I love Romani. They are wonderful people who are fun, hospitable, ingenious, and have a fascinating culture. One of my closest friends is 1/4 Roma and her family is a real bunch of characters! That being said, whenever I'm interacting with them when I'm overseas, I always make sure to keep my hands in my pockets and check my peripheral vision every few seconds to make sure their kids don't come at me from the side to snatch anything off of me. They also obnoxiously will attempt to buy any jewelry or electronics off of you ("Nice camera! I buy? I buy? How much? How much?"). So, unfortunately, the stereotype of Romani being thieves has some truth to it. But can you blame them? It's like an earlier poster said: it's kinda a vicious cycle. I oppose persecution and deportation of Romani peoples, I support their right to live their traditional nomadic way of life, but I still don't quite trust them with anything shiny.
Label: hate