Are some Levantines white?

[lustermoo]

If my Cypriot ancestors are white and European then Levantines are white and European too.

Your ancestors are still whiter than Jordanians and Palestinians

[lustermoo]

If my Cypriot ancestors are white and European then Levantines are white and European too.

Your ancestors are still whiter than Jordanians and Palestinians

[SineNomine]

Christian Syrians, and to a lesser degree Lebanese, have readily passed as whites in the U.S.

I don't think any American would call Tick Tayback or Kathy Najimy anything other than white. Even more "ethnic" looking people like Danny Thomas and Jamie Farr.

I think a lot of it stemmed from being Christian, being associated with eastern European "ethnics" more than "people of color," and being very willing to outwardly assimilate - for instance, adopting Anglicized names. That has nothing to do with phenotype, but "white" also involves perception.

[SineNomine]

I meant Vic Tayback...Tick Tayback would be a cool character though...

[Chocolate_Hound]

People of Levantine origin are white. And don't use the Semitic features excuse, Semites are full Caucasoids.

[Chocolate_Hound]

I don't think so. I'm pretty sure everyone has met white passing non whites before.

No he's right, white-passing people are white in 99% of cases where your background isn't known or cared about. You have people like Dr. Oz and Rolf Nader who've never been questioned and never been treated any differently. Are you telling me their experience differs from white people?

White is not exclusive to Europe lmao. It's just that it's been taught that only the continent of Europe hosts white people, when in reality there are white Caucasoids living outside of Europe in larger amounts than people think. White-passing is just a coping strategy for the supremacists who can't admit the fact that many non-Europeans are white people. It just helps build into their false invention of the white race. If there was actually a pure "white race", then I would barely include all Europeans in the same bucket let alone non-Europeans. If far Southern Europeans can be considered fully white, then so can Turks and Levantines. Hell even North Africans are pretty fair a lot of the time. Limiting the whiteness label to only within Europe plays into the mythical belief that race has a clear-cut boundary. It doesn't.

It's more of a religious thing. Turkish people would be much better received in Germany if they were Christian, regardless of what they look like. Similarly, Christian Levantines are fully accepted as white in South American countries. Your race isn't a fucking opinion.

[Chocolate_Hound]

In Mexico they are not considered white at all, they are considered "arab" race wise, but never white

Not true at all, in most of South America Levantines specifically are definitely considered white along with Europeans.

[Chocolate_Hound]

The majority of Middle Eastern people resemble Southern Europeans. People living in Saudia Arabia and other Arab Peninsula countries are mixed with black Africans and Indians:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18269758

I agree with this. MENA are darkwashed AF, people really think they are brown like Indians/Pakistanis. The darkest ones are the ones with SSA adxmiture, non-admixed ones are usually an olive tan no darker. Lots of overlap in the Mediterranean region. Although in my experience North Africans have less of that "Semitic" look compared to West Asians, which seems more pronounced especially the deeper you get within the Gulf. IMO if these people aren't white, then neither is a good chunk of Southern Europe. I mean they share more phenotypes with each other than with Nordics anyways.

So it depends if you consider the Mediterranean phenotype as "white" or not. I would say most people do, but past a certain level of darkness maybe not. I'd say it's more about perception than actual appearance, if you find out their actual background then the perception will change. For example, a Mediterranean-looking person, if you find out they're from Greece, they'll be "whiter" in your eyes compared to a similar-looking person who happens to be from Algeria. So it's not just about looks. Judging by their actual country of origin, you would subconsciously put them in the "white" or "non-white" bin afterwards. So yes, "whiteness" is generally associated in being from Europe.

So I'd say it's more the fact that people PERCEIVE these countries to be full of brown people, regardless of the fact that their skin is much fairer than that. It's based on an assumption that was invented on the continental boundaries.

THAT BEING SAID, I have seen plenty of white MENA who I definitely wouldn't consider POC. I do think race is based on phenotype for the most part, so I would absolutely consider Levantines and many Turkish people as fully white.

[lustermoo]

I agree with this. MENA are darkwashed AF, people really think they are brown like Indians/Pakistanis. The darkest ones are the ones with SSA adxmiture, non-admixed ones are usually an olive tan no darker. Lots of overlap in the Mediterranean region. Although in my experience North Africans have less of that "Semitic" look compared to West Asians, which seems more pronounced especially the deeper you get within the Gulf. IMO if these people aren't white, then neither is a good chunk of Southern Europe. I mean they share more phenotypes with each other than with Nordics anyways.

So it depends if you consider the Mediterranean phenotype as "white" or not. I would say most people do, but past a certain level of darkness maybe not. I'd say it's more about perception than actual appearance, if you find out their actual background then the perception will change. For example, a Mediterranean-looking person, if you find out they're from Greece, they'll be "whiter" in your eyes compared to a similar-looking person who happens to be from Algeria. So it's not just about looks. Judging by their actual country of origin, you would subconsciously put them in the "white" or "non-white" bin afterwards. So yes, "whiteness" is generally associated in being from Europe.

So I'd say it's more the fact that people PERCEIVE these countries to be full of brown people, regardless of the fact that their skin is much fairer than that. It's based on an assumption that was invented on the continental boundaries.

THAT BEING SAID, I have seen plenty of white MENA who I definitely wouldn't consider POC. I do think race is based on phenotype for the most part, so I would absolutely consider Levantines and many Turkish people as fully white.

You constantly lightwash MENA lol, gulf Arabs + Yemen + southern Iraq are basically the same colour as Pakistanis, and the same for eastern Libyans.

[Rafael Passoni]

Yes.