There were points in (not so distant) history when Jews, Italians, and the Irish were not considered white. Even now, there are certainly still people who don't think Jews are white, or claim that we're just "passing."

Interestingly, I have a friend whose parents are from India. When her father first moved here for graduate school, he lived in the south. At his driver's test, he checked "other" for race, but the officer to administered the test actually changed it to "black."

I think there's still a bit of debate within some of those groups who attained whiteness as a social category. Most of the Jews I know (all Ashkenazim) consider themselves to be people of color, and many Italians see themselves as not really "white" white.

The perceived hierarchy seems to be that the northernmost Europeans are the whitest and the farther south you go, the more suspect you are. And if you've experienced prejudice from the whiter white people, you might be more inclined to dissociate yourself from them as a group. Not everyone goes so far as to claim an identity of "person of color", but they seem to want distance.

That's a great clip. I'm teaching grade 11 students about race, prejudice and stereotypes next week and could use this.

This show would probably be interesting to compare/contrast with Who Do You Think You Are?, the somewhat more commercial investigation of celebrities' heritage.

http://www.nbc.com/who-do-you-think-you-are/

Tangential anecdote regarding construction of race:

My parents were getting a marriage license in Massachusetts ins 1969 (my father's background is Puerto Rican, my mother's mostly Welsh/Irish) and my father had to check a box indicating his "color," since the city could no longer ask for "race" under title III of the Civil Rights Act. His options were: White, Black, Brown, Red, and Yellow. My father's skin is demonstrably brown. He is of Puerto Rican descent and looks it. So he selected brown. The woman behind the counter told him he could not be brown, because "that's for Filipino." He could choose between black or white, but not brown. He argued his point for a little while, but it was clear she as not going to budge. Eventually he said "Look, I'm going to check brown. If you want to change it after I leave, be my guest," and check brown and handed in his papers. I actually don't know what "color" as indicated when my parents got their marriage license.

There are some people who think of East Asians (especially highly educated East Asians) as also "passing" for White. In a country in which the racial politics are STILL dominated by the "white" vs. "black" conversation, being something that doesn't fit into this dichotomy makes for at-times humorous (but often annoying) situations. Sometimes, though, I've been mistaken as Native American or Latino, which have their own stereotypical pre-suppositions that are both humorous and annoying. (Being blamed by a white person for actually not being a Native American - which emerged once I realized that this was his assumption and corrected him on it - is actually one of the more bizarre experiences of race that I've had.)