Saying shit like this is revolting and bigoted.
We've a bit of a mess over in Irish twitter now because a rake of dopey yanks have waded in and started saying mad shit about how travellers are white therefore they don't face the same kind of oppression they do.
Irish travellers face racialised, systemic, and rampant bigotry everyday. Your history and dynamics don't apply here lads, wading in and trying to apply that framework is a joke and makes you look like cunts.
Now, I know I don't have to worry about this shite here, most of you are sound and not libs, but it needs to be said. Some of the shite I'm seeing yerwan in the screen up there along with her lib cheering section saying about travellers is revolting.
Just random speculation, but I guess the concern is about accountability. If your neighbor beats somebody up or takes something or whatever other bad thing, you can go hold them accountable. If a nomad does the same thing, they might be gone in the morning and beyond your reach.
Of course, the real reason is the same as any racism, it's useful to have an "other" to dehumanize for various reasons.
This was likely a huge reason for prejudice historically. Consider how recently you could effectively escape responsibility for a serious crime by moving two towns over, and consider that the vast majority of human history was like that. The closure rate for murders today is still only about 60%; imagine how easy it was to get away with that in 1700 if you just left town.
Of course, merely suspecting that someone could get away with crime more easily is no excuse for bigotry. I do think you're spot-on here about the historical origins of prejudice against nomadic people, though.
A lot of Romani-specific antiziganism stemmed from the idea we were inherently criminals from the start, therefore being able to move around wasn’t wanted. Rather than “you can move and then easily commit crimes” but moreso “you commit crimes and then move” if that makes sense. Many laws in the middle ages said gypsies could be put to death if entering or leaving certain countries.
This is a big reason why vendettas were a big thing in the past. Cops or whatever “law enforcement” existed at the time could do shit outside of your town, so if some fucker murdered your dad or uncle the only way you had any chance of punishing him was to take it upon yourself to hunt the guy down.
I used to think it was mostly movie BS, but I told an interesting I old west history a few years back and, no, some dude spending half a decade trying to hunt down some guy who stabbed his brother in a bar fight was a pretty common thing. Part of the reason why law enforcement agents like Marshals and Rangers who could cross state lines was to try and reduce this cuz these revenge trip guys would end up killing who had the same name or looked similar half the time.