dear gadje,
You are not a ‘gypsy’. Stop it.
I heard a country song today with the lyrics, “ Yeah I'm always gonna be,
A little bit gypsy”.
It was a fucking Kellie Pickler song. The next time she’s being hunted by neo-nazis, or being illegally detained and deported, maybe she’ll feel more than a little bit gypsy.
Romani peoples make up > 0.17% of the population. They are still one of the most oppressed groups in the world. Census’ aren’t even fully accurate because the persecution they face is so real, that fear of revealing their heritage/race keeps people from writing it on official documents. My ancestors lied and said they were Italian so they could start a business in Croatia. That’s the only reason I’m even alive -- and my great grandmother’s brothers and father were still killed in concentration camps. In 2013, about 10,000 Roma were expelled from France after their camps were destroyed. You didn’t hear about that? You don’t say. But uh, you’re a “gypsy soul” right?
It’s not cute or trendy or remotely ethical to misappropriate that word or keep fetishizing Romani culture.
