My point exactly. They aren’t Italians who happen to live in America but Americans with Italian heritage. And I’m not talking about first or second generation but like “white” people in general. The concept of whiteness exists since they started to be Americans.
No, but white people didn’t identify as Americans before that. Neither did they think of themselves as white but as Brits or what ever.
The concept of whiteness only makes sense when it’s in contrast to other, non-white groups. “We are Brits and the Germans aren’t” morphed into “We and the Germans are white and the natives and slaves aren’t”. Hope that makes sense.
In america we refer to our families by their heritage. Italian American. Irish American. Etc.
this statement sums it up nicely. Anecdotally, when I lived in Buenos Aires, every single person was "second generation " Italian…lol
Lol yeah I’ve seen that before.
My point exactly. They aren’t Italians who happen to live in America but Americans with Italian heritage. And I’m not talking about first or second generation but like “white” people in general. The concept of whiteness exists since they started to be Americans.
I’m not really sure what you’re saying. There were no white people before the USA?
No, but white people didn’t identify as Americans before that. Neither did they think of themselves as white but as Brits or what ever.
The concept of whiteness only makes sense when it’s in contrast to other, non-white groups. “We are Brits and the Germans aren’t” morphed into “We and the Germans are white and the natives and slaves aren’t”. Hope that makes sense.