<story><title>During WWII, U.S. Saw Italian-Americans as a Threat to Homeland Security</title><url>http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/italian-americans-were-considered-enemy-aliens-world-war-ii-180962021/?no-ist</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>KirinDave</author><text>I like this article because it reminds us that &amp;quot;whiteness&amp;quot; is not actually a strictly racial identity. There are numerous factors that make someone &amp;quot;white&amp;quot; in America, which makes them acceptable to white nationalists. These purity rules can &lt;i&gt;change&lt;/i&gt; over time to represent what&amp;#x27;s politically expedient.&lt;p&gt;Many young Americans are shocked to learn that Italian and Irish (who are often a baseline of appearance in modern America)were once not only considered not &amp;quot;white&amp;quot;, but were demonized even as much as other races that Europe has traditionally looked down on.&lt;p&gt;This is one of the primary reasons that fascism is such an uncomfortable situation for its citizens. Fascism thrives in the face of an &amp;quot;enemy&amp;quot; that can be defeated by force and a &amp;quot;strong leader.&amp;quot; These enemies will be selected by convenience, not rationality.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>pavlov</author><text>In another example of America&amp;#x27;s fluidly morphing standard of whiteness, Finns were sometimes considered Asians:&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;&amp;quot;Finns faced racial discrimination, with many people using the Finnish language as “proof” that Finns were not European and thus fair game to be subject to unfair treatment. Some argued that Finns were Asian, meaning they should be barred from citizenship under the Asian Exclusion Act of the early 1900s. The word “Finlander” was used as a slur, along with “China Swede” and “roundhead.”&amp;quot;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;inktank.fi&amp;#x2F;china-swedes-forest-finns-and-the-great-migration-how-finnish-immigrants-helped-build-america&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;inktank.fi&amp;#x2F;china-swedes-forest-finns-and-the-great-mi...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>During WWII, U.S. Saw Italian-Americans as a Threat to Homeland Security</title><url>http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/italian-americans-were-considered-enemy-aliens-world-war-ii-180962021/?no-ist</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>KirinDave</author><text>I like this article because it reminds us that &amp;quot;whiteness&amp;quot; is not actually a strictly racial identity. There are numerous factors that make someone &amp;quot;white&amp;quot; in America, which makes them acceptable to white nationalists. These purity rules can &lt;i&gt;change&lt;/i&gt; over time to represent what&amp;#x27;s politically expedient.&lt;p&gt;Many young Americans are shocked to learn that Italian and Irish (who are often a baseline of appearance in modern America)were once not only considered not &amp;quot;white&amp;quot;, but were demonized even as much as other races that Europe has traditionally looked down on.&lt;p&gt;This is one of the primary reasons that fascism is such an uncomfortable situation for its citizens. Fascism thrives in the face of an &amp;quot;enemy&amp;quot; that can be defeated by force and a &amp;quot;strong leader.&amp;quot; These enemies will be selected by convenience, not rationality.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>krapp</author><text>&amp;gt;Many young Americans are shocked to learn that Italian and Irish (who are often a baseline of appearance in modern America)were once not only considered not &amp;quot;white&amp;quot;, but were demonized even as much as other races that Europe has traditionally looked down on.&lt;p&gt;This was parodied in the movie Blazing Saddles, set in the American wild west, with a quote that I&amp;#x27;d be [edit: apparently not] banned for repeating verbatim.</text></comment>