Thank you for that. I don't mind the title "Gypsy" but many do. My screen name is Spanish for "Gypsy girl". (Pronunced hee tah nah). I'm proud of my heritage. But I'm also realistic. The Roma are a pariah society, never accepted, always marginalized, so they live off the host society but never a real part of it. Historically, Roma have engaged in horse trading, tinkering and entertainment. (Generalization). Poverty has led to a number engaged in criminal activity like drugs and begging.
But my own people were products of the royal edict of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand, that Roma must stop being nomadic and any who did would be tortured to death. They retreated to camps and caves and developed the art of Flamenco. That's what my whole family is, professional Flamenco dancers, singers, guitarists. That's how my mom met my dad. She went to Spain to study Flamenco dance and worked with my dad's sisters who began performing as children. My poor uncle left home at 15 to travel the world playing guitar. It was not an easy life. But especially under the Franco dictatorship, it was hard for Gypsies to get jobs. But our people are more prosperous than the street Gypsies and do not engage in crinal activity, at all. We are the same tribe/group as the Gypsy Kings (musical group) from France.