#opre romani

[lilitunoirrr]

So since it's Romani history month, I want to share a poem by Henry Lawson. A man that was/is huge in Australian literacy history but never noted for his Romani heritage despite writing about it. Here's one of my favourite poems of his:

[cyberr-v0id]

The reason why I don’t watch or read the hunchback of notre dame is because it perpetrates the (obviously awful and incredibly harmful) stereotype that Romani people steal children and raise them as their own

[dreaming-in-sunlight]

I finished it ❤️

[hungee-boy]

with it being national rromani day tomorrow im extending my best wishes to fellow didicoy and rroma that were raised by gadje/in gadje society

its heartbreaking to hear that we probably wont be accepted by other rroma, despite the fact that we didnt choose to be taken from our culture or for our family to bury our blood out of fear

but were here still and were part of the 10 million and everyday we continue to live on, our rroma ancestors are honored and proud of us

opre rroma, including didicoy

[haveyouheardthisfolksong]

Note: This song has been adopted as the Romani national anthem. It is set to a traditional melody, hence why it appears in this poll. In addition to the Romani culture tag, I also gave it the Serbian culture tag because the lyricist, Žarko Jovanović, was Serbian Romani. However, Romani people in multiple countries have adopted this song.

[bluebellcloud]

Couldn’t share this earlier due to personal reasons but I need to do it before June ends:

Happy Romani history/heritage month

Happy Indigenous history/heritage month

Happy Caribbean/Caribbean-American history/heritage month

Happy pride month

You are loved and celebrated❤

[coalan1916]

[lilitunoirrr]

🙌🏽💯

[cyberr-v0id]

Sometimes I think that maybe the reason that my mother never raised me and my brother as part of our culture is so that she could save us the pain and harassment and racism that she went through.

Cause yeah, we both have lighter skin than her from our dad, but my little brother still has those Roma eyes and if his hair were darker, and the fact that his skin is only a few shades lighter than hers in the summer, if we did interact with our family, if we did openly show the world who we are, then yeah, those assholes would be racist to him

And I am so fucking privileged to have golden skin and blue eyes and golden hair that hasn’t done what it’s been threatening since I was seven and turned brown, and that let’s me pass through crowds unnoticed, but I would my culture, would my people recognise me for who I am? Would I be accepted?

My mother, my brave and strong mother, when she was growing up was endlessly called slurs, many of which I am lucky enough to not know, and told that her ‘skin was dirty’ just because it was brown (and let me tell ya, it’s not brown from her German-Italian father, it’s brown from generations of Roma), and even now I sometimes notice things. People not always recognising me as her daughter, save from our eye shapes and my nose. The boys in the line at the theme park last year, harmlessly asking my mum how long she had lived in England for (she didn’t kind them asking btw), because they had mistaken her brown skin as meaning she was from somewhere else, India perhaps. The local people in Greece when she went there before I was born, going up to her and asking her questions in Greek, because they assumed her one of them.

I can understand why she did it

And after she went through all of that, after she kept us away and spoke little of what she went through, I’ve still had to deal with teenage boys being Neo-Nazi shits, and girls defending their right to say that their friends outfit was ‘giving g*psy’ (a. Culture appropriation, B. a slur) while they use white sources as ‘proof’, and strangers on the internet, who don’t know me and hadn’t even seen my face, saying that I am not Roma, they can use that word because it makes us ‘feel magic and special’ and general infantilisation, only to delete the messages a few minutes after I’ve blocked them, so I can’t send out a beware on this ‘inclusive, anti-racist lgbtq meme account’ because that was what the account was.

And I can’t tell my mum any of this. It would upset her too much

[dreaming-in-sunlight]

A piece i never finished (i kinda want to when im not busy) but i wanted to share anyway

Its a piece dedicated to roma and our beauty and depicts the red chakra thats found on our flag (the flag without the chakra yet is seen in the piece and our full flag is below)

[hungee-boy]

im currently writing a paper on misrepresentation and stigma against rroma

all are free to answer no matter if you're rroma or not, this is just to better understand how much or how little education there is on the rromani victims during the holocaust

you are also more than welcome to write in the replies stories that you have related to the poll

thank you ❤

[scarlet--wiccan]

Happy Valentine's Day, everybody! I wrote a short retrospective about the history of Romani representation in Marvel comics to commemorate the release of Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver, which is on sale today, 2/14. I do want to remind everyone that the BDS movement has called for a cultural boycott of Disney and Marvel products, as both entities are financially and politically complicit in the genocide of Palestine. Spend your money smartly and ethically, and get involved in local actions . Vive Palestine, et Opre Roma!

🖤🤍💚❤️

This article was written as supplement to my interview on the lastest episode of Romanistan! It's out now on Spotify or Apple, and you can support Romanistan on Ko-Fi or Patreon.

[fifiophobia]

Romani Superhero’s 💙❤️💚

Dick Grayson aka Nightwing

Wanda Maximoff aka The Scarlet Witch

Pietro Maximoff aka Quicksilver

__________________

(Please take the time to read more under the cut)

I know it isn’t International Romani day, but I wanted to make this to celebrate and bring awareness about the Romani community. Characters who are Romani like Wanda or Pietro often get misrepresented or white washed in mainstream media (*cough cough* Marvel Cinematic Universe and the X-men *) for no good reason. This is horrible because the Romani are an already unrepresented group that deal with many injustices. According to The Council of Europe, some of the terrible things to occur to the Romani include:

“facing hatred and human rights abuses every day. Roma are refused access to decent housing, evicted without notice and left open to attack by prejudiced neighbours.-blocked from the jobs market and from opportunities to get better education and vocational training. Roma children are bullied at school, or sent to schools meant for people with learning difficulties. Roma women have been sterilised against their will”

This also doesn’t address the 500 years of slavery or the misuse of their culture from people who aren’t Roma

Unfortunately, this mistreatment exists around the world (including North America).

Despite this mistreatment, the Romani have contributed so much beauty into the world. Including the flamenco dance, movies, music, books, etc

I can’t speak on how good the representation Nightwing, Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver are to the Romani community because I am not Roma. I created this because I understand how important these characters are, and how important they could be (if Marvel or DC hired Romani writers) to changing the perception of the Romani community. It’s important to recognize the beauty of other groups in real life and fiction; because their stories are important and should be told.

While you're still here, please check out these links for ways you can support the Romani community

Where you can donate

e-romnja

fundraiser for Stanislav Tomáš’ family

A gofundme for a 50yr old Romani Woman injured in hit and run

Ukraine: Help Roma Access Humanitarian Aid

help for roma in eastern europe and turkey

A safe place for LGBT Roma

Resources where you can learn more

The European Roma Rights Centre

We are the Romani People by Ian Hancock

Opre Roma

Terms of engagement

Union Romani

Media/Businesses

Romanistan: by Jessica Reidy and Paulina Verminski

Romani Media Initiative

Romafuturism

eriac_romamoma (an Instagram page dedicated to showing contemporary art)

Romani Design (a fashion line where you can buy beautiful outfits)

Voice of Roma

More accounts you can follow to support Roma and Romani activism

[rromaleo]

Kushti Devvas! This shall be my well loved blog dedicated to my culture. Because fuck everyone who says I can’t or says I shouldn’t be proud or should hide who my people are.

Opre Romani!