So recently I learned that there are about 1 million people of romani gypsy descent in the U.S. Do they face discrimination like in Europe? Are most people cool with them?
I am just an European and thought it was interesting to know because here racism against them is Jim Crow era style.
Thanks for all the replies in advance.
37 comments
Not in any real sense.
The word “gypsy” itself has little real meaning in the United States.
Not really, especially compared to Europe
They are just Americans, like anyone else. It’s no different from being of Polish or Ashkenazi descent. We wouldn’t give a second thought to being Romani.
1. Generally Gypsy is considered a slur and I would not recommend using it.
2. There is not much if any discrimination of Romani People in the United States, they are mostly assimilated into mainstream American culture and most don’t even perceive the culture that exists.
I would leave it to someone with the lived experience to answer this for themselves, but speaking from the perspective of a white dude from an upper-middle-class family, I wasn’t aware of any prejudice or discrimination against the Romani people here. Maybe that’s because there isn’t as much as in Europe, or maybe it’s because I’m blind to it.
No I doubt people even know what a gypsie is me included
No they do not experience even close to the levels of discrimination in the US as they do in Europe. They are less common and the ones that do live in the US are more integrated into communities.
Discrimination? Not really.
Some mild racism/stereotyping? Yeah, most people would still equate Romani peoples with like carnival fortune tellers and traveling mystics in wagon caravans based on portrayals in various fantasy media.
That said, the word “gypsy” is more and more starting to be considered a slur. (I mean, it was always a slur, people just have mostly lost the original context of the term to time now and don’t realize it)
Americans largely don’t have a concept of “gypsies.” In America, “traveler” means something different and is definitely not an ethnic/racial group – it generally means people of all backgrounds who are some type of homeless, and go from place to place. Perhaps some proportion of the roma population in America are “travelers” but I don’t know. This is not something most people here really think about.
As far as I know, I have never seen any Romani, but likely wouldn’t realize it if I had. Probably the only people who can answer your question are those who live near Romani enclaves in various cities.
No.
Honestly? I’ve never heard anyone say one thing or another about Romani people.
There are more people being educated about g*psy being a slur against Romani people, but that’s still Knowledge that’s less well known that it should.
A quick Google image search (and I mean this in this nicest way possible) we’re not going to be able to tell what distinct nationality you are unless you tell us, and even then, it will something unique about you.
E.g “Asian” covers a broad range of countries, but your average American wouldn’t be able to tell you if someone is Japanese, Korean, Hmong, Nepali, Laotian, etc unless you tell us.
Unfortunately, knowledge of Romani discrimination in Europe is not well known in the US, and it should Definitely be known on a much wider scale .
Tl;dr: you may not find discrimination, but you may also find people who aren’t knowledgeable about Romani people and their persecution in the first place, or how to tell if you’re Romani.
I didn’t learn that Gypsy was considered a slur (or even what it actually meant) until I was in my 20s. it’s widely used to mean, like, someone who is a free spirit/hippie type (and not in a negative way).
there’s a Lady Gaga song called gypsy that basically refers to “gypsy life” as having no plans and being free or whatever. it’s a good look into what the word means for most Americans.
so, no, I don’t think there’s the same kind of discrimination against Romani people here. my guess is that if a Romani person told a random American they are Romani, they’d have to explain what that is.
The only other time I’ve heard the term was when the teacher told us which groups the Nazis targeted. So if there is discrimination against them I certainly haven’t heard about it in the US.
We don’t care about them at all. They blend right into the melting pot.
For the most part, I’ve never heard anyone born in the US say anything negative about Roma people. I would venture to guess that a lot of people in the US either don’t even know they’re real in that they still exist as a distinct ethnic group in Europe and not a historical thing. Some articles I’ve seen call Romani-Americans an “invisible minority” because of this.
The one person I remember talking about this with IRL was just like “wait, isn’t that some 1400s shit?”
A lot of people using terms like “gypped” aren’t even aware that it’s a racial slur or has any association with an actual group of people. Others assume “gypsy” is more of a style descriptor, same as people use “boho” or “bohemian” today which most people know was a real place but obviously the use of it in modern style is fairly separate from historical Bohemia.
Almost all of the things I’ve heard people say about Roma have been from Europeans. My cousin’s wife is German and her family had some uh… interesting opinions about them (and Turkish people too). Which for some reason they felt comfortable telling us at their engagement party, having just met them less than an hour before…
Not to my knowledge. And certainly nothing even remotely as severe as Jim Crow era I’d imagine.
I will say, though, that the phrase “I got gypped” or “They gypped me” are still not especially uncommon. Though their real meaning has been very much lost to time imo and newer generations don’t even understand why such a phrase could be considered insensitive unless they look it up.
I’d guess that the vast majority of Americans aren’t even aware of what differentiates the Romani from other Europeans. And most Americans *generally* try not to overtly discriminate people from other cultures, so I would assume that the Romani experience in the US is much more pleasant than what’s typically seen in Europe.
That being said, I’m not Romani, and I’ve never actually spoken to someone of Romani descent here in the States, so anyone with more knowledge is welcome to come in and correct me.
Not really. Most of them here just live normal lives, they typically aren’t roaming around.
Went to school with a girl who was Roma.
No one cares at all. She actually had to explain what it meant and why we should care.
She was clearly proud of her heritage but kids in Indiana just didn’t know why it mattered to her.
Most Americans associate gypsies with entertainment media, and even then the identity is neutralized or perverted to mean something it doesn’t really mean in the Old World sense of the word.
Tshatsimo Romano. Not particularly, on average.
That’s a European thing. People have negative stereotypes about them being tricksters but no one really discriminates
Most people grew up knowing gypsy as another word for mystic. They don’t have an ethnicity but rather a supernatural craft.
I doubt most Americans even know what a Romani person even is, let alone what they look like. So I’m doubtful they face any discrimination, although obviously I have never lived their experience so I can’t fully speak for them
I wasn’t even aware that there were any gypsies in the US.
For most Americans, I think gypsies are like pirates, or knights, or cowboys.
If you ask most Americans about gypsies they may mention the supernatural, fortune tellers, curses, and Dracula. They’ve got scarves and hoop earrings. Maybe someone might mention Peaky Blinders or Fleetwood Mac. Almost no one will make any sort of connection to modern day people.
Most people don’t even know Romani exist, tbh
No, no one even uses that word. “American” is sort of an ethnic catch-all so heritage based identities get phased out of use over time.
People do still say “gypped” meaning “scammed”, though.
No. It just doesn’t exist hardly at all as a distinct cultural group. Most of those 1 million are descendants of Romani immigration which happened over a century ago and because there wasn’t a large community most (all?) were pretty much fully assimilated into American culture. I think you’re more likely to find people who would say “My grandparents were gypsies” and be proud of that heritage which even has mildly *positive* associations from literature and pop-culture of being exotic, mystical free-spirited modern nomads rather than all the negative associations you find in Europe. Because there’s not much of a gypsy community or identity in the USA even more recent immigrants more connected to their culture tend to self-identify based on nationality (Hungarian, Slovakian etc.) than by their Romani ethnic heritage.
There is pushback against some specific behaviors, like homeschooling and transient lifestyles. But against Romani as a race, no.
I don’t think Americans know enough about the Romani people to form many opinions at all, much less negative ones. I’ve never met anyone in my life that has held discriminatory beliefs towards anyone from Eastern Europe, tbh. I’m sure they exist, don’t get me wrong – but in my experience that isn’t really an issue here at all, especially compared to Europe
Not really. At least not any more than how some people are racist against anyone who doesn’t look exactly like them. Most people don’t view the Romani as anything other than vaguely European. There’s definitely some other groups that experience much more significant and directed discrimination.
There are always assholes wherever you go so I can’t say they face no discrimination. That said it is certainly less common here than it would be in Europe. I’ve never meant someone of gypsy/romani descent but I also don’t know a single person who would care if you were. Back in the day there definitely was more. My grandpa told me once of the family a couple streets over that he wasn’t allowed to hang out with. That was like 70 years ago there so take that for what you will.
I think most people barely know who the Romani are, much less enough to discriminate against them.
We don’t really have them. They’re almost like fictional characters.
Were those the people on jersey shore
Nah we don’t have Gypsies. Not like the ones that forcefully pickpocket you in Barcelona.
We do occasionally use the term “getting gyped” to mean getting ripped off or taken advantage of, but that’s going out of style.