Also, I thought I’d do a post on why many Romani people openly refer to themselves as “Gypsy” instead of Romani.
So, in the United States, half of the people don’t even know what the actual terms for us are. Conversations usually go like this:
“Oh are you Italian or something?”
“I’m Romani.”
“Romanian?”
“No. Romani. A diaspora from India.”
“So Indian?”
“*exasperated sigh* Gypsy.”
“Omg! Can you read my palm?!”So, a lot of us honestly just say Gypsy and move on. That doesn’t negate the fact that it’s a slur. So don’t come to me talking about how some Romani people use it therefore it can’t be oppressive. Gadje stop.
^^^^
Some Rroma will also use the word “Gypsy” among family/very close friends in an effort to reclaim the word or as kind of a joke. My familija, for instance, will sometimes affectionately refer to each other as “crazy gypsies” or “road trash.” But that doesn’t mean gadje are allowed to call us that too. We’ve turned the verbal weapons people used against us for centuries into something positive, a point of pride even. But those phrases are only proud when we use them, and use them on our own terms. Put them back in gadje hands, though, and they become weapons once again.
Ethnic groups are allowed to reclaim slurs that doesn’t mean people outside of those groups can reclaim them.
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