Is it true that there are people that think that Italians are, actually, non-white?

Question

Then Nancy Pelosi and Rudolph Giuliani are racial minorities?


Why would Italians not be white? Why people are so interested in pointing out who is white who is not?

No, they won't be subhumans.

Tell Italians that some of them are whites, some of the are not, that's ridiculous. Calling some Italians non-whites was something that the anglos invented

Some Italian are blond and blue-eyed. To call a blond and blue-eyed person non-white is ridiculous. And is also ridicilous to divide a homogenous country like in Italy in whites and non-whites, as there is a difference, pff.

And why those Norther Europeans think they have the right to point out who is white and who is not? If you don't like Southern Europeans, than "create a race" to yourselfes instead of coming "they are not white" nonsense

Answer 1

Every group that's ever immigrated to the US has been considered an outcast at one point or another. I mean, heck, nowadays we all have a grand old time celebrating St. Patty's day, but when the Irish first came over people put signs up in their storefront windows saying "Help wanted. Irish need not apply."

When the main immigration to the US was from European countries there was a lot of discrimination based on nationality. And yes, nationalities with darker skin were considered outcast. Italians, being in the Mediterranian, often have darker skin than the English, and they most often have much darker hair. This stood out against a backdrop of US-born people who were mostly of English descent.

Even though we like to think that our country is a melting pot, it never really was. Neighborhoods in NYC were a mosaic, with each nationality having a neighborhood of their own where everyone spoke the native tongue, you could go to the store and get the food you were familiar with, etc etc. It took a while for each European nationality to be acculturated into the larger fabric of society. Now we're at a point where people whose ancestors immigrated from Europe know their nationality and continue to celebrate those things native to their heritage. But in general they identify more with being American than any other nationality.

So no, Italians are not a racial minority here even though they were originally discriminated against based on the color of their skin. Actually, no one from a Mediterranian country is a racial minority here, no matter how different they look. The US Census lumps all Europeans and those of Mediterranian descent together when collecting data. So in the eyes of the US they are all Caucasian descent.

(Yeah, don't ask me to get into the "well what if someone's ancestors are from Africa but now they've settled in Germany and then they bring their family over to America so what do they mark on the Census. I realize that I had to make a generalization about skin color in Europe and the Mediterranian. I went with the skin colors that most often appeared in those countries before they were open to people from outside their borders. If I didn't do that this answer would be much longer.)

I don't want to talk your ear off about it, but there's a lot of interesting stuff out there about this topic. I can't do the question justice here without boring everyone to death with the length of the answer. If you're ever in NYC make sure to visit Ellis Island and also go to the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. They're fantastic ways of learning about this stuff.

Answer 2

First off - ignorance places a huge roll in the reason why people point out race as though it's something to gawk at.

When the Italians landed in America, they were seen as racially unequal, due to the fact that they were darker complexed, did not speak English, and obviously enough, because they were not from America. They eventually progressed into being somewhat racially privileged because America eventually split it into a black and white issue.

Secondly, some Italians have a darker skin tone than others due to the Moorish influence of the crusade-era time. Also, other Italians (such as Sicilians) are darker not due to genetics, but due to high sun exposure.

Answer 3

Well, I'd personally like to get all college-student on you and say that the idea of "race" is, in fact, a social construct. There's ethnicity, but even those lines get blurry. (Example: Soviet Union). The thing is that no single person is "pure" one thing, or another. It really is how a person decides how to define themselves. Honestly, in my opinion, there's not really in the end even such thing as being white. I mean, you wouldn't think it to look at me, but I'm not Irish. I'm actually partially Syrian in fact! Oh, and where does the whole "race" mindset leave Jewish people? Is that a race? Ethnicity? Or just a religion? Culture?
Hmm. Culture. Maybe everything should just be defined based on culture. It, for one, accepts the haziness of things but still groups, the way humans like to do. Italian doesn't mean black or white, it means ITALIAN. Then of course that gets further divided. Milanese or Sicilian? Calabrian or Venetian?

Answer 4

This kinda confuses me. I think it has to do with what the individual prefers to define themselves as. I never thought of Italians as white. But, I guess some people do. Then again, I've seen italians who get pissed off when they are called white. So, hell... I don't know.

Answer 5

Scicilians are seen as different from Northern Italians. They ARE darker due to the African influence...MOORS!!!!!

And what if the ARE NOT white. What if they aren't Celts, Anglos, Scandanavian, German??? What if they are Mediteranian which is not considered WHITE??? What then...are they now subhuman?

Answer 6

That's interesting. Italians always looked "white" to me.

Answer 7

I'm italian, i live in italy and i think that you americans are great racist people
I read hundreds questions about the colour of skin of italians, it's really awful, WHERE IS IT THE PROBLEM?

ITALIANS ARE A NATIONALITY NOT A RACE!!!!
italian populations is a mix of races came thousands years ago from norway, from germany, middle east, from spain, etc

Answer 8

i have heard of this...i myself am Italian and Mexican, but am always referred to Mexican or Hispanic, even though i look full white(very light skin), but most people who refer ANYONE to ANY color, most will agree it's the German, french, Swedish, and English(British) will never be anything other than "white", but it all depends on what you think

Answer 9

Italians are white because they have European ancestry it doesn't matter if they are dark or not.

Answer 10

Italians are technically grouped with latin (spanish etc). They are not formally considered Caucasian, they are naturally olive/tan skinned