What is White?

[Chris]

I ask this in all seriousness, what is white? In terms of race, what is white?

Start here. White people:

White is a racialized classification of people and a skin color specifier, generally used for people of European origin; although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, and point of view. In the US, this term has at times been expanded to encompass persons of South Asian,[1][2] West Asian, and North African descent, persons who are often considered "non-white" in other contexts in the United States. It has also been alleged that, in the United States, people of Southern European and even Irish descent have been excluded from this category, although this idea has been contested.[3][4] The usage of "white people" or a "white race" for a large group of mainly or exclusively European populations, defined by their light skin, among other physical characteristics, and contrasting with "black", "red", "brown", "yellow", and other "colored" people or "persons of color", originated in the 17th century. Prior to this, Europeans also described people from East Asia as being "white".[5]

It seems to be quite broad.

Now consider the Asatru Folk Assembly

Asatru is an expression of the native, pre-Christian spirituality of Europe. More specifically, it is the religion by which the Ethnic European Folk have traditionally related to the Divine and to the world around them.

From Iceland to Russia, from the frozen north of Scandinavia to the Mediterranean, the Ethnic European Folk wandered and settled over a span of thousands of years. Today, their descendants are spread around the world. We may refer to ourselves as Americans or English, Germans or Canadians, but behind these labels lurks an older, more essential identity. Our forefathers were Angles and Saxons, Lombards and Heruli, Goths and Vikings – and, as sons and daughters of these peoples, we are united by ties of blood and culture undimmed by the centuries.

Asatru is our native religion. It gave our ancestors comfort in millennia past, and it can give us strength and inspiration today. The word “Asatru” comes to us from Old Norse, the tongue of ancient Scandinavia, where it means “those loyal to the Gods.”

They appear to be a limited subset of white people, define more by religion or ethnicity than race.

Those distinctions disappear in the following so-called investigative reporting of them. It opens with this statement--note the transition from ethnic subset of Northern Europeans to broad white racism if not supremacy: "This is the Asatru Folk Assembly known simply as the AFA, a fringe heathen group that mandates their members have northern European heritage. A white's only church and 21st century America. They represent a disturbing trend in contemporary white nationalism, the co-opting of heathen symbols and myths to promote racial purity and fears of a white genocide."



So, again, I ask, what is white?

[Now_What]

@Chris

Race is not a biological classification, but rather a sociological one, which I think then leaves it open to some level of interpretation. Some of the most widely used race classifications list only 4-5 races worldwide, so "white" would cover a lot of groups of people - Europeans, Hispanics, Arabs, Jews, etc. That said, proposed to people around the world, I don't know that this many people would consider themselves to be white. It's a good question, and one that I can't say I truly know the answer to.

[carolina73]

Nope, it is not sociological. It is geographical.

Many Asians are whiter than Europeans but they are still Asians.
There are dark skinned Asians that are darker than some Africans.

Race is determined by which region your ancestors came from. That is generally assumed by skin color.

You can use DNA to see what regions your ancestors came from but DNA tests are not used in society when talking about race, unless you claim to be Cherokee/Native American to get ahead in life and then get called on it.

[Peter1469]

Nope it is not sociological. It is geographical.

Many Asians are whiter than Europeans but they are still Asians.
There are dark skinned Asians that are darker than some Africans.

Race is determined by which region your ancestors came from. That is generally assumed by skin color.

You can use DNA to see what regions your ancestors came from but DNA tests are not used in society when talking about race, unless you claim to be Cherokee/Native American to get ahead in life and then get called on it.

lol

[Chris]

Nope, it is not sociological. It is geographical.

Many Asians are whiter than Europeans but they are still Asians.
There are dark skinned Asians that are darker than some Africans.

Race is determined by which region your ancestors came from. That is generally assumed by skin color.

You can use DNA to see what regions your ancestors came from but DNA tests are not used in society when talking about race, unless you claim to be Cherokee/Native American to get ahead in life and then get called on it.

Race up until recently was defined simply as a people with common attributes, values, and views. The German people, the Irish. Science tried to make it biological alone. Now, under identity politics, it's seen as a social construct, and fluid as the video assumes in order to create an enemy, a target.

[Now_What]

Race up until recently was defined simply as a people with common attributes, values, and views. The German people, the Irish. Science tried to make it biological alone. Now, under identity politics, it's seen as a social construct, and fluid as the video assumes in order to create an enemy, a target.

I don't think it's ever been defined that way. There have been 4-5 defined races for some time.

[carolina73]

Just remember that White is created by the combination of all colors. Basic Chemistry.

[RMNIXON]

Race up until recently was defined simply as a people with common attributes, values, and views. The German people, the Irish. Science tried to make it biological alone. Now, under identity politics, it's seen as a social construct, and fluid as the video assumes in order to create an enemy, a target.

There has always been some genetic and cultural crossovers. Just calling people White would have been an insult in European cultures.

And yes, the great melting pot that was once America has devolved into race identity politics with all Whites dumped into a singular category of privileged oppressors.

[carolina73]

There has always been some genetic and cultural crossovers. Just calling people White would have been an insult in European cultures.

And yes, the great melting pot that was once America has devolved into race identity politics with all Whites dumped into a singular category of privileged oppressors.

But you can say the same thing about blacks. They are all oppressed according to some people. And if you are black then you either have to be oppressed or you are an Uncle Tom.

[Chris]

I don't think it's ever been defined that way. There have been 4-5 defined races for some time.

Yes, the scientifically, biological races. But prior to the 18th century, people used race to mean people common to a place, and did so going all the way back to the Greeks. And the biological definition is being replaced to where race is a social construct implying a power structure.