In a thread where so many people have trouble with simple factual statements, I'm hesitant to bring in counterfactuals/hypotheticals. Still, I will. I wonder what would've happened if many of the Romani had immigrated to, say, Kashmir in the early part of the 20th century. (They do have northern Indian ties historically, so it isn't so far-fetched.) Suppose that at the end of British rule in the late 1940s the Romani declared an independent state in part of Kashmir. Clearly there would be lots of armed conflict in that region, just as there is today. However, I imagine we'd hear much more about the Kashmir conflict and most of what we'd hear would be cartoonish misinformation about evil Gypsies lying, cheating and oppressing poor indigenous Muslim children who just want peace and crayons. The reason would be racism.