As A Dick Grayson Stan And Someone With Romani Heritage, I Would Like To Clear Up The Difference Between

as a dick grayson stan and someone with romani heritage, i would like to clear up the difference between romani and romanian

it’s a common misconception i see in fics, where dick is said to speak romanian or come from romania because he is romani, etc.

romania is a country in southeast europe - it has many european cultural influences, for example german/austrian food, a romantic language (derived from latin), and a predominantly white christian population. however, romania has an estimated 8% ethnically romani population (relatively high), which is where the misconception may come from!

romani people are an ethnic group from the northern indian subcontinent. they may be referred to as ‘gypsies’ or other derogatory terms depending on the country they are based in. romani people have emigrated across europe and over to the americas in the past few hundred years, and have often mixed with other ethnic groups.

as a result, romani people are usually not one specific race or ethnicity - they will usually speak a dialect of the national language of their country of residence, a combination of the original romani language (which does not have roots in latin and is not romanian) and the local language. ethnically romani people also have vast physical and cultural differences from country to country.

for example, a romani person often has typically ‘indian’ skin tone/eye colour/hair colour but may have also have some more traditional european features. romani culture (music, food, art etc.) also varies but normally has roots in eastern european culture. romani people may be christian, muslim etc. but the original romani people were presumably hindu

romani groups are historically discriminated against (e.g. the holocaust) and may be looked down on by other social groups. this is due to romani people often being part of travelling circuses/shows, owning caravans, etc. which may be viewed as ‘dirty’ or ‘suspicious’ ; however, this is also why dick and his family make sense as romani people (haly’s circus) !

as a result, dick grayson (when characterised as romani) is not white - he’s indo-aryan and is likely mixed with other european ethnic groups. he may speak romanian, if his family had emigrated to romania in recent years, but this is not because he’s romani. he has very likely faced racial/social discrimination based on his heritage and ethnicity

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