When we sat down with our Youth Advisory Board back in January, we started looking to the year ahead and exploring ideas of what we can do to make an impact. One thing that came up was “How could we better engage with the Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller community?”  

Skip forward five months and here we are in Gypsy Roma Traveller Month. To mark the occasion, YAB members, Summer and Jess, interviewed Roxy* from Friends, Families and Travellers (FFT). Our conversation includes insights from the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller experience, what it means to express solidarity, and sharing their passion for amplifying the voices of those often underrepresented to address injustice. 

*Name changed for privacy.

Start of interview

Summer: What makes you proud to be a Traveller? 

Roxy: It’s really amazing to be so in touch with such a wonderful, unique and incredible culture! Hearing the stories from my mum and dad never fails to make me smile. I’m just so proud to be a part of this and to experience things people most likely never will in their lifetime. 

Summer: Do you face any stereotypes? And if you do, how do you think we can help break that down and stop that from happening? 

Roxy: We tend to face a stereotype about being ‘unclean’ or ‘dirty’, which, in fact, we’re not. We’re considered ‘rough’ when we’re not. Even people at my own school would sometimes think that. There’s many others like how we’re considered ‘rude’ and ‘aggressive’ when we’re not. We always have to put up an act to try and just disassociate from those type of stereotypes. Treating everyone how you want to be treated is such a key and important way to prevent stuff like this. 

Jess: This is important as this year’s theme for Gypsy, Roma Traveller History Month is ‘Onwards with Hope’. What does this mean to you as a young person from the community? 

Roxy: A lot. Before, I personally didn’t really like to talk about the fact that I am a part of the community. I’m always so scared that someone’s going to bring it up and ask questions and treat me differently afterwards. I just want everyone to treat us nicely. It fills me with hope as I’m finally being seen, I’m finally able to just talk about my experiences without being in fear. It’s really refreshing. 

Jess: In our Racial Disproportionality report, we found that children from Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community were less likely to report feeling safe when they arrived in custody, and 57% reported feeling unsafe during their time in custody, compared to the 28% of children who were not from this background. What do you think staff who work in youth justice sector can do to help you feel supported, safe, and respected? 

Roxy: Be nice and don’t treat us like we’re the villain. Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people who get in trouble with the police are treated differently. We’re all human at the end of the day, and I just feel that if these services and staff would just treat us the way they would like to be treated, then everything will be good. I get it, the world isn’t all sunshines and rainbows, and it isn’t all perfect all the time, as much as we want it to be, but it’s just, even if we can just be nice and just treat us with a bit of kindness and respect. A lot of things can come out of that.

Jess: My next question is – Gypsy, Roma and Traveller young people are overrepresented in exclusion figures. What do you want to see change in the education system? 

Roxy: I want to see schools have a day focused on our culture and community and cover the things we went through over the years. That’s why Gypsy, Roma, Traveller History Month is so important. It’s for us to take a step back and look over what we’ve accomplished as a community, what has happened in our history, and how we can grow from that and change the future so things like the Holocaust never happen again. 

Summer: Honestly, I couldn’t agree more with you there. If I’m being completely honest, before I joined this discussion and YAB, I didn’t know about Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month. I never learnt about it in school or nothing. I was never told. So speaking of schools, do you feel like Traveller’s get enough support in schools, and if they don’t, what support do you think needs to be put in place? 

Roxy: We don’t get enough support. Some schools are fantastic and try their absolute best, but that’s a small number. Every single school should be inclusive and understanding of the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community. Some families have to move sites and therefore move schools. It takes a toll on the kids and those who want to be able to have an education. It’s hard. Some schools don’t understand and think “oh, why do they keep on leaving?”. Schools should keep an open mind and always try and be inclusive e.g.send out a tutor, send work to do at home and see the progress. If Gypsy, Roma and Traveller students are struggling, then teachers can do something online. Schools can also be inclusive of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller culture by understanding what we are not comfortable with.  

Jess: That’s a really fair point and it’s important that schools are inclusive and actually respect the practices of different cultures. We know that Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children can often face bullying at school. What can schools do to address this and ensure that children feel supported and safe? 

 Roxy: I was one of those kids who kind of kept my head down and never caused any problems in class but she (a teacher) would always go out of her way to get upset at me . She (would)  exclude me from the rest of the activities and I’d get in trouble for no reason. She would constantly be very passive-aggressive and rude to me. Some kids would tell me that their parents told them to not play with me, or  talk with me because I was a part of the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community. One boy came up to me when we were playing football together, and he said “I’m sorry, but my mum and dad don’t really want me to be friends with you anymore. They said I should not be friends with a (slur)”. People aren’t born with hate. I’ve seen how kids get older and pick up on the language their parents are using, and then use it towards me and many other Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children. It just feels really disgusting and horrible. I remember there were quite a few lessons about online safety. Maybe we could have days to learn about the impact of offensive language, what racism is, how to stop it and why we should treat everyone with kindness and respect. 

Summer: I honestly just don’t know what to say to that. That’s horrible, and I’m very sorry that you’ve had to experience that. Do you think that social media has a role in that and made it worse? 

Roxy: Of course, yeah. Once my brother was just looking at TikTok and he sent a video to my mum which was talking about “burn out the gypsies” and there were videos of caravans and trailers on fire. People in the comments were throwing around slurs and even saying kill us and it’s just like, what have we done to you? It’s just so disgusting to see. I feel as if social media, even with the many laws and moderation things in place to prevent things like that, people still find so many ways to bypass it. For example, replacing certain letters with different symbols to bypass the filters, and it’s so easy to do it. It’s absolutely vile. TikTok and social media should crack down on it more. 

Summer: I notice on some videos where there’s racism that there’ll be people in the comments saying, “you can’t say things like that” but on the ones that I see around the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community, I don’t see any of those comments of people saying “this is wrong, this is really racist”. I usually see people kind of egging it on. Do you notice that racism is more normalized against your community? 

Roxy: It is normalized. I think if we see any type of racism, everyone should immediately tell that person off and make sure they face the severe consequences of it because racism is disgusting and horrible. I think anyone who does that seriously needs to take a step back and really have time to reflect on themselves as a person and think – what have I done wrong and how can I fix this behaviour? No one really seems to defend us, and it’s only really people who are part of the community who defend us. Even online, no one else is choosing to educate someone on this. Why do I have to go out of my way and why do so many people have to go out of their way to educate people on this type of horrible way of treating people?  

Jess: What language do you speak? As I understand some people come from Romania and some come from Ireland.  

Roxy: Our language is called Romanes. Hundreds and hundreds of years ago we moved all the way from, I believe, Persia and we travelled down into Europe I think in the 1600s. In that time, we’ve kind of lost our language a little bit but we still know and keep several words. 

Jess: Do Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities move because you want to move, or do you move because you have to? 

Roxy: It kind of depends. Some people want to move, because culturally, we love to move. But some are forcibly moved because their time has run out in certain places. Like, sometimes Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities are allowed to stay there for a year but then have to move. 

Jess: I’m so sorry to hear that. Roxy, you’re very passionate about your community. I hope people change their perceptions of the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community. You’re part of FFT and championing your people, and that’s amazing and special. It will go far, so well done and keep smashing it. 

Roxy: Thank you so much, I really appreciate it. 

Luba: How can we make sure that Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month is not a one off? And how can non-Gypsy, Roma and Traveller heritage people show genuine support and solidarity for the community? 

Roxy: Just continue the hard work you’re doing at the Youth Endowment Fund. Continue being interested in the community and trying your best to be inclusive.   

End of interview

Resources

You can learn more about Friends, Families and Travellers organisation by viewing their resources and Frequently Asked Questions page. To go further and support their work you can sign their pledge for schools to make a firm commitment to undertake certain steps to support access, retention, and outcomes in education for Gypsy, Traveller, Roma, Showmen and Boaters pupils. We’d like to warmly thank Friends, Families and Travellers for sharing their experience and insight.

If you want to know what the Youth Endowment Fund advises for how best to support the Gypsy, Traveller, and Roma community in schools, amongst other children and young people affected by violence, visit our education practice guidance.