Also "many children don’t attend school." is rather a problem, isn't it. And though I do not know much about Bulgaria, I doubt it's because of the money. I'd assume Bulgaria has free schools and probably social support for financially struggling kids.
There are so many different nations in Europe, some with their nation states, many without. However, Roma or Travellers seem to have the same poor opinion almost everywhere - which is not really shared with any other people. Maybe it is not that fair to picture Bulgarians as the only source of the bad situation in this neighbourhood. Isn't there a way for the community to organise anything, even some basic cleanup?
I didn't particularly care for the quote (from comments):
> I generally try to avoid Western Europe these days – along with most of the Western world, people their are (in general) just trying to convince themselves that the little bubble they exist in is all that matters.
A bit rich coming from an American, but anyway I do not understand what it that supposed to mean. I'd believe it's rather Western Europeans that try to care for the world as the whole, rather than do the least immediately necessary.
Note that the people that live in Stolipinovo are Bulgarian. I guess you meant to say "I do not think they would be friendly to any non-Roma Bulgarian". That's an assumption that (from experience) is incorrect.
Also, I'm not American, but I get that a lot.
are you quite sure they self-identify as Bulgarian? My experience from a different country is a different one.
Bulgarian (Greek, Macedonian, Hungarian. or other nationalities with nation-states) has two semantic meanings: citizenship and ethnicity. So it is possible for individuals to be Bulgarian citizens, but not of Bulgarian ethnicity. Or vice versa. Someone of Bulgarian descent born in USA won't be necessarily Bulgarian-in-the-citizenship sense.
So in the grandparent case, he obviously meant "non-Roma", without regards to citizenship.
I was clearly an outsider, I've visited Stolipinovo with other Bulgarians (non-Roma) who are also clearly outsiders, and we were all treated well.
I am also a member of a minority in Bulgaria (Turkish), but our people are nothing like the Roma - we don't live in ghettos. And although there is a lot of "historically based" hatred towards us here, I can say from experience that the (ethnic) Bulgarians are not that racist (or at least not unreasonably so). Westerners are too soft and entitled to their progressive beliefs which are going to screw them big time.
It won't. Perhaps you should do some research and not try to object to or ban more language, as the term is not always used negatively. While some Romani are opposed to it, others use the term in a positive light to promote their culture
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gypsy_Lore_Society
Many on social media today claim to be gypsies in a positive light (however, they're more claiming to adopt certain culture aspects they appreciate).
Ticked me off a bit, since that was exactly the prejudice eastern europeans faced and face in western europe.
At least here in Spain that is because most of the Eastern Europeans we get are Roma. So people automatically assume Bulgarians or Romanians are all Roma and act like them.
While Roma might be highly visible to you because some beg in the streets or appear in crime reportage, Roma are still only a minority of the Eastern European immigrants in Spain. They are a minority even of the Balkan countries’ immigrants in Spain. You just don’t notice all those ethnic Romanians from Romania who don’t look particularly exotic, and who are quietly working hard in some industry outside the public eye (i.e. agriculture, or taking care of the elderly, or even the IT sector).