Who Are the Roma People? A History of Persecution, Displacement, and Resistance
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“We were silent for thousands of years, But our hearts are full, Of unuttered sentences, Like a sea receiving Blue river waters, All its life long” — poem by Romani writer Dezider Banga
The Romani people, with a global diaspora exceeding 15 million individuals and numbering 1 million in the United States alone, represent Europe's largest ethnic minority. But their story is far from monolithic; Roma, or the Romani people, is an umbrella term for various groups identified as Roma, Gitanos, Sinti, Ciganos, and Romanichals located across the world. Often pejoratively referred to by the exonym “Gypsies”, these ethnolinguistically diverse Romani groups forge their own identity based on geography and ancestry. Every Romani family has a different story to tell.
Yet being forced to live on the fringes of mainstream society has been a consistency in the Roma experience. Since at least the 14th century, the Romani people have endured being marginalized, subjected to systemic prejudice, and even enslaved in the countries they inhabit. To this day, anti-Roma racism persists and Roma communities lack state adequate protections.
Each year, April 8 is observed as International Roma Day to commemorate the millions of Romani people who have suffered violence and prejudice throughout history, as well as those who continue to fight to preserve their culture and heritage today.
Music, in particular, is vital in Roma culture. As accomplished instrumentalists, the Roma have significantly influenced various music genres in Central and Eastern European countries, from jazz to bolero. In fact, the Spanish Roma (Gitanos) are credited with originating flamenco music and dance.
“Despite prohibitions, erasure, and punishments, many Romani groups and families across Europe also kept our native language, crafts, and identity,” Dr. Margareta Matache, director of the Roma Program at Harvard University’s FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, tells Teen Vogue. “Arguably, this is one of the Romani people’s oldest traditions and tactics of resistance as a collective, a people, and one that may teach the world that borders, distorted histories, and nationalism are not the only path for preserving cultures and languages.”
An Indo-Aryan ethnic group, the Roma originated in the northern Indian region of Punjab thousands of years ago. There are conflicting estimates on the timeline, but Britannica estimates they migrated to Europe around the 13th or 14th century. “Soon after our ancestors migrated to European territories, they encountered a distinct experience of being both cast and colonized within,” explains Dr. Matache. They were forced into slavery in Moldavia and Wallachia (present-day Romania) in the 14th century, and only emancipated in the mid-19th century.
At that point, some groups of Romani people migrated to other European countries and even to the United States, Cuba, and Brazil. Those who remained in Europe faced systematic depopulation and neglect across the continent. Undoubtedly, one of the most abhorrent of these persecutions was the Porajmos, the Romani word for the Holocaust.
During World War II, the Nazis orchestrated a systematic genocide targeting the Romani community. Romani individuals, branded as impure and racially inferior, were confined to concentration camps, where they were subjected to forced labor and exterminated. An estimated 250,000 to 500,000 Romani were killed.
According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the crimes committed against Roma remained unacknowledged across Europe for several decades. By then, countless Roma families and networks had been decimated — an estimated quarter of European Roma had been murdered. They were rendered the forgotten victims of the Holocaust.
Anti-Roma racism persisted in the aftermath of World War II. In Czechoslovakia and the present-day Slovakia and Czech Republic, a shameful practice was implemented from 1966 to 2012 to forcibly sterilize Romani women. Only after a prolonged campaign for justice led by Romani women survivors did the Czech Senate finally take steps to compensate the thousands of victims.
Forced evictions were another tool used to oppress Roma. In 2016, a staggering 60% of Romani families living in France were forcefully removed from their homes. The stark reality is that many non-Roma Europeans endorse Roma segregation and oppression. A 2019 Pew Research poll found that the majority of citizens in over 10 European nations held unfavorable views of Roma, with overwhelmingly high percentages found in Italy (83%), Slovakia (76%), and Greece (72%).
The treatment of Roma has not been any fairer in the United States. In Dr. Matache’s 2020 study Roma Realities, two-thirds of the 363 Romani Americans interviewed reported experiencing discrimination based on their heritage. Dr. Matache emphasizes that anti-Roma sentiment is worsened by the perpetuation of negative portrayals and stereotypes of Roma in the media. “Four out of every 10 Romani interviewees experienced unfairness or disrespect from a teacher,” she says. "TV series like My Big Fat G*psy Wedding have negatively affected the school environment, leading teachers and other children to view Roma children as unworthy of education or protection.” Consequently, she adds, “Roma children feel compelled to conceal their identity, but in doing so, they have to endure stereotypes from teachers and peers in silence."
Lacking sufficient government support in basic housing, long term-employment, affordable healthcare, and desegregated education, many young Roma are often ensnared in a relentless cycle of adversity, poverty, and violence. This cycle extends to disproportionately high rates of incarceration and experiences of police profiling and brutality.
In an incident that the media and Roma activists compared to the 2020 murder of George Floyd, Stanislav Tomas, a Romani man in the Czech Republic, died in 2021 after multiple police officers pinned him to the ground and knelt on his neck for several minutes. (Police released autopsy results that claimed the cause of Tomas's death was unrelated to the manner of his restraint.)
In response to this persistent discrimination, many Romani empowerment organizations have are taking a stand. Phiren Amenca, a network of Roma and non-Roma volunteers, works to challenge stereotypes and racism, and also create non-formal education opportunities for Roma youth. Meanwhile, the Dikhlo Collective, with members based in the US and Hungary, champions “unapologetic identity” by distributing packages of art sourced from Roma artisans worldwide at no cost. Based in Romania, E-Romnja is a feminist organization committed to amplifying the voices of Roma women in society. It works toward reducing school dropout rates among Roma girls, engaging women in grassroots democracy activities, and hosting events like Romnja Power Month.
Several young women involved with E-Romnja speak with Teen Vogue via email about inheriting the challenges faced by their elders. Says Elisa Dinu, an E-Romnja youth worker and coordinator of Roma girls’ and boys’ groups from Valea Seacă, a village in Romania, “For me, being a young Roma means fighting every day for my rights. It means battling the prejudices of non-Roma people in institutions every day.”
Natalia Căldăraru, a youth worker from the southern Romanian city of Giurgiu, agrees: “Being a Roma girl, and especially being a visible Roma girl — having dark skin, coming from a traditional community, speaking the Romani language — all of these can be challenges. I have experienced them on my skin…. I have had moments when I tried to hide my Roma identity. But over time, I realized that I should not be ashamed of who I am; it is the racists who should be ashamed of discriminating.”
E-Romnja works primarily to instill self-empowerment in Roma women by providing them with community-organizing and employment opportunities. The hope, according to young women like Dinu, is that by standing united, change will come: She wishes “Roma girls around the world the courage and strength to fight against all oppressive systems! Opre Romnja! (Stand up, Roma!)”
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