Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences
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What ‘race’ would someone of Italian heritage be considered? Caucasian, or ‘other’?
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Name : Melisa-H, Gender : F, City : Colorado Springs, State : CO, Country : United States,Italians are considered ‘Caucasian,’ as are those from other parts of Northern and Southern Europe (except Spain). Also, ‘Caucasians’ are those from the Middle East, including Arabs. ‘White’ is therefore far broader than the ‘blond-haired/blue-eyed’ image, and it incorporates cultures that are not only incredibly diverse but those that have historically been opposed based on perceived differences. Ironically, those from Spain are not considered Caucasian, while those from Portugal are. The hispanic/latino ‘race’ covers those from South America and Spain, regardless of their ancestry (for example, most Argentinians are of Italian or Welch ancestry, with few of intigenous Indian or Spanish descent, although the culture is ‘latino’ based on the language and other factors) If you dissect the Asian and African ‘races’ you get even more blurred boundaries. As Americans, we categorize more than a quarter of the world’s population into the relatively meaningless term ‘Asian,’ for example. Of course, this is entirely from a North American perspective. Other parts of the world define race in entirely different ways. And of course, racial problems in other parts of the world make America’s issues look like child’s play.
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Name : Michele-M20742, Gender : F, Religion : Catholic, Age : 31, City : San Francisco, State : CA, Country : United States, Occupation : EEO Programs Manager, Education level : Over 4 Years of College,Everyone who I have met in my life has considered me white. I am guessing you think that because many Italians have Arabian features that they are a whole separate race. Well, let me tell you that the original Italians were as white as the British and Germans are today. Much of Italy, especially Sicily was conquered by the Saracens (Arabs) after the fall of Rome but many of the Arabians and Italians had intermixed earlier because they often traded together. There is a gradient in Italy as you go down from North Italy, where there are German speakers, to Sicily where there are some Muslims and the skin tone gets darker as you go down. However, the original Italians as well as the original Greeks and other Mediterranean people were definitely white.
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Name : Giovanni-Lucerelli, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 26, City : Naples, State : NA, Country : Italy, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,In my opinion it depends on what else you have in your background, being Italian could just be your ehtnic group. I am all Italian and I have green eyes and very fair skin. Other Italians are darker skinned and brown eyes,etc. Hundreds of years ago there was definately mixing going on in Italy, especially in the southern part. So once again, it depends, in my case, I would be consedered cacasian. In your case it may be different. What is a south african? some out white, some are black. what is puerto rican? some are more spanish, some are more black, see my point? peace, maria
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Name : Maria22224, City : Atlantic city, State : NJ, Country : United States,Well, as an Italian, I believe in my opinion it depends on a few factors. First off, I believe almost everyone of Italian ancestry from Rome or north of it would almost definitely be considered white. As for those from South of Rome, I believe that some would be considered white, because I have noticed from living in an Italian neighborhood for my life, that there are strains of blonde/fair hair and blue eyes in the Southern Italians, but also some Italians from that part that have rather kinky hair, dark skin, etc. So I guess it would be up to the person to decide whether he/she thinks that they are White or Other. As for official purposes, I believe the government/agencies recognize Italians as whites, but I could be incorrect on this one.
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Name : Justin Adkins, Gender : M, Race : Southern Italian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 17, City : Brooklyn, State : NY, Country : United States, Occupation : High School Senior, Social class : Lower class,I think most Italian’s consider themselves ‘other’ because when the big bulk of Italian’s immigrated to North America, they were treated just as ‘other’ races are today. Italians were not the mobsters, lazy, dirty the public thought they were, they were hard working people who would do the work for less money and the public saw them as taking their jobs. It took over 30 years for Italians to make it in this country and earn some respect. Probably in another 30 years people will respect minorities in the same way they now respect the Italians.
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Name : Olivia, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Italian, City : Toronto, State : NA, Country : Canada, Occupation : student, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Italians are by law white. Though my parents are from Cuba, which makes me a latino, i am in fact often mistaken for a supposebly white Italian, Spanish, Arab or Greek…If you look at my parents who are both mixed race, which doesn’t ,make me white. What im trying to say (out of experience also) is there sometimes is such a fine line between race and this can confuse people. If someone can mistake me for a southern european, and someone of Italian descent is mistaken for a latino does that make them a different race? i find this actually pretty confusing… Here’s an interesting article i found on a web site… ‘For some time now, the notion has prevailed, first among whites and then among blacks, that Italians somehow have black ancestry. In recent years this notion has been reinforced in such films as Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing and Jungle Fever, and Quentin Tarantino’s True Romance. Lee makes the claim in both of the above-mentioned films, but never bothers to qualify his assertion with historical evidence. Tarantino does qualify his assertion but with false evidence. He claims that the Moors are responsible for the injection of sub-Saharan African blood into Italy, particularly Sicily. Others believe Hannibal and his Punic War armies to be the culprits. However, the Moors and Phoenicians were not black. They were Hamito-Semitic peoples, meaning that they probably began as Semites originating in the Arabian Peninsula and then absorbed physically similar Hamites, or Berbers, during their conquest of North Africa, prior to entering Europe. When confronted with this fact, typically black proponents will claim that those two groups, by virtue of their link to North Africa, probably acquired significant amounts of black ancestry during their stays. However, while that’s certainly conceivable, there’s scant historical evidence to support it.’
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Name : Diego, Race : Hispanic/Latino (may be any race), City : Chicargo, State : NA, Country : United States,Italians, like Jews and Irish, were once considered a separate minority group in most of America. I believe some were even lynched for allegedly attacking women of North European ancestry. Now, however, most have assimilated and are now considered white, though many are as dark as the average Arab.
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Name : hk, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 17, City : Mt. Pleasant, State : SC, Country : United States,I’m Italian and we’re considered white or Caucasian, but an ‘ethnic’ white if there is such a thing. Italians have a very rich culture and definitely different customs and traditions (like lasagna on Thanksgiving instead of turkey!). It’s weird because sometimes I wish we had a name for our ‘race’ because we are different. I’ve even had an ex boyfriend’s mother discriminate against me because I was Italian and not her definition of white. I think overall if your family immigrated here in the last century or so, you keep a lot of ‘the old country’ with you. I’ve seen this with Irish-Americans a lot too.
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Name : Michele, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : New Age/Metaphysical, Age : 29, City : Portland, State : ME, Country : United States, Social class : Lower middle class,Italians are ‘originally’ Latins just like the Spanish, the French and the Portugese. Italians are not white or black. They have no specific color or features, although there are features that may be more dominant, which tend to be darker features.
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Name : Tatjana27432, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : German, Italian and Black American, Religion : Jewish, Age : 22, City : Heidelberg, State : NA, Country : Germany, Occupation : Writer/Web Designer, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,As a person of Italian heritage who grew up in a very small Midwestern town full of Anglos I would have to say that Italians are (scientifically) correctly classified as caucasians, but sometimes it doesn’t seem like we get looked at or even feel like the standard northern European model so often seen as the norm here in America. Anyone up for the hassle of making a separate distinction for olive-skinned Mediterranean types?
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Name : jennifer-marsili, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 35, City : charleston, State : IL, Country : United States, Occupation : college instructor,a person of italian heritage would normally be considered white – all european groups are considered white. europeans are white and non europeans are non white. i thought everyone knew this. it is worth pointing out that some italians are dark enough to look arabic so these people would not be considered white but most italians are fair skinned. some are very white like northern europeans. to say all italians are white would be inaccurate since there is enough variation in southern italy to produce arab looking people however the majority of italians probably 90-95% are white skinned.
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Name : joe-t, City : chicago, State : IL, Country : United States,Italians are caucasians I believe. I have been told that people from the Middle-East are considered caucasians as well, although I could be mistaken about that…anyone know?
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Name : Carl, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 27, City : Helsinki, State : NA, Country : Finland, Occupation : Musician, Social class : Middle class,
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