Dear F*ST! community,
I write this letter because I have a penchant for writing when I have a lot of thoughts. Maybe that’s why I’m the president of a storytelling org. But jokes aside, I come to you to apologize and take accountability in an effort to walk the ally-ship talk.
At our show last night, the term “gypsy” was used. Although absolutely no harm, malice, or negativity was intended, this word has been recognized as a slur against the Roma (also called Romani) people.
Many might still be unaware of the derogatory connotation--I myself was uncertain of why it became a negative, when my personal affiliation with the word was my favorite character in Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame (and we know Disney has a plethora of harmful representations across their media empire, so I’m not getting into it right now). However, the Roma people are a marginalized group (made up of multiple ethnic affiliations) in Europe (and in America) that are still actively fighting for their human rights.
For starters, the term was derived because the Roma people were mistakenly believed to originate from Egypt, even though they were from the Punjab region of India. (Not off to a great start, conflating different peoples of color as if they are a monolith in opposition to whiteness.)
Dating back to the medieval period, the Roma people have a long history of being discriminated against in Europe, being enslaved and disenfranchised, not permitted to participate in the economy, subjected to horrible and inaccurate stereotypes about their work ethic and morals, and generally being demonized by various European governments, societies, and institutions. They suffered massive genocide at the hands of the Nazis in WWII that almost wiped out the entire group. In modern times, the Roma diaspora still faces discrimination across the education, housing and healthcare sectors, and unfortunately is still subject to hateful prejudice, particularly in some of the regions where they have the longest histories.
I want to point out that many people use the word for its association with a nomadic, free-spirited, natural or mystical lifestyle, free from the confines of capitalism (as was the case during our show). And don’t get me wrong, I will happily slander capitalism any day of the week (come to one of our workshops if you want proof), but rejecting capitalism by adopting the reductive stereotype of people of color is cultural appropriation and exploitative erasure. When you know better, you do better, and we would be remiss to not call out the use of this word in a situation where other options convey the intended meaning without the harm.
With any group that experiences systemic oppression, the women/woman-identified people within the group experience the additional harshness that comes with intersecting marginalized identities. As stated on the blog of the National Organization for Women, “while the use of the word… seems innocent, it is dangerous to Romani women. It conjures up a romanticized image of poverty and sexualization, which doesn’t acknowledge that there is nothing romantic about being a victim of institutionalized racism. There is nothing romantic about the link between perceived uncontrollable sexuality and forced sterilization. There is nothing romantic about being a victim of domestic violence but afraid to speak out because law enforcement won’t believe you or it will further oppress your community. There is nothing romantic about lacking political power and representation, and being left out of both anti-racist and feminist politics.”
F*ST! aims to be a safe space that amplifies the voices for ALL women. To disregard the plight of marginalized communities, and particularly of women in marginalized communities, is simply not in line with our values. We all can tell our stories, but the words that we use to tell our stories matter, and we should choose them with empathy and intention.
So I want to apologize for this mistake, and assure you that I will take purposeful steps to prevent this from happening in the future.
We teach and we learn because we are all works in progress. I urge our community to continue to learn about the vast array of experiences in the world that are unlike your own, and to continue to grow from the knowledge, the lessons, the stories. That’s what gives us our humanity.
In all sincerity,
Tiara B.
President of F*ST!
List of sources used:
https://now.org/blog/the-g-word-isnt-for-you-how-gypsy-erases-romani-women/
http://www.errc.org/what-we-do/advocacy-research/terminology
https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/roma-european-culture
https://www.cnn.com/2013/10/21/world/europe/roma-discrimination/index.html
https://eefc.org/wp-content/uploads/Roma-FAQs-CS.pdf
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/2464/2020/11/Romani-realities-report-final-11.30.2020.pdf
https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/12/30/242429836/why-being-gypped-hurts-the-roma-more-than-it-hurts-you