it's just not true. historian Eric Foner says the same here. that entire scholarship is based on viewing 'white' as meaning 'never facing discrimination', which is silly.
Irish, Italian, Jews, whatever other group people say aren't white had rights specifically because they were white. they could vote when black people couldn't, miscegenation laws never applied to them and it did to black people. to say these groups weren't white is really ridiculous and frankly just insulting to groups that faced discrimination specifically because they weren't white.
They were disciminated against because they werent seen as entirly white by the people discriminating, regardless of laws being different for them
Whiteness is an opressor club. If youre being opressed by the people in the club, you arent entirly in the club, even if there are people lower on the totem pole than you.
I think you're basically getting into astrology at this point. "oh Italians weren't 'fully' white, they were only 70% white whereas WASPs were 100% white and black people were 0% white, and the line to have rights is 50%"
it's silly. again, these groups had certain rights specifically because they were white. if they weren't seen as white, they wouldn't have those rights.
racism is astrology, it's not based on any objective, measurable metrics and has constantly changed throughout history. people point this out by talking about anti-irish racism, because it was a real thing but farcical under the current construction of race. Eric Foner brings up interesting points for American-specific situations where people make mistakes in their narratives---but that isn't a rebuttal to the existence of anti-(people-who-were/are-considered-white-in-the-US) racism in Europe. the white/nonwhite dichotomy itself is US-ian, not the only way to construct a racialized social hierarchy
"oh Italians weren't 'fully' white, they were only 70% white whereas WASPs were 100% white and black people were 0% white, and the line to have rights is 50%"
...But that's exactly how most racists saw it (and many still do). It is silly, but that doesn't change the fact that it was indeed a common worldview that did shape laws that in turn reinforced it. Are you saying that racists didn't believe in a racial hierarchy?
it's just not true. historian Eric Foner says the same here. that entire scholarship is based on viewing 'white' as meaning 'never facing discrimination', which is silly.
Irish, Italian, Jews, whatever other group people say aren't white had rights specifically because they were white. they could vote when black people couldn't, miscegenation laws never applied to them and it did to black people. to say these groups weren't white is really ridiculous and frankly just insulting to groups that faced discrimination specifically because they weren't white.
They were disciminated against because they werent seen as entirly white by the people discriminating, regardless of laws being different for them
Whiteness is an opressor club. If youre being opressed by the people in the club, you arent entirly in the club, even if there are people lower on the totem pole than you.
The British even made racist conspiracy theories about the Irish being a “lost tribe” of Africa to justify their double racism
I think you're basically getting into astrology at this point. "oh Italians weren't 'fully' white, they were only 70% white whereas WASPs were 100% white and black people were 0% white, and the line to have rights is 50%"
it's silly. again, these groups had certain rights specifically because they were white. if they weren't seen as white, they wouldn't have those rights.
racism is astrology, it's not based on any objective, measurable metrics and has constantly changed throughout history. people point this out by talking about anti-irish racism, because it was a real thing but farcical under the current construction of race. Eric Foner brings up interesting points for American-specific situations where people make mistakes in their narratives---but that isn't a rebuttal to the existence of anti-(people-who-were/are-considered-white-in-the-US) racism in Europe. the white/nonwhite dichotomy itself is US-ian, not the only way to construct a racialized social hierarchy
Whiteness is a social construct its not at all "astrology" to say you can be partially in the club and partially not in the club come on.
...But that's exactly how most racists saw it (and many still do). It is silly, but that doesn't change the fact that it was indeed a common worldview that did shape laws that in turn reinforced it. Are you saying that racists didn't believe in a racial hierarchy?