Even Italians have a color code among eachother???

[deuceswild]

Check out this post:

www.puertorico.com/forums/showthread.php3?threadid=15104

Is there somewhat of a rivalry between Northern Italians and Southern Italians?

And this response made me scratch my head.

I was trying to show you how the LIGHTEST IS BEST syndrome has infected and damaged the minds of people all through-out the latin world.

I was also trying to draw a little attention from Stanley because we had talked earlier about whether southern Europeans were actually considered white or not.

Most southern Europeans have black and arab ancestry.

Seems like you learn something new everyday.

[buddyrydell]

I've actually seen that essay before and though it is an interesting perspective, I think the author was very misled by the constant misinformation pumped out by the media and some race-conscious northern European-Americans. There really are a high number of people in America (and other Anglo-Saxon-based societies such as Canada or Australia), who truly believe that southern Italians are all half Arab and/or mixed with sub-Saharan Africans. People will believe anything .

[gbloco]

siete tutti meridionali

[eufrenio]

buddyrydell said:

I've actually seen that essay before and though it is an interesting perspective, I think the author was very misled by the constant misinformation pumped out by the media and some race-conscious northern European-Americans. There really are a high number of people in America (and other Anglo-Saxon-based societies such as Canada or Australia), who truly believe that southern Italians are all half Arab and/or mixed with sub-Saharan Africans. People will believe anything .

I was always surprised by the great number of funny ideas the average American holds about Italy and Sicily in particular. But it´s sad to see that some Italian-americans are also deluded about their heritage and their own people!

[buddyrydell]

When the author speaks of "dark-skinned" Moors, well they were just darkER than the Europeans they encountered, that's all. They were overwhelmingly Caucasoid North Africans (and some Spaniards when they reached Sicily), with probably a few sub-Saharan blacks in their ranks but nothing significant. This is just how it was, I'm not out to prove "white purity" or anything ;D, leave that to the folks at Skadi, I'm just stating the facts. This established, the Moors added some of their genes to a mainly Italian and Greek population, which is essentially the core ancestry of modern Sicilians as well.

The author claims she was mistaken for Mexican or "Hispanic" as she puts it. This made me laugh. Keep in mind that the woman was seen as Mexican in the MIDWEST, which is probably the most homogeneously northern European area in the U.S. besides some areas of the South. Most people in the Midwest are of Scandinavian, northern German, and British origin. Anyone with somewhat darker coloring would probably be thought to have to some non-Caucasian ancestry for crying out loud, as (and no offense to northern Europeans, remember I also have a mostly northern European mother ) the previously mentioned groups are the whitest of whites. Once again, Mediterranean ethnic groups are anomalous in most of the Midwest.

I'm sure Richard "Two-Gun" Hart would've gladly told you how different he seemed. "Two-Gun" Hart, as he was popularly known, was the long-lost brother of Chicago gangster Al Capone. Hart was an honorable Prohibition agent who upheld the law in rural 1920s Nebraska. He hid his true Italian identity and changed his name to Hart because first, discrimination against Italians and other ethnics was widespread at the time, and secondly, because he was so ashamed of his criminal brother. When I found this out, I was so fascinated by this piece of trivia, because after all, how often is it that a very infamous, murderous gangster has a brother who is an honorable, hard-working federal agent who upholds the law?


Here is a link telling you all about Two-Gun Hart: www.koolpages.com/nolimit/caponehart.htm

Many people to this day know of both Al Capone and Two-Gun Hart, without even knowing that the two were actually brothers .

[Solomon]

buddyrydell said:

The author claims she was mistaken for Mexican or "Hispanic" as she puts it. This made me laugh. Keep in mind that the woman was seen as Mexican in the MIDWEST, which is probably the most homogeneously northern European area in the U.S. besides some areas of the South.

You are right about the Midwest. People here have mistaken my dad for "Mexican" or "Hispanic" quite a few times. I find it funny. People in my family (including myself) have also been confused as Arab amongst other things, which isn't as surprising as I am of Sephardic ancestry.