Not me, I don’t identify as white and society at large doesn’t see me as white unless I happen to pass on any given day, but the US census considers me white and a certain delusional minority of my ehtnic in-group consider me and themselves white, and I’m not an anomaly, this is the reality for so many ethnic groups who don’t fall cleanly into this thing you present as being so cleanly divided
Good point, it was silly of me to say that so absolutely. Thanks for explaining.
That said, many people aren’t able to pass between groups, and like you said dark skinned black people are a major example. And I think the appearance side is a bigger part than economic and social power for dark skinned black people: they’re the original definition of ‘black’, labeled after their skin tone, just like certain Europeans were the original definition of ‘white’, likewise, before all the coping mechanisms were added later as different demographics came into play. Does social and economic power allow either of those two groups to shift? I have read a niche theory that tomboyism in the US was considered a whiteness transgression, but apart from that strange example I can’t think of a case where a light-skinned native European is broadly considered non-white passing.
Then again, as I said in a different reply chain, I’m not US and my area’s definition of whiteness seems more focused on race than social factors (like language and culture) or economic class. So this could be why I’m not noticing things that are the case in the US.
Good point, it was silly of me to say that so absolutely. Thanks for explaining.
That said, many people aren’t able to pass between groups, and like you said dark skinned black people are a major example. And I think the appearance side is a bigger part than economic and social power for dark skinned black people: they’re the original definition of ‘black’, labeled after their skin tone, just like certain Europeans were the original definition of ‘white’, likewise, before all the coping mechanisms were added later as different demographics came into play. Does social and economic power allow either of those two groups to shift? I have read a niche theory that tomboyism in the US was considered a whiteness transgression, but apart from that strange example I can’t think of a case where a light-skinned native European is broadly considered non-white passing.
Then again, as I said in a different reply chain, I’m not US and my area’s definition of whiteness seems more focused on race than social factors (like language and culture) or economic class. So this could be why I’m not noticing things that are the case in the US.