Who is white? In the United States, right now, Jews, Irish, Italians, and Poles are all white.
And, as I am sure you know, were all Other not so long ago. The KKK persecuted Catholic immigrants vigorously.
I "pass as white" -- am white -- by my skin-tone 100%. With my mouth shut, I share in all of the unfair advantages and privileges afforded the pink-skinned. But I will never be rid of my Eastern-European accent, and words and meanings of words and conversational strategies are suspect. I cannot parse other people speaking to me in anything but the most standard English. I hate my accent and I am made uncomfortable by comments about it being "interesting" or "exotic" or "sexy". I am dysfluent in my mother tongue and I forgot much of my second language. As a result, I don't feel I fit in any place, and I feel my markedness in any verbal interactions (which is why so much of my life is online). Rootless cosmopolitan, безродный космополит, c'est moi aussi. So yes, "being white" isn't monolithic, and "apparently white" folk aren't all sole beneficiaries of our systemic prejudices, whether it's because they talk funny or they're boys who wear skirts or they pray to the wrong deities. The norm isn't.
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And, as I am sure you know, were all Other not so long ago. The KKK persecuted Catholic immigrants vigorously.
I "pass as white" -- am white -- by my skin-tone 100%. With my mouth shut, I share in all of the unfair advantages and privileges afforded the pink-skinned. But I will never be rid of my Eastern-European accent, and words and meanings of words and conversational strategies are suspect. I cannot parse other people speaking to me in anything but the most standard English. I hate my accent and I am made uncomfortable by comments about it being "interesting" or "exotic" or "sexy". I am dysfluent in my mother tongue and I forgot much of my second language. As a result, I don't feel I fit in any place, and I feel my markedness in any verbal interactions (which is why so much of my life is online). Rootless cosmopolitan, безродный космополит, c'est moi aussi. So yes, "being white" isn't monolithic, and "apparently white" folk aren't all sole beneficiaries of our systemic prejudices, whether it's because they talk funny or they're boys who wear skirts or they pray to the wrong deities. The norm isn't.