U.S. white supremacy is back in the news.
You can always tell a dangerous white supremacist looking for trouble. He’s usually wearing an American flag somewhere, or his face is painted red, white and blue. He’s generally wearing a hoodie or a Viking helmet and smirking from one side of his mouth, the other side missing a tooth. His clothing will be layered with coats and tactical or hunting vests. His t-shirt will have a clever saying on it. He will also look vaguely as though he’s from the ninth century.
All I can think of is, who’s white? Or more accurately, how do you know if you’re white. I’m part Sicilian with darkish skin. Am I white? I always thought so. According to not-so-old European traditions, I’m a “darky.” Which means that I’m not particularly supreme in any way, and may explain why I don’t have a lot to say on my t-shirts.
Now, this skin-color thing is a bias that exists world-wide. For example: MIT Mexico studies done on Mexican populations were able to predict educational attainment, occupational status and household income according to three skin color categories. They found that the darkest skin tone individuals have the lowest socioeconomic status followed by those with intermediate skin colors, with the lightest skinned Mexicans at the highest levels of achievement (but with no matching Crayola color).
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