# Did strong anti-Gypsy/Roma racism exist in the USA? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 19, 2013, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-strong-anti-gypsy-roma-racism-exist-in-the-usa/650782 "2013-02-19T08:38:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2013, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-strong-anti-gypsy-roma-racism-exist-in-the-usa/650782/61 "2013-02-22T07:03:35Z")
> [@LSilas](#): > > I always thought the word Gypsy equated to a nomadic or traveling group of peopel and the Roma is actually refering to their Romanian roots. Roma is an ethnic name for the Romani people (or at least a large subgroup of them, I’m not 100% on the specifics). As far as I know “Romani” just means “people” or something similar in (some dialects/variations of) the Romani language. And Roma didn’t come from Romania, to the best of our knowledge, they likely came from somewhere around India. Gypsy comes from the mistaken belief that they came from E **gyp** t. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2013, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-strong-anti-gypsy-roma-racism-exist-in-the-usa/650782/62 "2013-02-22T14:22:38Z")
In the spring, some television newscasts will air consumer warning stories about Irish Traveler contractors, though they almost never refer to them by name. Shoddy paving jobs, half-completed work, etc. As a child, one of my friends was of Roma descent. His family lived in a normal house in my urban neighborhood, and didn’t travel. They stood out not because of any odd behavior, but because there just weren’t many Roma around; it would have been the same for an Asian or Subcontinental family at the time, too. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2013, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-strong-anti-gypsy-roma-racism-exist-in-the-usa/650782/63 "2013-02-22T14:29:14Z")
Also, if you’re ever on Reddit, occasionally a vurilently anti-Roma article will appear, with hundreds of normally “tolerant”, “peace loving” Europeans piling on with horror stories and shockingly hostile comments. The response from Americans is usually along the lines of “WTF?” While European Redditors often condemn Americans for being fat, ignorant racists, they jump through hoops to justify their antiziganism: “it’s different”, “you don’t have to live with them”, “they won’t integrate into our society”, etc. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2013, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-strong-anti-gypsy-roma-racism-exist-in-the-usa/650782/64 "2013-02-22T23:34:19Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > Travelers are of Irish descent, as far as I know, and the word “Traveler” really seems to denote a lifestyle rather than an ethnicity. I do remember my mother occasionally describing her badly-behaved children as “Tinkers,” which is probably a word she picked up from her Irish immigrant mother, and which I think is used of the same kind of itinerant people in Ireland. The term tinker is an old-fashioned word for an Irish Traveller stemming from the archetypal industry Travellers were involved in at one time, ie fixing tin pots and the like. Irish Travellers are also known as Pavees and the term Gypsy is sometimes attached to them still, although it is slightly archaic. There are plenty of derogatory terms used for them too in Ireland and Britain. Knacker and pikey being the two most common. Knacker, I imagine, also stems from an industry Travellers were once integral too. I believe Pikey is a diminutive derived from turnpike but I’m not 100% on that. Ireland has plenty of Roma folk nowadays too (often referred to as Romanians or Romanian Gypsies regardless of country of origin). The negative stereotypes attached to them here is that they’re either beggars or thieves. A common, although less common now, industry for Roma to be involved in in the last 10 or 20 years was selling flowers and novelties outside pubs and nightclubs. FWIW my neighbours are Roma and the worst thing they’ve ever done to my knowledge is offer to help me do the gardening. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2013, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-strong-anti-gypsy-roma-racism-exist-in-the-usa/650782/65 "2013-02-22T23:37:09Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > FWIW my neighbours are Roma and the worst thing they’ve ever done to my knowledge is offer to help me do the gardening. 🙂 I hope you counted your turnips! ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2013, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-strong-anti-gypsy-roma-racism-exist-in-the-usa/650782/66 "2013-02-23T02:42:55Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I hope you counted your turnips! Would have made that remark if An Gadai’s neighbors had been black? Seriously think about what you just said. I doubt An Gadai’s neighbors planned on stealing any of her vegetables, but they may have been thinking, “I bet if we help the neighbor woman in her garden she’ll share some of those fresh vegetables or fresh flowers (since it’s not clear what is growing in the garden) with us.” And that wouldn’t be a Gypsy or Roma way of thinking, that would just be a human way of thinking. ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2013, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-strong-anti-gypsy-roma-racism-exist-in-the-usa/650782/67 "2013-02-23T02:46:30Z")
> [@LSilas](#): > > I always thought the word Gypsy equated to a nomadic or traveling group of peopel and the Roma is actually refering to their Romanian roots. Whats being aired on tv is tacky at best and puts them in a horrible light and only perpetuates any stereo type that may come of it. They dress like ho’s but are supposed to be virtuous? They dance like strippers drink like sailors and act like they have had no upbringing. From what I’ve seen the men work, play and do as they please while the women keep house and raise the kids. And from what I’m told by a gypsy friend is that the men beat the women whenever they want to for whatever they want to. They are not educated at all they are kept away from non gypsys so as to not expose the females to those values. Girls are raised to clean period and as soon as they are old enough they start teaching them to clean. The men are raised to work and provide what they want to to their framilies women are expected to be preened and clothed according to their husbands wishes. Sounds like its a society of 15th century ideals. What’s being aired on tv is about as realistic of Roma as the Jersey Shore is of Italian-Americans or Here comes Honey Boo Boo is of working class Southern whites. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2013, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-strong-anti-gypsy-roma-racism-exist-in-the-usa/650782/68 "2013-02-23T03:07:24Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#): > > Would have made that remark if An Gadai’s neighbors had been black? On the one hand, I took that as an over-the-top mockery of anti-Gypsy racism. On the other hand, I’m pretty dismayed by some of the casual racism being thrown around in this thread by some of the posters, who don’t seem to be joking. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2013, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-strong-anti-gypsy-roma-racism-exist-in-the-usa/650782/69 "2013-02-23T03:09:33Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#): > > What’s being aired on tv is about as realistic of Roma as the Jersey Shore is of Italian-Americans or Here comes Honey Boo Boo is of working class Southern whites. So it’s all true? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2013, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-strong-anti-gypsy-roma-racism-exist-in-the-usa/650782/70 "2013-02-23T03:17:09Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#): > > Would have made that remark if An Gadai’s neighbors had been black? Seriously think about what you just said. I doubt An Gadai’s neighbors planned on stealing any of her vegetables, but they may have been thinking, “I bet if we help the neighbor woman in her garden she’ll share some of those fresh vegetables or fresh flowers (since it’s not clear what is growing in the garden) with us.” And that wouldn’t be a Gypsy or Roma way of thinking, that would just be a human way of thinking. I do think Siam Sam was attempting to lampoon anti-Roma attitudes rather than express one. Plus I’m a man, I think. ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2013, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-strong-anti-gypsy-roma-racism-exist-in-the-usa/650782/71 "2013-02-23T03:37:18Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > I do think Siam Sam was attempting to lampoon anti-Roma attitudes rather than express one. Plus I’m a man, I think. My apologies Siam Sam, after thinking it over I realized that hopefully you were just lampooning the racisim not succumbing to it. Also, An Gadai, I did not know you were a man and should not have immediately stereotyped gardening in your yard as just something only a woman would be doing. My apologizes for gender stereotyping you. But I do stand by my comment that your neighbors were probably looking to score some free veggies or flowers depending on what you are growing. Fresh and in season growing things are common in Roma folk cures. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2013, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-strong-anti-gypsy-roma-racism-exist-in-the-usa/650782/72 "2013-02-23T04:06:42Z")
No worries. Just cross my palm with silver, and we’re even. 😉 (And for the record, yes, I was lampooning.) ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2013, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-strong-anti-gypsy-roma-racism-exist-in-the-usa/650782/73 "2013-02-23T04:17:34Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#): > > My apologies Siam Sam, after thinking it over I realized that hopefully you were just lampooning the racisim not succumbing to it. > > Also, An Gadai, I did not know you were a man and should not have immediately stereotyped gardening in your yard as just something only a woman would be doing. My apologizes for gender stereotyping you. But I do stand by my comment that your neighbors were probably looking to score some free veggies or flowers depending on what you are growing. Fresh and in season growing things are common in Roma folk cures. Weeds mainly. Honestly. I have whatever the opposite to green fingers is. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-strong-anti-gypsy-roma-racism-exist-in-the-usa/650782/74 "2013-02-26T04:29:59Z")
My Mom used to tell me, when the Gypsies were camping nearby (this is Tampa, Fla., in the 1930s-40s), that her mother told her they would steal her if she wasn’t careful. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-strong-anti-gypsy-roma-racism-exist-in-the-usa/650782/75 "2013-02-26T07:33:39Z")
I think anyone dancing around playing guitars and tambourines in a university library is going to make people cross. Of course I’m kidding. My gf is half Roma. I suppose she does not ‘live the life’; she is not a gypsy AFAICT. A normal person who I wouldn’t have noticed to be ‘Roma’ if she hadn’t told me. I would have guessed “Eastern European”. Anyway, I don’t think people realize she is Roma. She hasn’t ever told a story of being discriminated against for it. I’ve never heard of it happening to anyone else either, outside of Europe. ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-strong-anti-gypsy-roma-racism-exist-in-the-usa/650782/76 "2013-02-26T13:37:05Z")
FWIW, I am 1/4 gypsy, my father being 1/2 gypsy (he was born in Seville). This is something I didn’t find out until recently. Maybe thst’s why I have such a wanderlust, having spent my life in many different places ranging from Spain to Japan, and having moved house not less than 14 times 😉 ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-strong-anti-gypsy-roma-racism-exist-in-the-usa/650782/77 "2013-02-26T20:25:05Z")
FWIW, a Roma fortune teller once saved my dad’s life. ---
**Author:** ![FrankJBN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@FrankJBN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrankJBN)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-strong-anti-gypsy-roma-racism-exist-in-the-usa/650782/78 "2013-02-26T21:03:20Z")
ZPG Zealot - talk about prejudice! So the neighbors would not have been helping merely out of the goodness of their hearts but in the hopes that they would get something out of it? Sure you can slough it off and say “it’s just a human way of thinking.”, but for those of us who commonly act altruistically, it is not a human way of thinking to only help a neighbor (or even a stranger) if there is a chance for gain. This ties in with your earlier statements that people are prejudiced against you just by seeing you - you ascribe unkind thoughts, feelings and motivations to others with no basis other than your own distorted view of humanity. Good people aren’t like that. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-strong-anti-gypsy-roma-racism-exist-in-the-usa/650782/79 "2013-02-26T21:25:45Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > FWIW, a Roma fortune teller once saved my dad’s life. How so? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-strong-anti-gypsy-roma-racism-exist-in-the-usa/650782/80 "2013-02-26T23:06:15Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > FWIW, a Roma fortune teller once saved my dad’s life. [quote=“carnivorousplant, post:79, topic:650782”] How so?[/QUOTE Since **An Gadai** ’s Irish–the Roma was buying! 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-strong-anti-gypsy-roma-racism-exist-in-the-usa/650782.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-strong-anti-gypsy-roma-racism-exist-in-the-usa/650782.md?page=5)