. V-E-L-A-S. I have question about when the police come to my home and arrest me. Please call me back soon. I need to know why this affect my citizenship if I am not guilty of this crime. Call me please. 726-4514. I speak from my cell phone. Gracias."</b><br/>
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All Amadan knew was that he didn't kill those people, and that he deserved to become a United States citizen because he had worked hard and had followed all the instructions to earn that right to swear an oath. If anyone could help him, it would be Detective Tony Deschenes. H<i>e'd know what to do, or find a way to help me through this, Amadan thought.</i><br/>
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<i>He just had to.</i><br/>
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