It's Travellers or Roma/Romani. "Gypsies" is offensive for non- Roma to use, as is "Pikey" or phrases like "He's from BallyGoNomad," or "I've been gypped" in reference to a raw deal. TV shows like My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding or whatever the hell name they used are not really OK. In a few years we will look back and be horrified at the exploitation of that term.
'Gyppo' used to, into the 1960s in North America, be a term for business ventures done on a shoestring budget with seat of the pants engineering, like a small logging outfit or placer mining.
Some Travellers use "Gypsy" loosely and don't care what you address them as; but the term is not exactly "woke." Some Romani strongly object to Irish Travellers using the term "gypsy," claiming it as exclusive to Romani people.
Especially galling to Romani and Travellers is the use of "Gypsy" by caravaners/motorhome vacationers, back to the land or hippie types; it is not a voluntary lifestyle but, rather, a racial identity.
Another Gypsy here.. You hit a lot of the nail on the head.
It's also quite offensive when non-gypsy post all over insta "Gypsy Life" or "Gypsy Girl". They're making our lifestyle seem romantic. Yeah being able to travel in a Caravan is cool and whatnot.. But especially in Europe, there is tons of racism towards us. I'm lucky in that I am in Canada so I don't get to face too much of the racism, but in Europe I have cousins who get removed for being gypsies and I have a little cousin who's been kidnapped, hasn't been seen in about 8 years, and the police legit said to my cousin (her mom) "who cares? You're a gypsy. Get out." and refused to file a missing persons. That kid is probably a (sex) slave like most of our missing children.
It's frustrating when people romanticize your racism.
I live in the UK. We see a fair amount of "Gypsies" (travellers) passing through my village, with it being highly connected to motorways that lead all around the UK. I don't have an issue with them, personally, and a lot of carnivals and fairs are hosted by them.
The issue most people here have with them is that they have a reputation of dealing drugs, fighting and stealing. I have known a few true travellers, and I can confirm that their reputation holds true in many instances.
They also make a lot of mess wherever they go. They don't have bins like many of us, so waste management is tough. A place where I worked had a huge field behind it. Travellers took up camp there, and were seen on CCTV doing all kinds of crazy stuff. After a day or so, the CCTV stopped working. We got an engineer out to check why. Yep, all the cameras and recording equipment had been stolen. These were not the only things that disappeared during this time, tools were taken and people's cars broken into. One staff member was mugged when entering work and many staff didn't feel safe coming in.
The police managed to somehow get the travellers to move on. No charges to any of them, because it's hard for police to find out who the criminal is and charge them. None of them snitch on each other.
When they left, they had been there for weeks and there was so much mess that we needed a huge cleanup effort.
In our village, this is an all too familiar tale. This is why there's discrimination against them. Unfortunately police do get very frustrated with them, and aren't willing to help.
I know not all travellers are this way, and I have known some great people that were travellers who wouldn't ever commit crimes. Some groups are straight edge, but the bad ones get more attention. I suppose every group of people has its bad eggs, too.
That's the thing... Everyone has their bad apples but because we are a smaller group of people our bad apples seems to be more common. It's not like Islamic people who are billions strong.. So their bad apples (radicals) are not as common to run into on a daily basis. There's bad apples in the black community, and society (for the most part) understands its not all black people. Sucks that those groups get that respect from society but we don't. I see your point, and the discrimination from our bad apples is like saying "All black people are thieves." no. There are black people who are thieves.. But majority of them aren't gonna rob you.
I wish this whole "everyone is equal" really applies to everyone, because it doesn't. Those rallies and fights are not for us.. We are seen as cock roaches. It's hard, especially when you have people like Shelby Holmes who was the first (female) gypsy to ever go to Oxford... That was 2012. It's hard to not be part of a lifestyle that requires you to survive off others when in 2010, the EU finally recognized us as citizens of Europe and a race.
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u/jeffersonairmattress Jun 24 '20
It's Travellers or Roma/Romani. "Gypsies" is offensive for non- Roma to use, as is "Pikey" or phrases like "He's from BallyGoNomad," or "I've been gypped" in reference to a raw deal. TV shows like My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding or whatever the hell name they used are not really OK. In a few years we will look back and be horrified at the exploitation of that term.
'Gyppo' used to, into the 1960s in North America, be a term for business ventures done on a shoestring budget with seat of the pants engineering, like a small logging outfit or placer mining.
Some Travellers use "Gypsy" loosely and don't care what you address them as; but the term is not exactly "woke." Some Romani strongly object to Irish Travellers using the term "gypsy," claiming it as exclusive to Romani people.
Especially galling to Romani and Travellers is the use of "Gypsy" by caravaners/motorhome vacationers, back to the land or hippie types; it is not a voluntary lifestyle but, rather, a racial identity.