You think it doesn’t matter
.. and that as long as you have a good intentions you can use the word ‘gypsy’ however you please. Our cries of “please don’t, it’s a racial slur!” are met with anger, bigotry, and hatred.
People fail to see why it’s a big deal and accuse us of over-reacting, being ‘angry’, or worse, being racists ourselves. We’re accused of hating All White people and being the very thing we are fighting against.
You tell us that the word has “changed” and become something else in America and that gives you the right to use it. You try and tell us the history of a word that was tattooed on our skin before we were gassed. You say that Hitler made the word bad and that before then, it was a good word.
You know nothing of our history—and comments like these just prove that. You sit in your flowing skirts, long hair, and headscarves and think you’re one of us. You claim you can be what you want and your intentions are good.
It doesn’t matter what you say—the word ‘gypsy’ is a racial slur that was used against my people from the moment they left India. It is something that has been used to enslave them (in the old Romanian lands of Wallachia and Moldavia, where they were not emancipated for over 200 years—1864).
You only want to claim what you see as the “positive” aspects of the word—however, the things you claim are not ours. They are stereotypes, Disney-tropes, Halloween costumes of a real people. A people who are alive and well (though that’s debatable the kinds of conditions many of us must live in).
I’m tired of you taking things you think belong to us. You wear a long skirt and call yourself a ‘gypsy’ with no regard for the meaning of that long skirt in our traditions. You wear a headscarf with no regard for the symbolism or practice in our traditions. You braid your hair and call yourself ‘gypsy’ with no idea what that actually means to the millions of us around the world.
You think that you have the right to take what you want—and that is called White Privilege—yet, when we level this at you, again you turn around and become defensive and abrasive and say that WE are the real racists because we won’t let you do what ever you want.
I am so tired of it. I long for the day when I can look in the ‘gypsy’ tag and it is full of memories of my people. When it is full of old Rroma—Ursari and Kalderash, Lotfitka and Chuxny. When it is overflowing with photographs of my friends and their families. When I know if I post a photograph of myself, it will not be the exception, but rather the rule.
I hate the word gypsy, but I would rather that we reclaimed it as our own and filled that tag with the wonder of our lives than let it fester as a misrepresentation and stereotype of our lives. It’s like we are nothing more than caricatures to you, costumes you can choose to wear when it pleases you.
I can’t choose. I can’t take of my ethnicity on a whim. I can’t decide to be ‘gypsy’ one day and not the next. I am Rroma—I was raised within the traditions and I am quite aware what a long skirt and braids represent.
I write this in the hopes that someone will change their mind about how they describe themselves. Instead of using a racial slur that offends many millions of people—why not choose a different word? Stop comforting yourself with only the good things and start realizing that the people you think you emulate have been historically persecuted and killed for their ethnicity. An ethnicity you mock with your hipster photos and poems.
Would you wear a long skirt, with a long-sleeved blouse and say you were tzniut? Or wear a mitpachat or tichel and say you were being a Jew?
It’s the same thing, yet you fail to realize it.
Calling yourself a ‘gypsy’ is racist.
Learn what that word means before you throw it around carelessly, regardless of your intentions.
It doesn’t matter—ignorance is not a good thing.
THE second series of My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding is being blocked because of a row with travellers where bosses wanted to film.
The show was due to be screened next year but families at Dale Farm, Britain’s biggest gypsy site, have barred producers for “misrepresenting” the community.
Spokesman Jake Fulton said: “The residents do not have the energy to talk to the crews the whole time.
“They feel they were misrepresented in the first series and do not want them on the site anymore.”
But Channel 4 is confident the series will be finished and said not all families had opted out of the show.
A spokesman added: “We filmed there recently, have good relationships with a number of people and are still in contact.
“The first series was a fair and accurate representation of what happened during filming, and we hope to continue to tell the story of Dale Farm in the next.”
The 400 travellers living illegally at the former scrapyard, in Essex, recently lost a 10-year battle to stay at the site and will be evicted on September 19.
Prime Minister David Cameron yesterday backed the £18million forced clearance.
He said: “I certainly give my support to Essex Police and to all the county and district councils that have been involved.”
[Source: Daily Mirror]
If it’s such a ‘fair and accurate representation’ then why are the families protesting?Oh wait, could it be because they’re being forcibly evicted from their fucking homes and people like Kate Moss are not even getting off their stuck-up little arses to give a shit? Oh, they’ll take the culture, they’ll appropriate shit down to London and back, but actually support people when they’re in need? Not a fucking chance. All these people who “love” the show, and “love” the people, and “want a gypsy wedding/lifestyle/family/girlfriend” … but not ONE single VOICE is raised against the treatment they’re receiving. Not even the producers of the show—who’ve raked in TONS because of it…
Says something about the status of travellers the world over—not just in the UK. Also says something about appropriation and romanticism of the ‘gypsy’ culture…
I am SO ANGRY over this right now.
I don’t identify (personally) with the subset of travellers who mostly live in Dale Farm or in the TV shows. But, they are nevertheless my people. There are Romani living there too—and old Pavee families…
Just… so speechless.
thetruthisone-deactivated201203 asked: i'm really sorry i've offended you. I think i am too ignorant of its affects on the Romani people to really understand why it is an issue. I saw the post and thought, "oh, someone getting upset over a silly photoshoot. pfft." because i really am unaware of how it relates to the problem. I think it would be beneficial for me to learn more about why you see it as an issue.. and please forgive me.
Thank you for this message, I have been waiting to answer (for various reasons, one being that I’ve been slammed with grad work).
A photo shoot to most people is nothing—it’s just like any other advertisement, and as such, the creators have artistic license right? They’re not hurting anyone after all, right?
Wrong. They don’t have license to glamorize, romanticize, stereotype, or appropriate. Their ‘artistic’ vision hurts us, as a people, as a community. What they should have is a responsibility to their fellow humans.
Shoots like that of “Kate and the Gypsies” are harmful for several reasons. Racism begins somewhere and these images provide the green light for othering, stereotyping, and marginalization.
This leads to the “but I meant it in a good way” statements, that really have no answer. There IS no good way to mean it… not only that, but these portrayals of a white woman being “allowed” into the “lives of gypsies” instantly spotlights her white privilege.
White people can go ‘visit’ with these people, sit on their horses, pose awkwardly on a cart with some dirty kids and it’s considered art. It’s lauded as fashion… but only because a rich white anorexic girl is in the photograph. A rich white girl who is being paid stupid amounts of money to pose with said gypsies. Take her out of it and it’s something entirely different. It’s a photograph of poverty, of reality, of the ‘tough’ or ‘mysterious’ life…. a photograph of people who own less total than the price of her underwear.
However, all that being said, one of the main problems with this kind of shoot is that most Romani would refuse to take part. Just as “My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding” has utilized the word “gypsy” to cover Travellers (from Irish stock, but not Pavee), so does this photo shoot. This immediately takes these people who are NOT ethnically “gypsy” and places them under that banner—along side those of us who would never DREAM of having such a wedding. We’re now all seen as the Quinn McDonagh’s—angry, violent, gypsy men who grab girls without their permission and passive, air-headed girls who just want big weddings and lots of fuss.
Romani don’t grab girls. Romani don’t wear huge monstrosities of wedding dresses.
Romani don’t live, for the most part, in the old vardo (caravans), or wear dreads, and dresses reminiscent of Ren Faire.
Even though it is only one brick in the wall of discrimination—it is still an essential part of that wall. Take away that one brick, and the wall becomes easier to tear down.
I’ve seen the entire photo set from the photographer who shot it. I posted some of the images and explained that these people are “New Gypsies” and not Romani—that in itself created a big fuss here with people saying things like “Well, they’re still gypsies, right?” and some even reposting the images without my commentary instead saying “oh I’d love to be a gypsy”… which completely destroyed any of my intentions in posting them in the first place. However, it does illustrate the power of these images. White girls identifying with the white girl in the photograph—they want to live that kind of gypsy life—a life which doesn’t exist. A life which is based on a myth, a photograph, a privilege which the rest of us don’t have.
Kate Moss will never be beaten for being gypsy, refused service in a shop or a bar, she will never be accused of stealing because of her ethnicity, she will never know the feeling of a hungry belly that hasn’t eaten a proper meal in three weeks because you can’t afford one (not because you’re starving to reach some unattainable and privileged ideal)… once she left the shoot, she could shower in hot water, wash her clothes in a machine, watch TV and read a thousand books if she wanted to.
… and that’s the problem.
thetruthisone-deactivated201203 asked: that post wasn't about you. i absolutely understand and recognize your position. but i hold my opinion strong and clear: to be concerned about a kate moss photoshoot is a waste of time. you should be concerned about other things. not this.
I am concerned about other things—we are concerned about other things - hence this entire blog. But, your blatant refusal to acknowledge the damage these type of things can do, means that you really don’t understand anything at all.
A Kate Moss photoshoot is a part of a much bigger and systemic problem for Romani. To tell a Romani that this is a “waste of time” is, in itself, offensive.
I’m not going to argue anymore. You’re not Romani, you’re not gypsy… you have no idea what this means or how it affects us.
You do not speak for us, in fact, it would seem you’re part of the problem: You sit in your white settled privilege and tell us how to feel…
thetruthisone-deactivated201203 asked: i didn't mean it offensively, i simply meant that it isn't something to get worked up about when there are legitimate issues going on besides a kate moss photoshoot ;)
A Kate Moss photoshoot is a legitimate issue—especially when gypsy culture is being misrepresented by the media more and more. Take My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, or maybe Big Fat Gypsy Gangster, or the new Knuckles mockumentary… whatever it is, it’s an epidemic. This is just as much a problem as marginalization and discrimination.
Romanticizing the ‘gypsy’ lifestyle still ‘others’ it into something mysterious, unknown, dangerous, secret… it doesn’t stop the negative treatment of those who these shoots are made about either—just look at Dale Farm. Whether or not those people are “true” Romani, they’re being forcibly evicted as are Romani all over the world. At this very moment.
Showing some dumb model on a horse near some caravans isn’t addressing any issues either. It’s merely perpetuating stereotypes that the world can do without. Stereotypes I am tired of seeing over and over again.
Don’t tell us to “chill out” or ask “who gives a fuck”… and then say you didn’t mean it offensively.
I have the heart of a Gypsy, and live like a Gypsy, so of COURSE this photo shoot of Kate Moss is MY FAVORITE EVER!
^THIS is the kind of appropriative bullshit that makes me REALLY REALLY ANGRY.
Firstly, the full photoshoot of this, they’re not ROMANI (therefore not gypsy), they’re freaking “New Gypsies” ie: New Travellers. AS IN APPROPRIATIVE ASSHOLES who CHOSE to go live in caravans and tents and can choose any TIME to leave.
To whoever blogged this: I’m pretty sure you don’t have the “heart of a gypsy” nor “live like a gypsy”. Trust me. It’s nothing like you think it is.
Some days I just can’t TAKE this—yet I’m expected to sit silently by and not say a word about the appropriation and misrepresentation of my people…
I look at the “Gypsy” tag less and less these days for this crap, ugh.
I have one question though… seriously, who gives a fuck? chill man. it doesn’t matter. if anything, it’s funny. life is good.
Whoa. How can you reblog this with that statement, and immediately afterword reblog a news bulletin about the plight of the Romani???
And, hm! The Romanies give a fuck. Their allies give a fuck. Their culture is always being appropriated, skewing the perception of them even further.
I have the heart of a Gypsy, and live like a Gypsy, so of COURSE this photo shoot of Kate Moss is MY FAVORITE EVER!
^THIS is the kind of appropriative bullshit that makes me REALLY REALLY ANGRY.
Firstly, the full photoshoot of this, they’re not ROMANI (therefore not gypsy), they’re freaking “New Gypsies” ie: New Travellers. AS IN APPROPRIATIVE ASSHOLES who CHOSE to go live in caravans and tents and can choose any TIME to leave.
To whoever blogged this: I’m pretty sure you don’t have the “heart of a gypsy” nor “live like a gypsy”. Trust me. It’s nothing like you think it is.
Some days I just can’t TAKE this—yet I’m expected to sit silently by and not say a word about the appropriation and misrepresentation of my people…
I look at the “Gypsy” tag less and less these days for this crap, ugh.
Trailer for “Big Fat Gypsy Gangster”…
From Examiner.com:
“The X Factor” U.K. judge Tulisa Contostavlos has revealed some information about her role in the comedy film ”My Big Fat Gypsy Gangster,” directed by Arjun Rose. Contostavlos will play a character named Shanikwa, a member of an all-female music group.
She tells the Daily Mirror about her character in the movie:
“She’s very up and down, very on the edge - anything can make her tip. She’s vulnerable and cute and warm, but at the same time she has a bit of a psychotic edge to her. That was pretty much me when I was 15-years-old … probably me just a week ago …
“I’ve always wanted to do a real kicking butt role. A bit of a Lara Croft, ‘Tomb Raider’ … I love the ‘Resident Evil’ character. Being able to learn a fighting skill and having to do training… just beating people up and I’ve got guns in holsters on my thighs which I pull out.”
[Perhaps we should spam the Facebook Page associated with this pile of utter appropriative and misrepresentative garbage?]
Appropriation Of “Gypsy” Culture and Settled Privlege
Why the FUCK is no one talking about the Romani and the damaging “gypsy” stereotype. I’ve read otherwise very sensitive books that introduce a “gypsy” character and just… FUCK THE FUCK UP. Romani people have been marginalized and exotified, and traditional Romani culture oppressed to the point of near extinction. I mean Esmerelda in the Hunchback of Notredame? They fucked that up so thoroughly I can’t even bear to think about it (actually that movie is just incredibly problematic on a lot of levels).
No one ever talks about this, and the silence even in social justice circles is kind of sickening. Governments have put monstrous restrictions on traditionally nomadic cultures like the Romani and the Irish Travellers, in an attempt to assimilate them, and its largely worked, erasing the heritage of untold numbers of people, and the history, the glimpse of the heritage of nomadic populations we do get is twisted, busted, messed up and told from the perspective of outsiders who just worsen the problem of exotification.
Also, people have commented on the problematic nature of “asian flower” and “indian princess” halloween costumes, but no one says anything about this goddamn nonsense:
Do you fucking see that crap? Yeah it’s called a “gypsy princess” costume, it would be one thing to call it a “fortune teller costume” but no, they went with “gypsy princess” not to mention that in traditional Romani culture the lower half of the body is considered unclean… no way in hell would a skirt that short ever be permissible… fuck this.
Also, the worst part is a lot of this whole “ooh I’m a magical gypsy” crap seems to be coming from people who are otherwise strongly and actively liberal, I mean look at the neo-pagan community, the burner community and a ton of other supposedly liberal non-oppressive organizations… and what do you see? This damned nonsense.
I’d actually really like to see some general talk about settled privilege (as settled people do seem to have rather notable privilege over nomadic ones)
I reblogged this at the time~ but reblogging because, well… it’s so… fitting right now….
Just for the record:
These are not ‘gypsies’. They are not Romani. They are not Romanichal. They are not Pavee.
They are “New Gypsies”; “New (age) Travellers”; “Travellers”;
Just because they live in a caravan 24/7 does not make them Romani or gypsy.
The word gypsy applies to a group of certain ethnic peoples. It was a name given by non-Romani peoples. It is now a name that is being taken by these people—extensions of those who mystify gypsy life—and turned into this. An appropriation and approximation of Romani life.
Probably good to have this here as well. At first I thought these were just photo-shoots when I stumbled upon the photos on Tumblr, and then a couple of months ago I found out they were some new Travellers. I glad you explained them more!
danceswithfaeriesunderthemoon:
I hate it when people call themselves Gypsies. My Great Grandparents didn’t flee their country and change their identities to save themselves from hate crimes inflicted upon them, just so that you can go around calling yourself a ‘Gypsy’ (which is the derogatory term for Roma people by the way). Stop it, it doesn’t make you sound ‘magical’ or ‘mystical’, it makes you sound like an ignorant hipster.
I’m so tired of this ignorant shit.
You are not a “gypsy.” You don’t have a “gypsy life” or “gypsy soul.” The fact that people can put together a random outfit and call it “gypsy chic” shows their ignorance. Gypsies wore mismatched outfits because they were impoverished and that was all they could find. They were forced to dress that way, they didn’t find it fashionable. It’s like wearing shackles and threadbare outfits and calling it “African slave chic,” you silly pricks. Romani women aren’t exotic and wanton, they dress very modestly. They live by a very strict moral code that prohibits them from wearing anything that shows cleavage, legs, or stomach. I’m so tired of trying to post articles or text meant to educate people, but not even five minutes later confronted with this ridiculous shit. DO NOT FUCKING ROMANTICIZE OTHER PEOPLE’S LIVES OR CULTURES, IT DEHUMANIZES THEM. If I find anymore of this shit on my dash, I’m going straight for the unfollow button. For that matter, if I see any cultural appropriation in general, I will unfollow in a heart beat. That includes: white kids who pretend they’re Japanese when their grandparents were responsible for putting Japanese people in concentration camps, white kids dressing up as Natives when their great-grandparents slaughtered them ruthlessly and denied them the right to their own culture, and white kids who drop the “N” bomb when many generations of their family used that word to degrade and victimize African American people. I’m seriously done with it.
“If you like our people, our name is like music for you. If you hate us, every of our names, even Roma, will be bad for you.”
From the United States representitive for NRADO or National Romani Anti-Discrimination Organization:
The Romani people are a persecuted race and the older generations do not like the term Gypsy or dont tell people they are Gypsy because people sterotype them or are discriminating. Or there are the others that think that Gypsies are people who like to travel and tell fortunes and don’t realize that it is a culture with a flag and its own language. So there is a large group out there who say do not use the term Gypsy and there are some like myself and some very distinguished members of the Romani community who feel that it isn’t the word we have a problem with but the image that it brings and that changing the term isnt the answer but changing the image is. What we like to tell people is this: the term Gypsy denotes a world wide ethnic group NOT a way of life. It is always better to refer to the Gypsy people as Romani as even the people who use the term, only do it within the culture and don’t like Gadje or outsiders to refer to them as such. The best way I can explain this to you is to compare it to your culture. If the N word is used by 2 African Americans, it is ok with them, but when used by a caucasion is it bad. Some don’t like the term Black and some don’t like colored. So it is always just safe to say African American. Also with hispanic vs. mexican. The same goes for our culture. I hope this was helpful to all of you. Baxtal Drom! Dani
[emphasis mine]
In response to Audacia
I really couldn’t agree more.
At one point or another, everyone is going to be butthurt over wrongdoing. Shut the fuck up about it, unless you are a minority, and are actually offended.
Audacia was not using the term “gypsy” in a derogatory way. She was talking about living a nomadic lifestyle like a gypsy. She was not saying something bad about them. If anything, she was showing respect for their culture.
And yet you people have the Audaciaty (you see what I did there?) to jump all over her for it, while you probably use one of the following phrases daily:
“You’re such a faggot!” :D
“That’s so gay!” :D
“You’re retarded” or “That’s retarded!” :D
All with a little smile to let them know, “It’s all good! I’m a very open minded person!”
Just an observation.
Most “Gypsies” don’t choose to live a nomadic lifestyle. Since they were driven out of India, they’ve been continued to be driven out of other countries. Not to say that there aren’t families and clans now that do travel annually or so to sell goods and to work. But this isn’t “for fun” as many people do mean when they say they want to “live like a Romani”.
I don’t know who she is, so I don’t know what research she has or hasn’t done. I see this as just a mistake, since not many people do understand this issue. I hope she’ll be informed of it in some way, then maybe consider rephrasing what she meant.
I think she means she simply wants to live as a Nomad or a Wanderer. This is then not an ethnic group of people, but simply anyone who is nomadic or wandering, which is more appropriate. And if she wants a “romanitic” word, then “wanderer” I believe to be a little mysterious and romantic in its appeal as well.
PS: Nice tags of “butthurt” and “pussy”. I regret writing this so nicely now.
I am a minority and I am offended. Sorry thesmashingnails, but you cannot write on behalf of audacia and say categorically that she was not using the term in a derogatory way. In your opinion it wasn’t that—but in many other people’s it was…
Not to mention that she wasn’t really just ”talking about living a nomadic lifestyle like a gypsy” and your opinion that “she was not saying something bad about them. If anything, she was showing respect for their culture”…
She was implying all kinds of things in her words, which she then went on to defend claiming a ‘gypsy’ heritage and that her family are ‘gypsy’… even went so far as to call others uneducated while claiming something completely false…
that’s when it all went downhill.
Also, your assumption that
you probably use one of the following phrases daily:
“You’re such a faggot!” :D
“That’s so gay!” :D
“You’re retarded” or “That’s retarded!” :D
All with a little smile to let them know, “It’s all good! I’m a very open minded person!”
Just an observation.
Is completely offbase. I am equally, perhaps even more offended by that. I have many LGBTQ friends and couldn’t imagine saying any of these words in my life. I know from experience how much slurs hurt—and I think I can speak on behalf of many of my Romani friends that since we already know what it’s like to feel that pain, we really don’t want to be the ones to deal it out.
Perhaps ajromale is right and this is just a mistake and audacia just wants to be a wanderer or claim a nomadic lifestyle. That’s not the problem—at least not for me—it was the claims which followed that post and the blind and hurtful comments she made regarding use of the word ‘gypsy’…
(and also her other childish posts about it… which just ticked me off even more).
As a Rromni, as a person who has had to deal with the hard end of the hammer when it comes to the word “gypsy” I can’t let these things slide. Not anymore. It’s a disservice to myself and to my heritage.
Perhaps if audacia hadn’t jumped all over other people this wouldn’t have happened.
I agree. If she simply understood her mistake and, well, accepted that she used the wrong word, etc, and apologised it would’ve been different.
Other people coming up to “help” without understanding the situation also does not make things much better for anyone.
Definitely. It doesn’t help that people justify this behaviour with comments like:
so i can’t say ‘gypsy’, but all you assholes can say the ‘n’ word all over the internet and it’s alright?
Since when did anyone of these posts claim that saying the ‘n’ word was okay? Since when have any one of us (as in those involved in this conversation) professed support for racism? Our beliefs are very clearly against racism. Claiming that one form of racism is okay, while another is not is privilege at it’s best. Oh, I know, now I’m going to be slammed for indicating that POC might just possibly have any kind of privilege (what about settled privilege?)…
This isn’t about being “butthurt” or “trololol”ing all over the goddamn internet. It’s people like this who are the worst in my opinion. Believing that it’s ok to use the word “gypsy” because some other people (not involved in this conversation) use a completely different racial slur is the most ridiculous form of argument I think I’ve heard yet. Hey, let’s let everyone use derogatory words towards us simply because they exist.
GREAT.
This doesn’t get anyone any further forward. Attacking us with such base and immature arguments really doesn’t do your side of the discussion any favors.
Precisely. I’m always trying to explain the term of “Gypsy” with the N-word, but still people don’t get it. The few people that do write back, saying they didn’t know, or saying they will stop using it so cheer me up a bit. But the amount of them is so few compared to the ones who just ignore how it affects the people of whom it’s a racial slur.
I think it’s further confusing since so many people in America (I can’t say for too many other western countries) only see it as something romantic, whilst most Europeans understand it as something very negative.
In response to Audacia
I really couldn’t agree more.
At one point or another, everyone is going to be butthurt over wrongdoing. Shut the fuck up about it, unless you are a minority, and are actually offended.
Audacia was not using the term “gypsy” in a derogatory way. She was talking about living a nomadic lifestyle like a gypsy. She was not saying something bad about them. If anything, she was showing respect for their culture.
And yet you people have the Audaciaty (you see what I did there?) to jump all over her for it, while you probably use one of the following phrases daily:
“You’re such a faggot!” :D
“That’s so gay!” :D
“You’re retarded” or “That’s retarded!” :D
All with a little smile to let them know, “It’s all good! I’m a very open minded person!”
Just an observation.
Most “Gypsies” don’t choose to live a nomadic lifestyle. Since they were driven out of India, they’ve been continued to be driven out of other countries. Not to say that there aren’t families and clans now that do travel annually or so to sell goods and to work. But this isn’t “for fun” as many people do mean when they say they want to “live like a Romani”.
I don’t know who she is, so I don’t know what research she has or hasn’t done. I see this as just a mistake, since not many people do understand this issue. I hope she’ll be informed of it in some way, then maybe consider rephrasing what she meant.
I think she means she simply wants to live as a Nomad or a Wanderer. This is then not an ethnic group of people, but simply anyone who is nomadic or wandering, which is more appropriate. And if she wants a “romanitic” word, then “wanderer” I believe to be a little mysterious and romantic in its appeal as well.
PS: Nice tags of “butthurt” and “pussy”. I regret writing this so nicely now.
I am a minority and I am offended. Sorry thesmashingnails, but you cannot write on behalf of audacia and say categorically that she was not using the term in a derogatory way. In your opinion it wasn’t that—but in many other people’s it was…
Not to mention that she wasn’t really just ”talking about living a nomadic lifestyle like a gypsy” and your opinion that “she was not saying something bad about them. If anything, she was showing respect for their culture”…
She was implying all kinds of things in her words, which she then went on to defend claiming a ‘gypsy’ heritage and that her family are ‘gypsy’… even went so far as to call others uneducated while claiming something completely false…
that’s when it all went downhill.
Also, your assumption that
you probably use one of the following phrases daily:
“You’re such a faggot!” :D
“That’s so gay!” :D
“You’re retarded” or “That’s retarded!” :D
All with a little smile to let them know, “It’s all good! I’m a very open minded person!”
Just an observation.
Is completely offbase. I am equally, perhaps even more offended by that. I have many LGBTQ friends and couldn’t imagine saying any of these words in my life. I know from experience how much slurs hurt—and I think I can speak on behalf of many of my Romani friends that since we already know what it’s like to feel that pain, we really don’t want to be the ones to deal it out.
Perhaps ajromale is right and this is just a mistake and audacia just wants to be a wanderer or claim a nomadic lifestyle. That’s not the problem—at least not for me—it was the claims which followed that post and the blind and hurtful comments she made regarding use of the word ‘gypsy’…
(and also her other childish posts about it… which just ticked me off even more).
As a Rromni, as a person who has had to deal with the hard end of the hammer when it comes to the word “gypsy” I can’t let these things slide. Not anymore. It’s a disservice to myself and to my heritage.
Perhaps if audacia hadn’t jumped all over other people this wouldn’t have happened.
I agree. If she simply understood her mistake and, well, accepted that she used the wrong word, etc, and apologised it would’ve been different.
Other people coming up to “help” without understanding the situation also does not make things much better for anyone.
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