Exactly, they were not white. Neither were Italians or Eastern Europeans or basically anyone except the English, Scandinavians, and a handful of Germans. Amazing that isn’t it? Almost like race is a completely made up and bullshit thing.
It’s certainly an odd concept the more you think about it, especially because of how relatively recent it is (only a few hundred years). Before that, discrimination was based on culture and education. Ancient Greeks called outsiders barbaroi not because of their appearance but because their languages didn’t sound as sophisticated as Greek. Romans had multiple African emperors and it was a non-issue because they were culturally sophisticated and spoke good Latin.
Doesn’t that get retconned as “good, actually” when the arbitrary definition of whiteness expands to include them (because the racists don’t have enough power without)? Repubs claim Southern Strategy never happened while voting for an overt Obama birther racist. They don’t give a single fuck about historical accuracy.
Not quite — there was a ton of Irish immigration, and they were not considered white. https://sites.pitt.edu/~hirtle/uujec/white.html
Exactly, they were not white. Neither were Italians or Eastern Europeans or basically anyone except the English, Scandinavians, and a handful of Germans. Amazing that isn’t it? Almost like race is a completely made up and bullshit thing.
It’s certainly an odd concept the more you think about it, especially because of how relatively recent it is (only a few hundred years). Before that, discrimination was based on culture and education. Ancient Greeks called outsiders barbaroi not because of their appearance but because their languages didn’t sound as sophisticated as Greek. Romans had multiple African emperors and it was a non-issue because they were culturally sophisticated and spoke good Latin.
Doesn’t that get retconned as “good, actually” when the arbitrary definition of whiteness expands to include them (because the racists don’t have enough power without)? Repubs claim Southern Strategy never happened while voting for an overt Obama birther racist. They don’t give a single fuck about historical accuracy.