[Callers] [Organizers] contra dance gypsy

[Sam Whited]

I wrote something about this recently that may (or may not) be of
interest here (though it doesn't really say anything that others in this
thread haven't already said):

https://blog.samwhited.com/2019/07/right-shoulder-round/

On Tue, Oct 8, 2019, at 14:56, Jeffrey Spero via Callers wrote:
> I apologize. But my point remains that ALMOST everyone who is debating
> this point is an outsider.

This is a self fulfilling prophecy. If we require minorities to stand up
for themselves, and in the mean time we continue to make them unwelcome
at our dances, they won't come to the dances and won't be able to make
their views known.

Also, as far as I see, no one is suggesting that Roma can't call
themselves whatever they want. They're just suggesting that white people
don't own every word, and maybe shouldn't assume that it's okay for them
to use a word which may be associated with persecution and fear.
As long as no one here is contradicting or pretending to know better
than people from a marginalized group that they're not a part of, it's
perfectly appropriate to try and make marginalized groups that we're not
a part of feel more welcome. If someone from one of these groups has
feedback on how this is done, we should be attentive and respect their
views and expertise.

—Sam