Since I'm still shadowbanned here's a reminder that the way race works in the US is not always how it works in Europe. And I get that might sound scary at first but for all you people complaining that US schools never taught you anything (ours didn't either) listen up.
The way I've seen people in the US, even US poc, talk about marginalisation in Europe is astoundingly ignorant. It honestly sounds like some of you are in this bubble where you can just apply the US model to anything and call it quits. Even outright lying about stuff that could be easily disproved with a Google search.
This post is mainly about three communities in Europe, but when you look at a cultural map of Europe you'll see a lot of diversity. Firstly though, we've gotta put behind the terms black and white for now. Because while that is relevant for discussing race, it is a little different in Europe and very crucially so.
So, in Europe there are groups of people know as GRT (G*psy, Romani, Travellers). They varyingly claim and do not claim the g slur. It's honestly best to ask them what they want to be called. GRT peoples originated in India a long long time ago and migrated around Europe. They belong to an Indo-European culture (their languages are also Indo-European because of this). This means that many GRT people may appear white, and many of them will appear a lot darker skinned. European history is actually more racist if anything, as it has a lot of *must be this skin tone to be considered white* going on. Which means people that Americans would call white *in America* may actually be disqualified with racism in Europe. This is important to note, as the context is different. A GRT person the US may enjoy being perceived as white, but that doesn't undo any systematic racism against GRT people going on. Like my post on the UK losing the right to protest said, this law is targeted at GRT people, criminalising their camps.
Also in Europe is a country called Bosnia, which has large ethnic groups of Bosnians in it. (Note I say ethnic groups, because as you'll see genocides displace people a lot). My heart goes out to the Bosnians. On the surface they might look like generally white Eastern European/ Balkans people. But that *you must be this white to enter* racism comes up again and many Bosnians aren't considered white by some Europeans. It's especially worsened by the dominant religion of Bosnians being Islam. The Bosnians faced a genocide from Serbia. Thousands of mainly men and boys were lied to, killed and driven out of their homes. If you want more in depth information, look it up.
And a third group in Europe is the Sami peoples of Finland. The Sami are, in US terms, indigenous tribal groups living in Northern Finland. They were displaced by the Finnic peoples who moved in and then the Russians. The Sami, living so high in Northern Europe are quite pale skinned. Would undoubtedly pass as white in the US. But they have been subjected to racism and anti indigenous laws, culture eradication by the Finns and Russians. They were considered a separate race that needed getting rid of. And the dominant forces in Europe were all too eager to do that.
Honorable mentions include:
-The Irish as treated by the British (always be wary of 'the Irish are black claims) but the truth of it is the UK would treat the Irish as a separate race and did horrific damage to their population and culture (see: no dogs, no blacks, no Irish signs).
-Antisemitism sometimes having a racial edge towards all Jewish people in Europe, no matter their skin colour.
- Variously, and depending on what nation is the antagonist, a lot of Mediterranean countries have been considered 'not white enough' as justification for war and prejudice.
