I had a good friend who worked at my Toyota dealer. He is Persian. Went to pick up my car and i told the Black woman behind the counter my name was Torres, which is a Hispanic name. Of course I always "mispronounce" my name because I don't roll my Rs. My friend teased me "Torres, Torres, roll your Rs! You're such a white girl! The Black woman, trying not to choke, scolded him by saying "You did NOT just call her a white girl!" I explained that I am Irish/Swedish which is considered white. Except that my skin is more Olive and a lot of the year I am always well tanned.
People offhandedly throw these racial descriptors around like confetti without any real knowledge about the person they are describing. There's no good reason to use such descriptors in most of the situations they are asked for.
Yes, in fact for many years - maybe 18th, 19th centuries in some places in the US? - Jews were not considered white, just as neither Italians nor other Mediterranean people were who had darker skin and features than “typical” Anglo Northern Europeans. It was clearly a method of othering and I believe there is also some scholarship on this.
Fascinating, though not completely surprising. Shocking that it was applied so uniformly. The best thing I have read about whiteness as a construct and its shifting definition is "The History of White People," the 2009 book by historian Nell Irvin Painter, a black woman.
I never knew about this issue. My goodness.
Guess we know who the fair hair boy was
I had a good friend who worked at my Toyota dealer. He is Persian. Went to pick up my car and i told the Black woman behind the counter my name was Torres, which is a Hispanic name. Of course I always "mispronounce" my name because I don't roll my Rs. My friend teased me "Torres, Torres, roll your Rs! You're such a white girl! The Black woman, trying not to choke, scolded him by saying "You did NOT just call her a white girl!" I explained that I am Irish/Swedish which is considered white. Except that my skin is more Olive and a lot of the year I am always well tanned.
People offhandedly throw these racial descriptors around like confetti without any real knowledge about the person they are describing. There's no good reason to use such descriptors in most of the situations they are asked for.
Yes, in fact for many years - maybe 18th, 19th centuries in some places in the US? - Jews were not considered white, just as neither Italians nor other Mediterranean people were who had darker skin and features than “typical” Anglo Northern Europeans. It was clearly a method of othering and I believe there is also some scholarship on this.
Fascinating, though not completely surprising. Shocking that it was applied so uniformly. The best thing I have read about whiteness as a construct and its shifting definition is "The History of White People," the 2009 book by historian Nell Irvin Painter, a black woman.