AJ Spitz on historical guilt
Irish and Italian immigrants weren't considered white when they first got to America. AJ Spitz thinks that part of history gets skipped when race is taught in schools, and what's left behind is guilt. He sees that guilt as the start of a lot of the anger we see today.
Transcript (en)
And I think also something that I want to critique, like, and how it's taught, it's taught in a way where I think white folks learn about or read about race and what happened during slavery and things like that and feel like it's their fault. You know, there's a guilt association with it. But the truth is, is that most white people never own slaves, especially if you were, you know, tons of white people now, especially Italians and Irish people. They came, you know, after slavery. Um, so they, they didn't create whiteness. They absolutely benefited from it. But during that time period, you know, Irish people and Italians were not considered white. They, you know, were treated more like maybe Hispanics are today. Uh, but they were, there was a lot of second-class citizenship, even amongst people who share the same, just shows you how fucking ludicrous it is, you know? Uh, and then generations go on, they get bracketed into being considered white, right? But, you know, we don't have the language to speak about these things. Yet, again, it's so instrumental to who it forms you as a person. And so, like I said, the alternative to that is the acknowledgement of it, but in a way that doesn't make you feel bad, because I don't actually think you should feel bad for who you are. You know, just learn the history and treat it with a sense of, you know, gratitude and acceptance. And I think acknowledgement, because as soon as you infuse shame into something, that's where I think the stem of anger starts. And that's where the Charlie Kirk, you know, effect was created. So yeah, I think anger stems from shame and confusion. If you enjoyed this, be sure to hit that like button and follow to stay up to date with what's going on in the world and everything else memes and markets. Peace.
