On whiteness
A person I knew online once made a remark about Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Dianne Feinstein: White women fucking things up by not leaving when it's time.
Of course, Justice Ginsburg and Senator Feinstein had white skin. But more than that, they were Jews. Much to my chagrin, I never asked her what I should have asked her: "How white were Jews to the Nazis?" Because this is where the issue of "whiteness" runs aground in so many cases.
When my wife and I first met, and when I met her sister, they both said they'd have had no idea I was Cuban. I was just a "white guy". Because, of course, the idea of a Latin is that we have to be brown, or maybe Black. I work in a Latin area. Every time a Spanish-speaker approaches me, they know I'm one of them, even if they're darker than me. So, am I white, or am I Latin? Because the two are mutually exclusive to many who proudly profess whiteness.
Irish immigrants in the 1850s were not considered white. Even Germans weren't considered "white". The same applied to Jewish, Eastern European, and Southern European immigrants from the late-19th and early-20th centuries. Scandinavians? You guessed it: not white. "White" was reserved for people from England, Scotland, and Wales.
"White" has been a term of exclusion and inclusion. Exclusion when a new immigrant wave washed upon these shores. Inclusion when whiteness needed new recruits to hold back the Dark Hordes. Those with white skin who were not considered white suddenly were admitted into the club when politics and demographics demanded it.
I recall an interview with a Cuban woman in Florida during the 2020 campaign. Asked why she wasn't voting for Joe Biden, she said "Because he's not for our people." When asked who "our people" were, she said "white people". This woman, from what I recall, was darker than I was. It was analogous to Enrique—sorry, "Henry"—Tarrio, and Afro-Cuban, being a Proud Boys leader. If the fascists ever came to power, he'd be among the first to be purged in a night of long knives.
Of course, the idea that lighter is better is not relegated to the United States. Actresses in Bollywood lighten their skin, and there's an entire industry of skin-lightening in India. Watch any telenovela from Mexico and one would be forgiven for thinking that there are no indigenous Mexicans.
This idea that "white is right" is so pernicious because it's based on nothing tangible. It's based on the fact that this country was founded by white men, white men who wished to maintain their power in perpetuity, white men who enslaved Black Africans and slaughtered indigenous Americans. It's an idea which should have died decades ago, but its power is such that it is self-perpetuating. It is as American as baseball—another institution which barred anyone not white from participating in it. White people have no physical or moral advantage over anyone else. They just got here first.
The thing is that a belief in whiteness as the standard by which society's members are judged is inimical not just to those who are not white, but to white people themselves. Not only does it create resentment among nonwhites, but white people who are not of the ruling class are merely pawns to perpetuate their power. They see no economic benefit from whiteness. Go to Appalachia to see how whiteness benefits those who live there. Whiteness as the default needs to be destroyed not just for those of us who are not of it, but for white people as well; all it does is to stoke resentment and wonder at how their lives have failed them.
Latinos who think themselves white had better think again. Sure, the right wing will sing sweet blandishments into their ears to get their votes. But at the first opportunity they will turn on them. When the economy tanks, they will be as disposable as those of darker skin. Whiteness giveth, and whiteness taketh away.
Separating humanity based on skin color—or, really, any other artificial division—is one of the mountains over which we must climb as a species if we are to go beyond what we are now and achieve greater things. A humanity which is at war with itself over race, creed, ideology, or gender will always fall and rise, only to fall again. This tribalism needs to end if we are to face the challenges which confront us. All people are created equal. It is a truism which we must all embrace.