The David Lloyd reading and the idea of \u201cThe Irish Becoming White\u201d really struck me this week. I had not considered that African Americans and Irish were similarly described in the same time period, as I had thought of the two histories as separate. Lloyd brings to light descriptions of the Irish as savages, with a distinct look of an ape. The Irish are seen as a vulgar and radical people who were not considered \u201cwhite\u201d. But, the Irish did not look much different from the British. To anyone\u2019s eyes they are considered white. This proves that \u201cwhite\u201d and \u201cblack\u201d are not biological labels. Lloyd writes that these labels given to describe those who are considered \u201cready\u201d to take part in society and those who are \u201cnot yet ready\u201d or \u201cnever ready\u201d. It was only when the Irish began to integrate into important roles in society \u2013 firemen, policemen- that they were considered ready to be \u201cwhite\u201d and a full part of society.<\/p>\n
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How can society abolish these fake labels? As Lloyd writes, \u201cRace, we may observe, is a variable set of structures not a quality\u201d (17). Yet, race descriptions surround us everywhere. On applications, surveys, standardized tests, and government forms we are asked to check the box of our race. American history has seen lots of immigrant groups from different countries as targets of prejudice and violence \u2013 Jews, Irish, Italians \u2013 that eventually joined the big amorphous category of \u201cwhiteness\u201d while black remains the other. How will these labels continue to change? These questions are not easy, but they are ones I will think about often as \u201cwhiteness\u201d and \u201cblackness\u201d continue to transform.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The David Lloyd reading and the idea of \u201cThe Irish Becoming White\u201d really struck me this week. I had not considered that African Americans and Irish were similarly described in the same time period, as I had thought of the two histories as separate. Lloyd brings to light descriptions of the Irish as savages, with … <\/p>\n