> In the past, for example, Italians and other Southern Europes were not considered “white” This is absolute bullshit. There was rampant and socially acceptabl

> In the past, for example, Italians and other Southern Europes were not considered “white” This is absolute bullshit. There was rampant and socially acceptable prejudice against Southern and Eastern Europeans as well as the Irish, North Africans, Levantines and Central Asians. They were however all legally white. There was no attempt to stop their immigration as such as there was with Japanese, Chinese, Indians and other Asians. They were not classified as legally distinct like Black or Indians (Native Americans). Racism was completely compatible with considering the othered group white. Italians, Irish, Swedes, Germans, Poles, every non-Anglo white ethnic group suffered discrimination but the idea they weren’t considered white is ahistorical trash. Fiorello LaGuardia was elected Mayor of NYC in 1933. Francis Spinola was the first Italian Congressman to serve a full term in 1887. Anthony Ghio was Mayor of Texarkana in 1880. Andrew Longino was the first Italian Governor, Mississippi 1900. American racial politics was always about black and white with other differences paling into insignificance. Ethnic and religious prejudice there was aplenty but at no point in American history were Europeans considered non-white.