dehistoricising racism

[Tom Condit]

At 12:17 PM 5/29/1998 -0400, Charles Brown wrote:
>I agree with Jim that race and racism must be analysed historically
>
>On the specifics of his American historical analysis, he seems true when he
says that especially in the early 1900's the "tawnier" Europeans were
discriminated against on the basis of racist ideology, and now that has changed.
>
Actually, the lines among immigrants weren't drawn on the basis of
"tawniness" but on the basis of how "backward" they were perceived as being.
Neither Irish nor Swedes are particularly known for "tawniness", but if you
look at 19th century caricatures of Irishmen or listen to all the old jokes
about Swedish janitors you'll see exactly how mutable "racism" is (which is
only natural, since there are no such things as "races" in the real world).