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What is most silly about this court case is that the Armenians are literally from a country that is located in the Caucasus mountains.

Thank you for consistently showing that whiteness is not an ethnicity but a legal designation for the purposes of creating a caste system based on ethnicity.

The most absurd case of race classification is that of Egyptian immigrant Mostafa Hefny. Although his physical appearance strongly resembles many black Americans and he identifies as black, the US government classified him as white and refuses to reverse this decision. Mr. Hefny has taken legal action against the government for denying him his true identity. It's crazy.

Thank you for talking about the Armenian Genocide. Not many people know about this 🇦🇲

I met a Armenian man who was working in the south bronx back in 1990s and he shared with me that he Armenian but he was passing a Puerto Rican in order to blend into the community.

Thank you for doing this video! As an Armenian American I didn’t know about the Portland trial and it’s a trip to think that we had to go through the courts… I think even to this day I don’t entirely consider myself “white” even though I am because my father is English. I’ve always said I’m “Caucasian” or a real one rather 😂😂😂. I saw your video on the Italian American experience and was excited that you did on the Armenians. Keep it up!

While in the Army, I was interviewing a young Air Force Captain for a position on my staff. He presented a very fine appearance and was very articulate during the interview. He had a Hispanic middle name and I was required to ask if he was claiming minority status based on his heritage. His response was one for the ages! He said, Colonel, today the Air Force says I am Black, but a month ago I was considered Asian! They classify me based on the metrics they need. He added, my Father is Black and English and my Mother is Spanish, Chinese, and Phillipino! I asked what he wanted me to put down on the interview form? He smiled and said, "Human." I hired him on the spot!

When you get into the details of race you realize how absurd the idea of race is.

Thanks NYTN! Appreciate your sharing of the story of my family in such a balanced, thoughtful and comprehensive manner.

As someone with Armenian family, we just consider ourselves Armenian. We don’t use US boxes. It actually makes the most sense for us to just be us. Armenia is in Asia fyi. We come from a history and part of the world where religion determines “race” in the West. We were deemed “white” to help escape after the Armenian Genocide.

Excellent video. You bring up deep insights into a very complex topic

I love the care and compassion you have put in this research to so clearly present this. Thank you for that love ❤

Love your fascinating videos. As an American, of a very rich ethnic mix which includes African, Middle Eastern, Iberian and Italian heritage, I am baffled by US idiocy! The ignorance of the average American regarding world history, language, and geography is astounding! Armenians are one of the most ancient nations on Earth! They are descendants of a people who became Christians when northern Europeans were praying to rocks and sacrificing people in bogs!! In the US, the racial term Caucasian is used to refer to members of the "white race." Meanwhile, the Armenians are more Caucasian than all of Europe!!

1:30 It's interesting that the Irish and Italians had that in common, and as an Irish person who has family married to Italians, it makes me understand America better.

I love learning from you. Keep it up.

Another undeniable example of how deeply rooted racism had become in this country

A very good audio/video. I do know mainly, that the crux of America is Anti-Black racism and control, so "white" is a politically made artificially made privilege of who gets 'rights' and economic mobility and protection from the authorities such as lower echelons like the police. In my time, we watched as the Irish were made from the vilified group to a collective that were granted 'white' privileges and protections to being the shock troops and those that practiced Anti-Black pushback backed by the authorities like the Irish policemen used to 'control' their old allies. This government is what designates who is what and what to 'give'...Or not to whom in what collective group. Now Arabs and Syrians and others can be considered now newly minted "Caucasians". It is just an Americanized version of a 'caste' system based on this hierarchy of who gets what and who gets the worst version of America, and the mobility and protection and exceptions here in the United States. Peace

Very good detailed work. Gratitude for sharing this

Wow, this is fascinating. Thank you so much for researching and sharing this information.

You’re doing an excellent job. I’m learning a lot from this channel

@NYTY Listen young lady: YOU ARE DOING SUCH AN AWESOME JOB! Thank you so much! Saludos desde Panamá,

Romero, you are sharp, and a great presenter. Thank you for this professional video covering a very interesting/unique legal case.

I love this channel ❤️ rational, logical, fairly unbiased, and I can tell you are well researched. I also enjoy your perspective. God bless and keep up the great work!

I love your researches,,you are on point,,keep up the good work

I never knew that this ever happened, but you are right that this is dangerous and I’m so glad that people are standing up to the truth and not just following whatever the government has to say.

I am Armenian . Personally, if someone will tell me that I am a '''White Person'' or ''People of Color'', I would feel offended. I am not a color - but a ''Human Being''. When I speak with people from different countries, I do not see them as a color - and I do not wish that someone decides for me in which ''color category'' I belong depending on her/his personal criteria.

A very interesting case that I had never heard of or even dreamed could happen! Your presentation also brought home to me the the way language is used in the US is different. From many places elsewhere, especially other nations once under British rule. I am observing this only because it changes the meaning of what we think we are hearing, or at least those of us looking in from outside. I will have to check how France deals with these semantics. I refer to the last bit of this video where you argue that this is a dangerous idea to have that government can change who you are….. and here it is the word government that I found difficult. Mainly because over here (U.K.) the idea of government and state are two different things that have different uses to the American usage. Government is the current party in charge of the state, and the state is the embodiment of the nation. I hope you do not think this is criticism for it is not! It is comparison. I can see why stare might not be right for the US, I mean people might then say ‘which state?’…. So Americans are using government exactly how we use State. As to the Armenian question it is utterly fascinating, and I wonder whether we have anything that remotely resemble this. Another observation, I do not think for one moment this changed what Armenians knew themselves to be, they knew where they came from, and seemed from your discussion to have continued their own cultural practices too, and would have been more Americanised as time passed. I hope you do not mind my little digression from the main topic, but I think it is a good example of why words and their usage are so important. After all that one little word - white - conferred so much. If a whole nation, even a somewhat decimated one could be legitimised for citizenship purposes it really does undermine the whole concept - in fact if they had thought of it at the time would they have made that decision? Of course the racialisation of the world was really coming to a peak then, and within a short period of time would have devastating consequences. The truth people really do not want to discuss is that humans have a tendency to want to dominate those it believes are weaker than them, and will use anything to obtain the rewards of domination. Racialisation is just the excuse for being that way and not having to deal with it. So maybe ‘making them white’ is a small concession to admitting that as well. But it does make those who by no stretch of the imagination can be called white in an invidious position. The more I think about race the more I am convinced that we will never get past our human failings and mistakes as custodians of the planet until we completely dispense with is as something we use to define ourselves, and we should let go of this very bad idea and embrace our differences, it really is not that hard.

great work once again!

Thank you for posting this video! I'm a student of History and did not know this!

No offense but most Armenians I've met are olive brown in color with dark hair, and with facial features that are similar to other West Asians (such as Anatolian Turks, Iranians, Kurds) and Caucasians (e.g. Georgians, Azerbaijanis). Some even looked Afghan or Pakistani or NorthWest Indian. When I think of white, I think of North or Northwest European, such as the Anglo-Celtic, Germanic-Scandinavian, and Northern Slavic people.

The thing about trying to be white is that people actually would avoid being in the sun in order to look as pale as possible. In many parts of the world, they still do. Not because you might think they’re white, but because being as close to whiteness as possible is seen as positive, while being darker is seen as negative. I had an Asian friend who said if she got any sun one summer and then went to visit her family the next year, people would comment that she looked darker, so she’d only spend time in the sun if she knew she wouldn’t be visiting her family. When I was in Panama, they thought it was absurd that I wanted to tan instead of using a parasol. For people trying to pass as white back in the day, this was one of the things they had to constantly watch out for. You hear stories about people saying their relative who was passing would always wear a hat and sunscreen and never stand out in the sun.

Thank you for the video. What has happened to Armenians and their history is that because of the consent given by the West the Genocide was committed which reduced the power of Armenians. Because of the lack of power and influence, Armenians have suffered a lot, they were overlooked, mistreated and lost their Western culture, history, language, wealth, etc. mercilessly. This video is a huge contribution to the intentionally ignored and closed gap.

Outstanding presentation. 😊

Hi Romero, I am a member plus follower of your KZfaq channel, thanks you for sharing this kind of stuff these important things that nobody else is sharing with us on social media, thank you Miss Romero

You expose and provide a wealth of information and is not appreciated enough. I think you should have far more subscribers.

I am half-Armenian, but I do speak the language enough to get around, and I am active in the community. To support your points about race: if you go to Armenia, you'll see a huge range of "colors": from people who would clearly read as Northern European in the USA to others whom might read as Arab, Central Asian, or South Asian. My grandmother's family escaped the last massacre in Smyrna (1922) because they were very fair,, spoke French and passed as European. They escaped on a French gunboat. You might take note of the racist quotas of 1924, which quashed immigration from the Middle East and Anatolia. (My grandmother's family Russified their name and passed as White Russian.)

Thanks for sharing.

Thank you for this video. Ive actually wondered this exact topic for sooo long

I have never heard about this! - even in my Armenian-American culture classes at University and in my own independent research. Thank you so much! To clarify, 99.9% of Armenian-Americans will not call themselves "white." We don't have the language for it - we define people by their ethnicity. It only exists when we are speaking English and we know its stupid. We call ourselves "Armenian." In the east coast, "Armenian-American" is often used more. Because culturally we are trying to survive, words like "white" erases who we are. That is the reason we don't use it. For actual skin color, Armenian range from fair to tan skin. We don't all look the same. Because of ignorance, we often get mislabeled for something entirely different. My mother gets things like "German, Dutch, Russian" and my dad gets things like "Indian." We don't have a superiority system where we believe one is better than another. We have songs both about beautiful blue eyes and beautiful black eyes. Also, thank you for mentioning the Armenian Genocide. I can see it pissed off a lot of people in the comments, which means you are doing your job!

Armenians are often darker than light skinned blacks. Never understood how they became white. Thanks for the video.

Thank you so much, This was very educational.

This is great! I've attempted to explain this to my son.

Yes, the Black/White political classification, that America uses, totally erases a person’s true identity & culture. The curse of the colonizers. Awesome video. 😊

Thank you for this video, it's truly excellent and well-researched. My wife is Armenian, we are both immigrants in France, and we have discussed this topic quite a bit. She is fairly light-skinned, but we have nonetheless dealt with situations where it was clear that she was being treated differently than I was and for no apparent reason. For example, once we were flying back to France from Greece while she was pregnant - when boarding the plane I noticed she wasn't behind me so I went back and saw that she was being held up by two men in plain clothes, who proceeded to examine her passport and residence permit very intensely, and asked her lots of questions. Mind you, I had just walked right past them and they didn't say a single word to me... When they finally realized she was Armenian (which, for whatever reason, didn't occur until they took her passport out of the case to see the cover), they immediately let her go and started acting nicely to her, and brushed off my questions about why she was singled out as if it were no big deal. It was obvious that they were profiling her, probably thinking that she might be from a Middle Eastern country and was trying to travel to France with fake documents. Mind you, they didn't do this to any other person in the line that I had seen (who were all Western European looking "white" people). Anyways, I think this goes to show that with these groups like Armenians who inhabit the periphery of Europe, being perceived as "white" or not is completely situational and somewhat random. So yeah, even though these categories are really complete BS, it does have many implications for people, and it's not clear that this court ruling or any other normative decision like that actually changed anything from the societal perspective - many Armenians certainly don't benefit from white privilege.

This is a great series.

This was pretty good information.

I was reading the comments on your video regarding the Italian history in this country. I'd mentioned that many Italians and Sicilian have middle eastern blood. Many agreed. While many were upset and disagreed. Anyways. A few days ago. I'd saw a video from an Italian, who was talking about their history. The topic came up. In the midst of the different mixtures. He'd too mentioned the middle eastern mixed. People tried to argue with him on that. But, an Italian guy from Italy, said that his family origin is middle eastern going back some centuries. Also. My old coworker is Italian and Irish. Years ago I'd mentioned the middle eastern roots. He'd agreed and said that his Italian mother and family's origin are middle eastern. And I was told that Sophia Loren family is Egyptian of Arab origin.

Have you explored the Journal of American Ethnicity? It may be published by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. I was trying to find a reference for you regarding the Chinese woman in Alabama who was declared by the courts to be colored, therefore not allowed to attend a white university. Until sometime in the 1930s, 1940s, quite a few groups, now classified as white, were considered colored, not black, but colored.

Your awesome ! Thank you from Boston :)

Another amazing video.

Hi Danielle, have you heard of the White Australia Policy? It was the immigration policy of the Australian Government from 1901 to 1966. The aim was to keep Asians and non-Europeans out. To my understanding, it was policed by immigration officials using a reading/writing comprehension test in an Anglo-Celtic language. The trick here is that if they didn’t like the look of you, but you happened to be able to read & speak English competently, they would put a Gaelic passage in front of you or some complicated science journal, to ensure you didn’t pass. There were people of Asian heritage already in Australia from the Gold Rush many years before, who if they wanted to visit home would not be granted a visa to re-enter Australia. There were also Pacific Islanders brought to Australia - some forcibly - as indentured labourers, who were deported during this period leaving wives and children behind in Australia. On a related but different tangent, post WW2 Australians were initially uncomfortable and fearful of large numbers of arrivals from places like Greece and Italy, but as these groups integrated and became accepted, the same mistrust and racism shifted to Asian arrivals from 1970s onwards and then more recently to Middle Eastern / Muslim immigrants. Proving as you said that this definition of “whiteness” is really an evolving category of who we’re comfortable living side by side with.

Very enlightening! Thank you!

Thanks for speaking about us. When Armenians first immigrated to the US, they mainly lived in Fresno California. Armenians were not treated fiarly, and different slurs were used against us, including the N word. It was so bad, that local land owners refused to sell that properties to Armenians, even at much higher prices. And lets not forget, these were the genocide survivors from 1915. Americans were absolutely horrible people to most non-whites.

Its a shame that the American system forced us Armenians to abandon our true identity, culture, and history just because we were segregated due to where we came from.

Sometimes (and rarely) the youtube algorithm does me an absolute solid. Had no idea I would find this so interesting. Excellent video.

Great video!

Thank you for doing this. Every time has a government has tried to do this kind of thing - e.g. South Africa, Nazi Germany, the U.S. - it turns into a rabbit hole of nonsense that usually also ends in people dying or at the least, being treated unjustly. Technically, the U.S. Census Bureau "allows" us to self-identify, but there's no getting away from those government-approved boxes that are used everywhere from redistricting Congress to the media, to police statistics, to advertising.

Makes my trifle olive skin blood boil. As a DEI facilitator at a local hospital I was astounded at the amount of pushback by leaders and doctors. Keep speaking the truth it is needed now more than ever.

Excellent work

Very interesting!

The research you are doing is outstanding. 👌🏽

I agree. I don't agree with color terminology much at all, including white. The U.S. has had this BIG emphasis on whiteness. Right. They give it to you and take it away. It's something like a club membership. The truth is there's many tones of skin shades that fit into the olive range all throughout Europe. In my point of reference, I am convinced that the United States has coined whiteness more than any place else on the map.

Thanks!

I worked a couple of summers at an Armenia-American summer camp in the Catskills (Camp Nubar) many years ago. I had such an awesome time.

Another interesting video, I was not aware of this case. If the ‘one drop rule’ was still in play can you imagine how many people would be classified ‘African American’ today? All it took was one black ancestor.

Thank you for understanding and answering the question? Does this means more options which means noone both ways has to deal with someone who who doesn't want to know both way? What are BSWSs

I love your channel, you are doing God's Work in helping us to understand that we should definitely have another standard to judge an interact with people on. May I suggest 'righteousness' as stated in the Quran 49:13? "Surely, the most noble of you in the sight of God is the most righteous among you?" You're so correct, having a court decide on an issue which in a racist country, meant almost everything for your and your families future, is absurd! I think this increased racism in this country because the 'wanna be white' immigrants and light skinned 'blacks' had to prove they were on the same team as the highest caste.

Armenians were probably considered culturally white "European" probably due to being religiously Christian and the language Indo-European. However the Persians and West Asians are not considered white. People from Iran and in the Caucasian region look very similar however their languages differ.

Great video

Thanks for all you do and continue to enlightened people ❤ 3:13

In some cases people was considered white to build up the white population numbers. Other ethnic groups identified as white for a better life. It is not only blacks passing as white. Finding your roots produced by Dr. Henry Lewis Gates on PBS has turned up some interesting genealogical finds.. Your video was very interesting. Happy Junteenth. ♥

Welcome to the team

Thank you for this wonderful legal history lesson. I was not familiar with this case. I was more familiar with the broader concepts of whiteness with respect to Southern Europeans, Jews and Eastern Europeans. Even the reaction to the Irish immigrants. Very well done; I'm looking forward to your other videos.

Irish used to be a race on immigration records. My Grandad's aunt emigrated to USA in 1913 and on her immigration and naturalization papers it has race: Irish, nationality: British, born: Liverpool, England. She became a US citizen in 1940.

1911 in Minnesota had a court case to denied citizenship for Finns. Claim was that finns are asian (mongols). Ok in our genepole we have eastsiberian genes. We have lived here in Ultima Thule thousends of years but still our western neighbours try time after time prove that we are not europeans. But finns have lived in Delaware from 17th century and one of us was original maker of declaration of independens but that don't matter for those in Minnesota. So racism in USA had and have many faces but not one pretty.

Another gem. I just realized I wasn't subscribed so fixed that real quick 😊😉

I like your channel!!!

That "white by law" is bananas!!! Me being a descendant of the indigenous peoples of this country is still classified "less than".

As someone from South Asia, it was fascinating to me when I learned about Racial Classification in America. Indians from India were classified as White in 1950 and until 1980 they were considered White, when some Gujarati Americans from India petitioned for the classification to be changed from White to Asian for “emotional reasons and affirmative action in small business loans” Otherwise they would still be considered White by default today. But the US Census bureau still states that the “Asian Indian” classification is not an actual racial or ethnic identifier and Indians and other South Asians can identify as the race they belong to, since India is very diverse, and Indians can be of any race, be it White like Nikki Haley and Rohit Bal or Dravidian like Aziz Ansari or East Asian like Mamta Banerjee or Hispanic like Nirav Tolia

Good channel.

Fun fact, Malcolm X's first girlfriend Beatrice Bazarian (Sophia in his autobiography) was Armenian.

Really fascinating story! Thank you for sharing! There was a similar story on how Arabs and other Middle Easterners were, at least legally, awarded the "white" status in the USA. I've watched a documentary once, retelling the story how Lebanese and Syrians who have been living in the USA for generations HAD TO go to court to be recognised as "white" in order not to be deported to a place they have never been living before.

Tack!

Being 1/4 Armenian (paternal grandmother) I find this video, and your channel in general, to be fascinating and informative. Thank you! I don't know if you have done a video on Swedes but, my mother grew up in Chicago in the 20's and 30's and told me that the Swedes were called 'n_ggers turned inside out'.

I got Cousins who were told That They Were Armenian and Swedish. Well one of Them took They DNA Test from Ancestry and Found out They're realted to Me, which Means They're African, Eroupean, Native American, with some Asian. When I met My cousin and one of Her kids for The First time, I told them "Your Dad probably knew that He was a Gumbo, but if Mother Africa showed up in any of Y'all He could explain it by Your Mom being Armenian". She and Her Mom were cool with it.

If the government or society says you’re white but you’re group is treated differently or defined in a very linear manner it’s because you actually aren’t white enough… but people will just roll with privilege as they see fit

Wow I learned something new today.

A new subee here!!! Love this....

Armenians have a history of facing horror, one of the darkest. It’s no surprise they’re so good at assimilating wherever they go. They just want to survive the Turks. Interesting video!

Great story that does make me think and is well told. Just to add to the fact of why it was so important, the state of Oregon was fond as a full white supremacists territory by law in 1846. Any black entering the territory had to leave with a 48 hours to only pass through or they would be subject to 30 lashes with a whip. At the time, it was huge territory encompassing Washington state and Idaho. When it became a state in 1859 as the 33 state, they kept that law, which banned black Americans from settling there. It was in 1926 that they finally reversed that Exclusion Law that barred black Americans from Oregon. Today Oregon is 1.9 to 2.1 percent black, depending on sources. That is still far below the national standard. The 1924 Immigration Act also strictly limited Mexican immigrants and put quotas on others, especially from Asia. So this trial fall right into that controversy and illuminates a sea of racial tensions the government was grappling with. Don’t stop shining your light!

շնորհակալություն բոլորիդ 👍🙏🇦🇲 Merci, Shnorhagalutyun 🇦🇲💮👏👏🙏

Can you make one about Greeks?

Racial categories need to be eliminated ASAP! How do people really feel being labeled a color?

I enjoyed this presentation. I think a caveat needs to be underscored, so this can be understood in context. Prior to 1952, Asians were not permitted to naturalize. So, to gain access to citizenship, it was critical for Armenians and Syrians, in particular, to argue that while they were from Asia, they were not Asian. This is really the crux of the issue, much more so than how people looked (obviously subjective). Muddying all of this was the pseudo-science of the day: eugenics, social darwinism, and of course the very notion of race itself. And while, as you point out, Italians --- a very numerous and notoriously undesirable ethnic group at the time --- did not need to go to court for similar reasons, the reality for them (and others) was that access to citizenship did NOT make them immune from prejudice, of which they got a whole heap. One should not misconstrue "legal" whiteness with a lived experience of whiteness, so called "privilege." However, the 1952 ruling regarding Asians and naturalization meant that these types of cases were over. Now, instead of arguing to be included in the white bean counter box, many groups have argued for their own boxes. The MENA box has been proposed and fought for by activists for years and they have not gotten it---partially because no one can agree on who would go in that box and partially because the US government seems disinclined to create more boxes.

Are there any video about swedish americans or filipino americans?

What was the white test ?

A great video would be to explain the term caucasian. The Caucasus Mountains are between Russia, Turkey, and Iran yet somehow British people are considered Caucasian. It has never made sense to me.

Whyte people were the first slaves in the US. That is why the term Free Whyte Men.

In all your videos your skin looks the same. Do you have two pictures for comparison you feel comfortable showing viewers the difference between summer and winter?