Italian Americans used to face a lot of discrimination but now Italian hate in America is virtually non existent. How did this happen? Is it possible for this change to happen for other marginalized groups?
Edit: You don’t need to state the obvious that they’re white and other minorities aren’t, we all have eyes. Also my definition of discrimination was referring to hate crime level discrimination, I know casual bigotry towards Italians still exists but that wasn’t what I was referring to.
Anyways thank you for all the insightful answers, I’m extremely happy my post sparked a lot of discussion and interesting perspectives
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Same with the Irish, they became a big enough voting block that politicians started to cater to them. That’s how we got Columbus and St Patrick’s Day.
It’s already starting to happen with the Latino vote.
Second generation and beyond Italians aren’t visually discernible from other white people, at least to the average American.
Some people may dress or talk a certain way that still subjects them to some discrimination. But if you see a second generation Italian guy walking down the street you’re not gonna know it like you would a lot of other races.
The melting pot melted them in, same as the Irish. They adapted, lost some traditions and accent and got folded in.
The biggest factor in this not happening is *appearance*. Irish and Italians looked like the majority of the existing population so disappear in a crowd. People who physically look different in unchangeable ways, or who refuse to give up very visible cultural or religious practices, are still easily “othered”.
To add to other points already in this thread, part of their othering was due to their Catholicism – after a century Protestant Americans slowly learned they’re not going to make America bend their knee to the Pope.
Some good answers already, but it’s important to note that the genesis of discrimination against Irish and Italians was anti-Catholicism. When Catholicism became more accepted in mainstream American society (as evidenced by the election of an Irish Catholic president in 1960) the discrimination against so-called “white ethnics” really fell by the wayside
Religion was a significant motivating factor in anti-italian and anti-irish discrimination. As America became more secular there was less motivation to focus on such differences — further, the religious Protestant mainstream found more common ground with Catholics as a bulwhark against secularization. Further, WW2 became a point of shared experience, where Americans from around the country were forced to work together, read the same army material, and eat the same type of food. This is understood as an essentially “Americanizing” event, where young men would basically be conditioned into a uniform understanding of their place in society and other whites would see and treat them as equal. Finally, suburbanization and “urban renewal” meant the destruction of the traditional political and social bonds that defined various white ethnic groups, essentially forcing them to assimilate into the American mainstream (Which in turn was influenced more heavily by them and their food).
Not as often as it did for my parents, but it still happens, even today.
Especially outside of the major Italian-American hub of the Central-Northern New Jersey / New York City / Connecticut / Delaware area.
I was shocked to personally come across it (and be the focus of it) multiple times in South Jersey.
The main reason it’s better than before is that we’ve integrated our culture with American-American culture. The big turning point began in the late 1970s, and culminated in the 1990s to the point of the pizza craze (which wasn’t the *reason* but an indicator — it was no longer “weird”). Also Catholicism isn’t as big of a bogeyman as it once was, either.
But we’re still portrayed pretty piss-poorly in the media. I found it heartwarming in the 3d Mario movie that they did a bunch of things right. But most of the time it’s gangsters, guidos, trash talk, and other crap like that.
In a surprisingly sad number of places in the US we’re *still* kinda seen as “white by technicality and when convenient.”
WW2 was the major turning point for anti Catholic sentiments.
People fought and died side by side with their fellow Americans and all the questioning of whether a Catholic cared more about the Pope or the President washed away.
At the time of their discrimination they were a large chunk of the immigrants coming into the country, so they got blamed for all the issues that people blame immigration on.
There’s a great deal of people coming from Mexico, and currently that is a huge point of contention in US politics and they are often discriminated against.
The second largest group Irc is Indians and Southeast Asians. Discrimination against these 2 groups, especially Indians, has also increased a great deal over the years.
China is also a large source and these immigrants are also discriminated against, especially since COVID.
Immigration comes in waves from different countries. These immigrants build local communities and then integrate. Until then they receive discrimination. Then by the time that they are accepted their wave of immigration has past and it’s another group.
People still talk shit about Italians. I was at a family friend’s house, and the hostess proceeded to tell Italian joke after italian joke. Typical shit about hygiene and such. I just let her know that my grandmother was Sicilian. I don’t really consider myself Italian just because I had a Sicilian grandmother, but it was still offensive. I didn’t make a big todo about it and I tried to laugh it off.
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