How America Prompted the Irish to Become White?
Ignatiev’s, “How the Irish Became White,” retells the story of the past through a lens that illuminates the present. In his book, the statement “to the extent color consciousness existed among newly arrived immigrants from Ireland, it was one among several ways they had of identifying themselves. To become white they had to learn to subordinate county, religious, or national animosities, not to mention any natural sympathies they may have felt for their fellow creatures, to a new solidarity based on color-a bond which, it must be remembered, was contradicted by their experience in Ireland” (Ignatiev 1995, 111) summarizes the question of assimilation and racial identity in America during the early …show more content…
Conceptually, this statement implies that the Irishmen used the values that made them a force for liberation as a weapon to stand for oppression. Ignatiev deplores that instead of lining up with the blacks to challenge the American system, they leaped at the opportunity to secure for themselves a place of choice within it. I relatively disagree with this claim because they initially did not choose to integrate themselves into the American institutions, but instead they were constrained to do so due to the prevailing political system. In fact, as aforementioned, “no immigrants ever came to the United States better prepared by tradition and experience to empathize with the African-Americans than were these Irish who were emerging directly from the historic struggle against racial oppression in their own country” (Theodore Allen 1994, 168). Yet, this conviviality viciously turned into a violent dis-identification with them (in part) because of the American political context, which (again) set the stage for the Irish to adopt a new partisanship. Ignatiev points that “white supremacy was not a flaw in American democracy, but part of its definition… It became the pillar of the Democratic Party… and gave way to racial ideology” (Ignatiev 1995, 68). Indeed, The Irish immigrants debarked in a nation that readily slotted them into pre-existing and growing classes of racial, economic and political differences. This quote suggests that the institutions of American civilizations such as labor unions and the Democratic Party prompted them to become white against their will. They embrace whiteness as a result of unruly political ideologies used as a “divide and rule strategy” from the party elites/officials. Undeniably, if acceptance did not involve a group’s adherence to some radical beliefs promoted by
Ignatiev’s, “How the Irish Became White,” retells the story of the past through a lens that illuminates the present. In his book, the statement “to the extent color consciousness existed among newly arrived immigrants from Ireland, it was one among several ways they had of identifying themselves. To become white they had to learn to subordinate county, religious, or national animosities, not to mention any natural sympathies they may have felt for their fellow creatures, to a new solidarity based on color-a bond which, it must be remembered, was contradicted by their experience in Ireland” (Ignatiev 1995, 111) summarizes the question of assimilation and racial identity in America during the early …show more content…
Conceptually, this statement implies that the Irishmen used the values that made them a force for liberation as a weapon to stand for oppression. Ignatiev deplores that instead of lining up with the blacks to challenge the American system, they leaped at the opportunity to secure for themselves a place of choice within it. I relatively disagree with this claim because they initially did not choose to integrate themselves into the American institutions, but instead they were constrained to do so due to the prevailing political system. In fact, as aforementioned, “no immigrants ever came to the United States better prepared by tradition and experience to empathize with the African-Americans than were these Irish who were emerging directly from the historic struggle against racial oppression in their own country” (Theodore Allen 1994, 168). Yet, this conviviality viciously turned into a violent dis-identification with them (in part) because of the American political context, which (again) set the stage for the Irish to adopt a new partisanship. Ignatiev points that “white supremacy was not a flaw in American democracy, but part of its definition… It became the pillar of the Democratic Party… and gave way to racial ideology” (Ignatiev 1995, 68). Indeed, The Irish immigrants debarked in a nation that readily slotted them into pre-existing and growing classes of racial, economic and political differences. This quote suggests that the institutions of American civilizations such as labor unions and the Democratic Party prompted them to become white against their will. They embrace whiteness as a result of unruly political ideologies used as a “divide and rule strategy” from the party elites/officials. Undeniably, if acceptance did not involve a group’s adherence to some radical beliefs promoted by