Memes

my only direct interaction with any Romani people was from a girl I knew who was purchased as a baby by a Romani man and used as a sexual toy for her entire childhood

And why do you think that is? Perhaps a community that has been disenfranchised, looked down on as worse than the scum of the earth, and often enslaved or lynched throughout their miserable history in miserable Europe might have its own severe issues, not least amongst them being- when not being outright persecuted by authorities, facing criminal levels of neglect by them, the sorts that allow baby-selling and worse to occur.

It seems that the (myth? maybe not entirely, hell if I know) of "child-stealing Roma" is prevalent- but on the other hand, what about when it goes the other way around? I certainly have heard of, and there are many documented cases of, the kidnapping of Roma children, from their biological parents, often not for any good reason other than public hysteria and discrimination over the matter (and them having "white" features)- by the states of Europe (which generally on the other hand seem utterly loath to recognize any Roma as citizens, no matter their personal history and heritage- and which seem to treat their communities with about the same amount of human dignity people grant cockroach infestations- burning their camps down, driving them out, keeping them basically segregated). Frankly, it seems to me that the child stealing and selling tends to be inflicted the other way around more often than not- a war certainly seems to constantly be waged on the Roma, by the countries which- by all rights, they should be afforded citizenship and protection by. It seems incredibly reminiscent of the ongoing treatment of indigenous peoples here in Canada and other settler-colonial Anglo societies (as someone raised in the prairies and who had many first nations childhood friends, classmates, etc- all being raised by white families, some in rather questionable conditions- and I'm not that old by the way- 27- and I know full well these dynamics continue to exist in full force) except there isn't the (apparently incredibly effective, however possibly occasionally based in reality) blood libel of "baby-snatching" against the natives here.

Being subjected to inhumane conditions, social exclusion, and poverty, tend to breed inhumane results- this is true of any ethnic, racial, or religious group, most particularly when they are excluded from the means, and/or lack the numbers, to establish their own permanent spaces with genuine autonomy, to at least weather out the persecution together. The last 500 years of accursed European history plaguing the rest of humanity, in the Americas, Australia and Oceania, with chattel slavery and systemic destruction of other cultures, is a testament to that- even the centers of historical civilization have been brought low (China, India, the Fertile Crescent, Iran, Mesoamerica, the Andes) and those nations seen for most of history as the heights of culture, prosperity, and dignity have been defiled. Even more so when for the Roma, most of their lot in life seems to be running about effectively stateless, dehumanized, and persecuted in clear violation to various internationally recognized human rights.