No worries, I think Queen is just used to the standard close minded instant gratification types that float about on the internet and is completely over them. The problem is, when that mindset is supported with like minded people who are also tired of it all, it becomes normal to lash out at your frustrations even when…

I do appreciate your candor and levelheadedness despite what most people on the internet would throw a fit over. Thank you for the discourse.

The problem is you have no idea that they are “white.” The OP you were replying to never stated their skin color, ethnicity or anything else. They simply stated they were uninformed. But your knee jerk reaction was to assume they are white and to lecture them about POC, and to defend Roma as POC. Which is why I made…

No snark here, I’m curious what you think makes the Roma great as a people?

The “Roma” are made up on a myriad of ethnicities, nationalities, languages and cultures. We all consider ourselves a specific group of Roma compared to each other group. E.g. Mexicans, Cubans, Puerto Ricans.

Some of us are successful, some of…

I was in Germany visiting family when Merkel’s Sinti/Roma memorial was opened back in 2012. I quite like it. It’s not a spectacle, it’s just a quiet place to reflect upon and acknowledge the actions that were taken.

My brother also has his PhD and does R&D/Project management for Daimler. It’s funny how quickly…

I’m confused. I’m Roma, and I’m white. Who should I be making generalizing remarks to? Hm, perhaps I’ll just address the assholes of whatever skin tone instead of making it about personal biases regarding a group of people purely based on their skin. Aka, bigotry.

Well, one of the oldies is that we Roma are know to be baby thieves. If you need’em, we can acquire’em for ya!

We’re already here and unfortunately assimilated a long time ago. We would have preferred acculturation, but when you’re fleeing genocide you’ll take what you can get.

bohemiancaravans.weebly.com/about-us-a-history-of-bohemia-and-gypsies.html

We find gypsy offensive when used by non-gypsies. I am a gyspy, I am not your gypsy. When someone who is not a gypsy is referring to us as a gypsy you’re calling me a slave. When we are calling each other a gypsy, we’re referring to who we are/were as a people. It has an entire other cultural foundation of meaning…

To be fair, I doubt most Europeans and even a good portion of Roma know where their ethnic backgrounds lie. My family kept a pretty solid record, mostly in part due to the fact that we tried to send young couples to the US on a few occasions beginning with the Dutch on the Mayflower. Unfortunately, all attempts to…

As a Roma, I’d think it’s cute. At least you’re representing us in a romanticized way instead of as baby thieves/pickpockets :) But, uh, leave the scarf off your head if that was part of the costume, that just looks silly.

Generally we’re call thieves, baby thieves, inbreds, satanists(HA! most Roma are devout Catholics), we’re made fun of having genocide committed against us by two countries at the same time, dirty, beggars, etc. Basic nonsense.

Our solution was to tell the Nazis fuck you, we’re sick of your concentration camps and left for the US in the 40's. It’s been an interesting process of fitting in since then, but I’ve done well enough for myself :)

What’s funny is, as a Roma I speak fluent German and all of my family except for me now live in Stuttgart. Whenever I visit Germans just assume I’m a white American and compliment me on how well I speak German. Granted, I am Bohem Romani so my complexion is far more western European looking compared to what people…

Roma here. Recently I had an interesting conversation going on, on “The Root” how I had no idea what it is to be black and that any input I had regarding the conversation was therefore invalid. I didn’t bother to drop the “ethnic” card or my people’s history and just left it be. I’d prefer to be judged by the merit…

I use “ripped off” in front of other people. I use “gypped” around other Roma just for the irony.

True that, I’ve had a number of people tell me they had no idea gypped was offensive when I explain it to them. They thought the etymology came from world war II and the Japanese. Hence people mistakenly spelling it “jipped.” Not that that makes it any better ;)

Zigeuner is used within my family specifically. But with that said, I tend to explain to people it’s parallels the n-word use with black Americans. We use it between ourselves colloquially because it’s our heritage, it’s who we are. But I am not your zigeuner or gypsy. Do not refer to me as one. We are the Roma…

Call us Roma or Romani, can’t go wrong with that. We’ll refer to each other as other things in private or among ourselves, but those are terms relegated to use between other Roma.