Discrimination

A very prevalent hate existing in Europe and not only is "anti-Romani sentiment" aka antigypsyism, anti-Romanyism, Romaphobia, or antiziganism. Many people born in Romania find themselves victims of this "misguided" prejudice (on several levels) and most fail to realise it. Though I cannot prove it, I believe that my father was targeted by his OPG supervisor for "being a Gypsy" even though he had little to do with that ethnicity.

The official language in Romania is Romanian, a Romance language, based on Latin. The language was formed when Roman emperor Trajan conquered the ancient province of Dacia, imposing Roman rule on the land and the people who survived that war, which ended 106 AD. In contrast, the Romani or Gypsy language (and its dialects) is based on Sanskrit and it is spoken by the Romani (Gypsy) people who came to Europe from India around 1100 AD. The Romani people are a minority in Romania and many other European countries, varying from 10% in Hungary to as low as 1% elsewhere. Adding to the confusion, many Romanians have left Romania after 1989 mostly for other countries with Romance languages, such as Spain, Italy and France and so did some members of the Roma/Romani minority from Romania.

In summary, Romanian (Latin/Romance) and Romani (Sanskrit/Hindu) are two different ethnicities, but those Romani born in Romania may have Romanian citizenship (aka nationality).  

Many Romanians are so unaware that many non-Romanians are confused about the differences and may confuse Romanians with Romani people that they are unaware of being discriminated and may even partake themselves in said discrimination.  Other than the afore-linked Wikipedia articles, more info can be found in a 2012 Amnesty International article or YouTube.

Some Romanians, weary of being confused with the most hated ethnic group in Europe, take umbrage in their skin being lighter than that of most Roma/Romani people (who have a darker skin, much like people born on the Indian subcontinent). Unfortunately for them and their point of view, in Ireland and UK there is an ethnocultural group very similar to Roma/Romani, known as Irish travelers. This group is often confused for "Gypsies" by prejudiced individuals, but as they are genetically related to Irish people, they tend to be mostly blond and with lighter complexions. Henceforth, having blond hair or lighter skin is not a shield from prejudice, especially in the Commonwealth (countries culturally British).

At the time of his death, my father was involved in a grievance he had filed with his union for ethnic discrimination by his supervisor.

Neither I, Andrei, or any other relatives of mine (my grandfather, my grandmother, who was an ethnic Ukranian, or my mother), though Romanians, know/knew any Romani / Roma language or dialects and learning it is difficult. Whereas most Roma/Romani people born in Romania speak Romanian along their own language, very few if (if any) ethnic Romanians (born in Romania) speak a Roma/Romani/Gypsy language or dialect.

My (Andrei's) personal view is that discrimination should always be fought, even when "misdirected", because prejudiced individuals will likely (re)direct their prejudice towards others or refine it so that it is less obvious when confronted and because, as far as I know, the law does not distinguish between misdirected and "well-targeted" hate crimes.