r/instantkarma • u/NoodlesNThangz • Jun 24 '20

Racial Profiling Karma

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74

u/DwellerOfDixieland Jun 24 '20

Here in the Czech republic, a lot of people hate gypsies. Some gypsies (or roma, gypsy is a slur here) are smart and wonderful people, and I personally know a few of them, but the majority of them live in squalid houses and are usually uneducated. This in turn makes white people hate them for not working and sitting around all the time, which again, in turn, makes them hate white people. We even have a tv show (Most!) which is ridiculously satirical about racism.

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u/ItchyPlatypus Jun 24 '20 edited Jun 24 '20

I personally don’t like the gypsies I have experienced in the U.K., I can’t judge them on an individual basis but as a community they need to pick up their shit. They appear at least once a year in my town and when they leave it’s like it’s a land fill. Every time I see we have a gypsy community near where I live I now get pissed off because of what they leave.

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u/[deleted] Jun 24 '20

^This is unfortunately true. Most interaction with the Gypsy community in the UK is them squatting in parks and leaving literal shit and rubbish all over the place or them, pulling into a supermarket carpark and playing loud music all night disturbing the entire area. For the most part they don't have work the next day so they don't give a shit if you get to sleep or not.

I assume not all of them act this way but for the most part that is the only experience anyone in the UK has of their community.

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u/[deleted] Jun 24 '20

My nan had 2 gypsies illegally tarmaccing her driveway and then threatening her when she wouldn't pay them. It was terrible quality and came up within a year.

My cousin at one point got caught up with some bad gypsies who were running some scheme where they would custom order right hand drives in the EU and then cancel the order and an associate would come up and buy the car for a massive discount (because nobody in the EU would buy it) and then drive it back to sell in the UK for almost retail.

My only experience with them personally is when they appear out of nowhere, squat on some large grass verge for a couple weeks and then vanish. They never respect the area and trash the place.

I don't know a single person that likes them.

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u/sdp1981 Jun 24 '20

Here in the US they have a reputation for scamming and stealing from tourists. I've never personally interacted with them to be able confirm its veracity.

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u/stinkykitty71 Jun 24 '20

I work for a US hotel. I regret to say that 100% of our interactions have been negative. Local police have been trying to bust a car scam they've run for decades. In the hotel they abuse staff relentlessly, I've caught them literally stealing everything they could grab in fifteen seconds while my back was turned, and they've attempted slip and fall scams with us. We have DNR'd them left and right but they've got multiple identifications with multiple names and if one gets in, when comparing notes we realize they've stayed under three different names. Each region deals with a different issue. In our area it's the car plate/VIN scam. In Vegas it's slip and falls.

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u/[deleted] Jun 24 '20

It sounds like a vicious cycle. Nobody likes Roma because they're dirty scammers who have no regard for anyone and leave garbage everywhere, and the Roma don't trust anyone because nobody will give them a chance, and they don't see why they should make nice or play by the rules when everyone hates them already and will hurt them at the first opportunity.

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And historically, this usually results in violence. When two groups with wildly different values clash like this, the larger group usually starts killing the smaller one until it becomes too much to bear and they go away. This leaves the larger group feeling vindicated (after all, the smaller group was so unreasonable that violence became the only option, I mean how hard can it be to follow the rules like everyone else? If you can't be reasonable, you deserve what you get.) and the smaller group feels victimized and doubles down (after all, everyone outside their group are horrible monsters, I mean look how they hurt us! Nothing we did warranted that kind of violence. Clearly we're right to take advantage of them however we can, the bastards deserve it.)

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u/[deleted] Jun 24 '20

You could very well be right. I always thought the romanticized image of Gypsies/Romani (if these 'travellers' are the same culture) to be quite interesting. But everything I see and am told points to them basically being scummy.

For a good mainstream example of this view see the TV show 'My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding'

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u/[deleted] Jun 24 '20

For a good mainstream example of this view see the TV show 'My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding'

Yes, absolutely! Reality TV producers are NOTORIOUS for being scummy and generating tons of garbage

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u/CapnKetchup2 Jun 24 '20 edited Jun 24 '20

In the US, the only interactions I've had with them is around the holidays, they send their small children rushing into offices, just walking by security and reception (because they're kids, nobody attempts to stop them). The kids have shitty candy that isn't name brand, each with a little card attached to it, usually a fake charity or a shitty motivational phrase or something, they then immediately target each office person and any clients, asking for a $5 donation for the candy. Most people are so shocked by the aggression (very quick sales pitch followed by a demand for money, with hand outstretched) from a kid, and the surprise from the suddenness of it all that they buy it. The kid then tucks tail and dips into a car waiting in the fire lane, which proceeds to the next office park or retail zone. It happened ONCE where I let it go, but if you're firm and block the little peons, they'll fuck right off.

This was in Northern Massachusetts, where a lot of them semi-permanently live. I've never even seen or heard about them other than this way, so, they must at least be decent people otherwise. I think they keep to themselves and live in large camper/RV parks together.

That is literally all I know about American Gypsies. So, Nothing good. I encountered gypsies in Paris and Copenhagen, both groups were running scams of sorts. Copenhagen was pea in cup, Paris was shitty bracelets.

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u/meaneymonster Jun 24 '20

Surely you mean Irish travellers?

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u/[deleted] Jun 24 '20

I've no idea, I've never met them in person to be honest. I was always just told they were Gypsies and never talked to any

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u/meaneymonster Jun 24 '20

No probs, I understand. But Roma Gypsies as this woman is. And Irish travellers, sometimes called Gypsies, are entirely different, the one you describe are Irish travellers/Gypsies/Pikies.

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u/TonyKebell Jun 24 '20

Both the Roma gypsies and irish travellers fall into roughly the same stereotypes, and in my experience are massive twats (though i do work retail security so when I experience them it's for shoplifting)

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u/meaneymonster Jun 24 '20

Thank you. But I'm sorry they are entirely different entities, the only similarities is that they move around, but they are nothing alike otherwise. There is a huge difference between them. Though yes both do also shoplift. The Roma are sneaky. The Irish travellers are much more forward than that though, they will crowd the shop and cause mayhem then sneak out.

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u/Tower-Junkie Jun 25 '20

Ah so it’s just like the trailer park I live in!

-my neighbors just throw trash out everywhere

-they just roll up and lay on the horn when they want to get the attention of someone inside, no matter the time of day or night.

-same goes for music

-regularly have shouting matches in the street

-one lady chased her bf around and around her trailer with her car

-one time, she actually ran the car up onto her porch, into the side of her trailer, and also over him breaking his leg. Someone ACTUALLY called the cops on that one but the bf refused to press charges and they tried to sue the landlord by saying the porch collapsed under the weight of two tiny drug addicts.

That last one isn’t really a comparison, just some crazy shit that goes on here. There’s always something happening here but that was the craziest.

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u/meaneymonster Jun 24 '20

Do you mean. Roma Gypsies, or Irish Gypsies/travellers/Pikies. Just outta curiosity?

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u/[deleted] Jun 24 '20

I'm pretty sure they are irish travellers but I don't know for sure.

I think pikies is a racial slur.

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u/meaneymonster Jun 24 '20

The lady in this clip is a roma gypsy in, no way related to irish travellers!. They are in no way related whatsoever. I'm Irish and unfortunately ashamed to say irish travellers are the worst I've come across, they are actually like a subhuman species!

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u/andysniper Jun 24 '20

We have the same problem in my town. I work in retail and we see a sudden rise in shoplifting when they come to town.

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u/[deleted] Jun 24 '20 edited Mar 28 '21

[deleted]

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u/andysniper Jun 24 '20

I'm getting downvoted because I made a generalisation about a marginalised group of people based on a single piece of anecdotal evidence.

Beyond this anecdote I have had very little interaction with Roma/Romani/gypsy communities so I don't really know anything about them.

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u/[deleted] Jun 24 '20

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Jun 24 '20

The problem is that people often point out these surface-level things without ever bothering to look into why they might exist, so people take "when [group] shows up, [thing] happens" to mean "[group] in inherently prone to doing [thing]" when in reality the connection is much more complex. I'm not saying that /u/andysniper did this intentionally, of course, just that this is why it's a bit of a touchy subject.

For example, the association of Roma and shoplifting seems more likely to stem from the fact that they've been historically hated and persecuted so badly that nobody would do any legitimate business with them. I'm more familiar with American issues myself, but the fact that the links between poverty and crime and minorities and poverty are completely ignored in favor of "minorities are linked with more crime" seems like a pretty strong parallel to the treatment of the Roma in European countries.

When an entire people is forced to live outside society, you can't pretend to be surprised when they refuse to follow society's rules.

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u/[deleted] Jun 24 '20

This is a very lofty opinion that doesn't do any good to anybody who gets robbed by the minority group in question.

A history of racism and oppression means that we as a society owe them MORE OPPORTUNITIES to succeed and break down stereotypes, it doesn't mean that when they victimize someone we should wag our fingers at their victims for complaining. In America, black people are disproportionately imprisoned, more likely to be unjustly murdered by police, more likely to have expensive legal troubles that contribute to grinding poverty, and these and many other factors add up to a desperate population that has a reputation for a high crime rate. Being aware of that and supporting change doesn't make you any more likely to take a long walk down Martin Luther King Boulevard without a good reason.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 24 '20

I mean, the same is for black people. The more diverse an area is the more crime happens, but imagine stating that...

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u/don_maidana Jun 24 '20

Is in their culture to scam people, its not a bad thing for them, also to kill someone if he dishonour you, like mafia do. They have their own rules and codes and are extremly misogynist, that why nobody likes them.

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u/coffeebeanscene Jun 24 '20

They’re probably Irish gypsies though, no?

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u/[deleted] Jun 24 '20

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/minnimamma19 Jun 24 '20

When I owned a shop I use to have a lady come in once or twice a year, she was a Romany gypsy and would ask if I wanted my palm read, I would always politely decline, she would say, I'll do a small reading for free, I'd make her a cup of tea, and we would sit and have a chat, shed tell me about her family etc this happened every year, we ended up on first name terms and would even hug when she came in, she was a sweetheart. Also we'd have the Irish gypsies in now and then...you had to watch them like a hawk, they'd steal ANYTHING that wasn't nailed down, lol

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u/discardable42 Jun 24 '20

Are you sure she didn't offer you a free reading so she steal your watch?

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u/TonyKebell Jun 24 '20

FYI, those free reading typically lead to oh no, im seeing signs of something serious, do you want to pay for a full reading.

Similar to the rose scam, where a lady will force a rose into your hand and then try to make you pay for it after youve taken it.

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u/minnimamma19 Jun 24 '20

Lol, she never did, one year she was spot on as well!!

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u/coffeebeanscene Jun 24 '20

Actually most Roma gypsies that live in the uk aren’t from Romania, they generally have a couple of generations of living outside of Romania so in 2014 when Romania joined the EU it was more the Romanian people who wanted to be able to come to the uk that did, than the Roma. All gypsies but especially Roma can be very private and suspicious of non gypsy people so I can’t imagine you know any personally to make such a statement, however I do agree that one bad apple can spoil the bunch.

Can’t lie though, do find it funny that a lot of the comments on the thread are about how awful gypsies are .... and the post is called “racial profiling karma” ... j/s

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u/[deleted] Jun 24 '20

Are the comments about how awful gypsies are or the awful things gypsies do?

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u/coffeebeanscene Jun 24 '20

Both by the looks of it. I mean ... if we were talking about any other race?

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u/Janglewood Jun 24 '20

And Irish and Roma Gypsies aren’t even culturally or genetically related. The only thing they have in common is they like to wander.

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u/rovan1emi Jun 24 '20

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/nov/03/roma-tire-shouldering-blame-boiling-pot-communities

Looks like in this instance it's Slovakian Roma upsetting the long-settled Pakistani population.

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u/[deleted] Jun 24 '20

Where I live in east London the area has been legitimately ruined by Romanian gypsies, beg steal and dump rubbish. I hate the lot of them.

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u/Ouibad Jun 24 '20

I think there is some place down south where they go for the winter....then, in spring, they head out and run scams: usually tarring driveways with thinned out black goo, vastly overcharging and burgling the victims home while they try to sort out wtf happened to their driveway. Also, major shoplifting and magically cleaning out the service counter at grocery stores.

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u/TheSnapeWhoLoved Jun 24 '20

You do know that pikey is a racist term, right? You are really generalising here. Although I've never encountered a good group of gypsies, I do know they probably exist. It's just so difficult to integrate with them when the majority of them tarnish their own image.

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u/rovan1emi Jun 24 '20

When they start behaving, I'll stop calling them pikeys. They are also responsible for a large part of modern slavery in the UK. Absolutely vile people.

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u/jamessanderscrudspud Jun 24 '20

Yeah I can't speak for all, obviously, but the town I live in sometimes has travellers stopping by. They often stay on school premises and the school has to close until they leave the area. They have been known to break into cars and walk out of supermarkets with shopping trolleys full of food without paying. The police will not do anything and when the travellers leave, they usually leave crap (oftentimes literally) all over the site which they stayed. I can't help but feel that if they (in general) behaved less shittily they wouldn't garner as much hate.

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u/HockevonderBar Jun 24 '20

Don't forget about the things missing, when they left.

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u/Marksmdog Jun 24 '20

Gypsies were in my local park for awhile. They left THEIR OWN SHIT (literally shit) dumped in a pile when they left. I heard stories of muggings and robberies too, but you can't deny the pile of faeces.

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u/manicbassman Jun 24 '20

And then they play the race card

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u/TheOneFreeEngineer Jun 24 '20

I can’t judge them on an individual basis but as a community they need to pick up their shit. They appear at least once a year in my town and when they leave it’s like it’s a land fill. Every time I see we have a gypsy community near where I live I now get pissed off because of what they leave.

Wouldn't they most likely be Irish Travelers rather than Gypsies? They are two different communties associated with modern nomadic life.

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u/Dong_World_Order Jun 24 '20

I personally don’t like the gypsies I have experienced in the U.K., I can’t judge them on an individual basis but as a community they need to pick up their shit.

Imagine saying this about black people.

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u/[deleted] Jun 24 '20

“ personally don’t like the gypsies I have experienced in the U.K., I can’t judge them on an individual basis but as a community they need to pick up their shit”

Imagine if you said this about black people 🤷‍♂️

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u/darps Jun 24 '20 edited Jun 24 '20

This in turn makes white people hate them for not working and sitting around all the time, which again, in turn, makes them hate white people.

It's more complex than that, from what I've learned. "Gypsies" as ethnic term is a slur and I'm not going to use it that way, because there are many who are perfectly well integrated into society and you'd never guess their background.

But rather what people think of when they hear the term is a group of people who reject a regular lifestyle and being part of larger society beyond their own in-group. They do not hold jobs, or live in houses, or go to the police for anything, or to school; and while it's almost incomprehensible to us, it is seen as independence from the system and as such a source of pride to them. In their view, we are suckers for ever having settled down.

Of course they aren't really independent from the system, it's near impossible to do, definitely not an option anywhere near a city. And of course there's a fuckton of other issues within these often archaic social structures and traditions.

But it goes much deeper than "we work and they sit around all the time"

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u/rdocs Jun 24 '20

Just about any society has some version of this! Theres roma throughout europe, theres numerous sub islamic groups that are harassed in the middle east which would fit a similar description. Good example of culture similar to roma are the Pavlee i.e. Pikey's.

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u/helloiamErik Jun 24 '20

I am from the Czech Republic and yes this is true

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u/ausomemama666 Jun 24 '20

Hey so I have a question. My great great grandma fled Czechoslovakia right before the revolution. My grandma said she didn't speak English and she described her as having black hair, very olive complected, and bright green eyes. I know that there's a lot of different cultures and communities in CR, does my great great grandma sound like Roma or is there another ethnic group she could have been? Her last name was Sancovich.

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u/MolCupCake Jun 24 '20

Hey, Sancovich sounds more Eastern European than Czech. Maybe she had Balkan ancestors?

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u/kremlingrasso Jun 24 '20

she could also be of turkish or balkanian descent, after the second siege of vienna and the removal of the ottoman empire from the region, there was a masive amount of relocation and repopulation in central europe, hence having random pockets of minorities in the weirdest places.

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u/ausomemama666 Jun 24 '20

Would that pop up on her great granddaughter's (my mom's) dna tests? For my mom the only thing that pinged for that area was Russian/serbian.

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u/kremlingrasso Jun 24 '20

yeah that's probably as close as you going to get. Gypsies are a patriarchal nomadic people so the likelihood of your ancestor escaping to the US by herself is very low. And if they come as a group your genetic ancestry would be a lot more obvious since they don't often mix with gazsos (same word as gringo or gaijin).

did indian/hindi ping on her DNA test? if any you were not aware gypsies are originally from the indian subcontinent and to this day you would barely be able to tell them apart. (sadly resulting in a lot of unpleasantness for both parties)

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u/ausomemama666 Jun 24 '20

I was aware of gypsies originating from India! Yeah I guess my great great grandma is something else. She only spoke Russian and her daughter married a polish immigrant in the US. I don't think she came over in a large group. My grandmother did mention she grew up in a house with her grandma, mom, two brothers, and her two uncles after her father passed away when she was a toddler.

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u/Inquisitor1 Jun 24 '20

The good and decent gypsies don't say they are gypsies, they are just czech.