Michael Harriot Profile picture
Nov 5, 2020 34 tweets 7 min read Read on X
A lot of the anger about non-white people voting for a white nationalist is because some people don't understand one inarguable historical truth:

THAT'S EXACTLY HOW YOU BECOME WHITE!

A thread:
First of all, let's all agree that whiteness is some shit people made up. It has no basis in science or even logic.

For instance, for MOST of American history, the Irish weren't considered white and they might be the whitest people on the planet!
Now the Irish WERE NOT slaves, but the English and Scottish considered them "the closest thing to the negro" and "human chimpanzees"

Do you know how far England is from Ireland?

21 miles!

It's like when Brooklyn niggas talk shit about people from Queens. Image
It was only after the slaves were freed that the Irish moved up on the social ladder. An 1864 Democrat dociment said “There is the strongest reason for believing that the first movement toward amalgamation in this country will take place between Irish and Negroes.”
They were considered athletic, strong and lazy. They could dance, though. Plus, they excelled in boxing.

Does any of this sound familiar?

So how did they become white?

Well, basically, it was because of Gangs.
In cities across the country, the Irish couldn't live among whites. But when free blacks moved to cities like NY and Chicago during the Great Migration, black people started taking their jobs and their housing, so they formed gangs.

Soon, the gangs gained control of politics
For instance, Chicago's Richard Daley was a member of the Hamburgs, one of the gangs responsible for the Chicago Riot in 1919. Now, Daley never admitted his involvement but curiously, he was elected president of the Hamburgs just after

Then he became mayor.
Well, when these gangs gained control of the political apparatus, they gave their gang members municipal jobs, mostly as police officers and firemen. And because they were in charge of police departments and they had beef with black people...
Not only did they use their positions to enforce white supremacy, but they did it with the explicit intention of clearing a space for themselves.

In Philly, William "Bull" McMullen, leader of the Killers, murdered a man and went into the army to escape conviction (ironic, huh?)
When he came back, he became part of the Democratic Party leadership, organized the community to support the mayor, was elected alderman and made the police force 76 percent Irish.

Same thing in NY.

In 1855, Irish gangsters stuffed the ballot box for Mayor Fernando Wood.
His first major act was to add 246 policement to the force, half of which were Irish. By 1860, the fire dept was 75 % Irish. And because cops and firefighters couldn't drink in public, they hung out in bars. And because they hung out in pubs run by Irish gangsters...
They unionized and were connected politicians to organized crime. They could even write their own rezoning laws and street permits. That's why cities have rows of Irish pubs. They had entire streets where they could get drunk and not get in trouble. White men don't do that
Well, maybe they do it once a year. Maybe on a holiday or something

And THAT's why cities shut down and have drunkfests on St. Patrick's Day.

And who gets to march in those parades?

Cops and firemen.

And that's how they became white.
You know who else was good at boxing, dancing, singing and gangs?

When the Italians streamed into the US in the late 1800s they were the best entertainers, athletes and workers. But no one wanted to live around them because they were dirty. Plus they were criminals
But they stuck together. However, this made them more suspect. People believed every Italian was in the mafia or plotting an overthrow of the gov't.

In 1891, a mob lynched 11 Italians after they were acquitted for murdering a New Orleans cop.
Anti-Italian sentiment sparked the rise of the KKK in the 1900s, not to mention the nativist movement. The 1924 National Origins act reduced Italian immigration by 98%

And during the great migration, to white people, there was no difference between Blacks & Italians
After the great depression, the government handed out low interest loans to everyone except black people. But the gov't didn't consider Italians whites, so if you lived in a black or Italian neighborhood, it was all the same.

We were even allowed to go to their schools ImageImage
"Their schools?"

Oh yeah, until 1940s, naturalization documents listed "Italian" as a separate race from white.

So how did they become white?

White supremacy.

Italians practiced Jim Crow even when whites businesses didn't & ONLY voted for politicians who supported Jim Crow
Remember when they rounded up Japanese Americans after Pearl Harbor?

Well, they did that to Italians, too. Roosevelt declared Italian Americans to be "enemy combatants" But by the time they displaced 10,000, they were like:

Damn, there are a lot of these motherfuckers!
But Italian Americans signed up to fight in WWII. Some explicitly said they did it to change the nefarious perception. And guess what?

When they came back, they were white!

They refused to live & attend schools with Blacks
In 1947, Chicago Italians students staged a walkout because there were "so many negroes in our school."

Luckily, the problem was fixed in less than a week when ten black children died in a fire when an arsonist set their building on fire.
To protect themselves, black youths formed their own gangs MODELED AFTER the Irish and Italian gangs. But by then, the Italians had ousted blacks from their hoods

So where did the Black people go?

Well, in 1941, the City of Chicago decided to give away homes!
Of course, they didn't give them to Black people. Instead, they herded Black people into the low-cost Frances Cabrini row homes, razed the old black neighborhoods and created Italian and Jewish communities!

Of course, this took off. Cities across the country did it!
But they had a decision to make.

Remember that "redlining" policy that prevented banks from offering loans in places where black people lived? How could they deny these brave Italian veterans low-interest mortgages? (They did it to Black vets, though)
These people had cleared the neighborhoods and fought in a war! They had helped herd the blacks and voted for their oppressor?

And, viola! The Italians were made white!
Jewish Immigrants followed this same model.

So did the "ethnic" Polish.

It's actually an American tradition.

Now, let me ask you a serious question but first you gotta promise that you won't Google the answer:

What is "Hispanic?"
Seriously. Do you know?

Puerto Rico has been part of this country for 100 years. Are they Hispanic because they are a Carribean island?

In fact, why are Haitians considered Black and Dominicans Hispanic even though they're from the same island?
How are you a Native American if you were on one side of the Rio Grande but you're a Hispanic Mexican if you were born on the other side of the river?

Is it language?

Then why aren't people from Spain considered Hispanic?

In fact, why are Cubans considered Hispanic?
When the Spanish came to Cuba, they wiped out the indigenous Taino. The conquistadors eventually brought more ut they were nearly wiped out too.

In fact, Most Cubans genetically have more European lineage than white Americans.

WHAT THE FUCK IS HISPANIC?
I'll tell you what it is.

It's some bullshit we made up.

But white keep instituting policies because they are afraid that this country will be a majority-white country by next Thursday

THAT'S why they're rounding up Mexican children. That's why they want u to SPEAK AMERICAN
But the truth is, the men who made the laws ensured that this country will always and forever be a white country by providing a path to becoming a "real American."

That path is paved with the bones and blood of Black people.
You don't have to join a club or pay a membership fee to become white.

Whiteness in America has always been about kicking black people in the face. But they don't do it because they hate us.

We are the example.

When they are putting stomping on our faces, they're saying:
"Oh, you wanna be a REAL American? Well, let me see how hard you can kick."

And on Tuesday, all those "people of color" were like:

"Is this hard enough?"
PS: If you wanna see the greatest example, think about this:

With all the white supremacy thrown around during this election, no one has mentioned the fact that Joe Biden will be only the 2nd Catholic president.

Here's how the first one explained himself to "white people" Image

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More from @michaelharriot

Nov 5
People who say this election could be the "end of democracy" are so extra...

Or maybe they know the TRUE history of the election-denying white supremacist who led a violent insurrection, overturned a presidential election and ended democracy in America.

A thread
First, you should know that the US Constitution created a form of govt called a "federal republic" where elected officials represent the citizens (as opposed to a DIRECT DEMOCRACY, where people vote on every decision)

But a representative democracy is just A KIND OF DEMOCRACY Image
Image
Saying, "America is a constitutional republic, not a democracy," is like saying: "I'm a MAGA Republican, not an American."

BTW, this is your daily reminder that @laurenboebert is a pro-insurrection MAGA Republican HS dropout who failed the GED 3x... NOT an American. Image
Read 30 tweets
Oct 30
My uncle’s friend Hawk was a feared gangsta. He was ruthless but he was also a chess wizard. According to the streets, Hawk only lost 1 once, years ago, when he was in prison.

So imagine my surprise when my uncle told Hawk: “l bet $100 my nephew will kick your ass

A thread
Now I was like 12 or 13, so even though I was a chess prodigy, I was scared AF

What if I put Hawk in check and he slit my throat ? What if he sicced his goons on me to keep his streak alive? I hadn’t even reached goon-fighting age!

Then my uncle made a deal:
If I beat Hawk, I could keep the money.

A whole $100 dollars? Oh, hell yeah! I was down.

There was just one other problem with my uncle’s plan.

I had never actually played a chess match.

Not one.
Read 15 tweets
Oct 17
One of my former economics students recently reminded me about a concept I used to call "belief economics."

I haven't taught the course it in a long time, but ever since she reminded me, it perfectly explains why everyone is so focused on Black male Trump voters

A thread:
My "Race as an Economic Construct" class applied economic principles as a framework for understanding the concept of race.

I know you've heard that race is an SOCIAL CONTRUCT - it is. But MOST social constructs are ALSO economic constructs.

Even money.
A $100 bill is more valuable than monopoly money bc society constructed a monetary system. Take the pseudointellectual right-wing conspiracy about the gold standard

Why is gold so valuable?

Sure it's rare. But it's not as rare as rhodium or as useful as iron.
Read 29 tweets
Oct 2
While other organizations (hopefully, maybe) will be fact-checking, JD Vance & Tim Walz, as usual, I’ll be translating the dog whistles, white lies and overall Caucasity

The live vice presidential debate “BlackCheck”
JD Vance begins by blaming the “Kamala Harris Administration” for Iran’s nuclear progress.

When was that?Image
Apparently, Kamala Harris has done a LOT. She held a seminar in Iran on how to build nukes

She opened a fentanyl shipping company

She helped organize a human trafficking ring

Somehow, as VP, she passed executive orders to renam the whole South: “Kamala Harris’s open border”
Read 13 tweets
Sep 25
From now until the general election, my weekly “Downballot” series will explore lesser-known races on the 2024 ballot

This first 1 might be the greatest story in politics. It has everything:

A Klandaughter, a civil rights hero, white history, Black history & a map

A thread:
First, we must understand that this race takes place in one of the Blackest, poorest, most disenfranchised congressional districts in the country —Alabama’s 2nd district

It is a perfect example of the MOST COMMON voter suppression strategy:

Racial gerrymandering
This is the OLD Alabama 2nd congressional district. The boundaries do not follow geographic or political boundaries. It was SPECIFICALLY drawn to reduce Black voting power.

But because of population changes, the AL legislature had redraw its congressional districts
Image
Image
Read 28 tweets
Sep 20
“The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” -

Some guy who wrote the Declaration of Independence

Donald Trump:Image
“The liberty of the press is essential to the security of freedom in a state: it ought not, therefore, to be restrained in this Commonwealth.” the oldest functioning constitution in the world

Donald Trump

amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/11/07…
Read 22 tweets

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