Okay non-European tumblr, Iâm gonna explain to you why âwhiteâ isnât as simple here as it is in the rest of the world
- Shades of white in Europe range from âfreshly fallen snowâ to âI am frequently mistaken as being from the Middle Eastâ
- White European is a thing. When you fill out a form, under ethnicity, there are several options for white; white British, white European, white other. Because people make that distinction
- There are Europeans who donât class their ethnicity as their skin colour, but as their nationality. I have family who donât think of themselves as white, they just think of themselves as Italian and donât really give much thought to their skin colour
- People here in Britain always question if darker skinned white Europeans are âactually whiteâ. I get it a lot myself. My response is always âwell Iâm not anything else, so obviously I must beâ
- Despite being white, a lot of Europeans from Italy, Greece, Spain etc, donât feel white in the traditional sense. Weâre not white like white British people. Weâre not white like white Americans. Weâre our own white. White British is one thing. White Italian is another thing. White Greek is another, etc
- Which is why we have this notion here in Europe of ânationality over raceâ. Being white isnât as important as where youâre from
- So this really only becomes an issue if youâre an immigrant
- So being white in Europe doesnât save you from racial discrimination, because sure, youâre technically white, but youâre not white white. Not the right white
- Here in England, Europeans with really blatantly foreign names, such as myself, find it more difficult to get job interviews, because they take one look at our name and donât bother reading the rest of the CV. A guy I know was actually told by his boss to reduce the pile of CVs he had by âchucking away any with a name you canât fucking pronounceâ
-Â And then even when you do get an interview, half the time you walk into the joint several shades darker than everyone else and feel like youâve walked into the âSwedish supermodelâ clubhouse and you just know youâre not getting hired
This is all basic stuff and itâs very much taken for granted here. Race and ethnicity are not as clear cut, so it can be very confusing for non-Europeans to wrap their heads around. Which is fine. But I implore you to stay in your lane, because when you say things like âno white person anywhere in the world ever knows what itâs like to face racial discriminationâ, itâs really fucking offensive to all of the European immigrants who are denied jobs, harassed by the police and beaten by racists, because foreign is foreign to these people, and they donât give a shit if youâre technically white. So when you mean white American, say white American.Â
This doesnât just apply to âdarker skinâ Europeans either (which Iâm sure some Americans would argue are POC for some reason or other). Try being slavic in Western Europe. Hell, try being Sinti or Roma in any part of Europe.
Especially in the UK you can be as white as you like but if you arenât from Britain (or in some cases just England) then you face discrimination. It really isnât that clear cut in Europe and it drives me mad when people say white people canât experience racism because thatâs such a US-centric idea.
And if youâre from anywhere in South-East Europe then you should prepare for your country to be slandered in every UK paper. Seriously, you canât turn on the news, go on the internet, read a newspaper, without being told how Romanian, Ukrainian, Polish people are a drain on the UKâs resources and they should be banned from the country. And guess what?
(Thatâs Mila Kunis. She was born in the Ukraine.)
(Sebastian Stan. From Constanta, Romania.)
(Mia Wasikowska, from Poland)
(Nina Dobrev, who was born in Bulgaria.)
They are white! Just because they are white, it doesnât mean people from their countries cannot face horrible discrimination, and it doesnât mean that they canât be constantly told that they donât work as hard as people from Western Europe, and that they donât deserve basic human rights.
So just before you force your ignorance onto people who donât hold the same views as you due to where they live operating in a different way, just remember that not everybody lives in America.
Here it is guys, the post that finally puts what Iâve been trying to say for far too long into words!
This. All of this when Americans try to educate me on racism in Europe.
