April 8th is International Romani Day. There's a lot I could say, but mostly just want to say thank you all for being a community where I don't have to be afraid to say I'm Gypsy. You'd be surprised how not all European leftists even care about us! So I appreciate you all. So thank you all, please continue to stay educated on our issues, and never be afraid to ask me any questions if you have any.
:heart-sickle:
So my roommate was told recently the term 'roma' is also no good because not everyone who would fall under the category formerly know as 'gypsies' aren't all of Romanian descent. This is the first time I've heard that and was wondering if anyone here has more insight?
Romanian is NOT Romani, Romanians are white, Roma are a very mixed group coming from India originally. Romanians enslaved Romani people. So that's the most important misconception.
Roma/Romani/Gypsy are all fine. It really doesn't matter. The language is complex and doesn't translate well to English. As long as people are standing up for us, I really don't mind what they call us.
Whoa I didn't know that. Interesting.
Yeah, it’s hypothesized we were Rajput warriors! And then travelled through central Asia and North Africa and Middle East. We have a lot of South Asian traditions still (like henna, sometimes bindis, etc.) If you take a DNA test, it’s like 30-70 South Asian, remaining being European and MENA.
I didn't think Roma were Romanians but didn't wasn't sure enough to say anything.
It's ok! Many people get it confused, and it's not their fault, but it definitely sucks because Romanians hate us 😪
The person saying this stuff wasn't being a jerk and is a long time friend of my roommate so I'm guessing her intentions were good but had some bad Intel.
Yeah don’t worry I don’t doubt it! A lot of misinformation is out there about us.
Thanks for clearing it up, as well as everyone else in this comment cluster. Really informative stuff.
When did the term Roma come about?
Is it connected to that relationship with Romania at all...or is it like a derivation from roam or something?
It comes from the word 'Rom' which just means man in the Romani language. So it's basically like Roma as an adjective, aka Romani people. Nothing to do with Romania at all.
I see
Also they may be talking about how Irish Travellers call themselves Gypsies but aren't Roma, and just are white. That's a... complicated issue. They appropriate a lot from us and our activism. If I am ever talking about Gypsies, I mean the Romani Gypsies. That's all I'll say on that specific distinction.
I don't know much about Travellers, what have they appropriated from Roma culture?
It's hard to explain, but the label for one. It may have been moreso appropriated and forced onto them than them taking it, I have hardly looked that much into it, but nonetheless. Many activism is under the title GRT (Gypsy, Romani, Travellers) especially in UK, and that is the worst of it. The appropriation of activism. Because Travellers have it bad, don't get me wrong, but it has never and will never be on the same level. We are not the same, our issues are different, and they end up taking up more of the spotlight because people can stomach them and their equality more than ours.
Interesting. Is that entirely because of their skin color?
Yeah for the most part. They are a white group, we’re not. We have more history of systematic injustices too, like Travellers weren’t ever slaves for example.
I've skimmed the wikipedia article and it says Roma comes from Rom meaning husband in the romani language. It doesn't have anything to do with Romania.
Rom can also just mean 'person'. The language is confusing and there's many dialects. Anything works, Roma/Romani/Gypsy.
I think it really depends?
I have family that identifies themselves explicitly as Beyash-descent and not Romani; but I am not particularly close with them and I don't know how meaningful that distinction is, or whether it's rooted in some kind of cultural factionalism, or even if this is just a familial quirk and not a widely-held opinion.
Oh once we start getting into subgroups of us, it all goes to hell. Sinti don’t usually like being considered Romani (they are). We’ve got a lot of intercommunity beefs and hierarchies lol.