The problem is - and one Whoopi's run into - is that modern construction of race in American social discourse centers quite a bit on skin color. Whoopi clearly sees race through the lens of skin color.
However, that's an incredibly Amerocentric way of looking at these things, so applying it to the dynamics of Germany and the Holocaust was just marinating in historical ignorance. European nations commonly viewed ethnicities and sometimes and even nationalities as racial groups. If you were a distinct ethnic group, you were a different race.
And of course, this carried right on over to America. Whiteness as it is commonly referred and understood was a WASP construction. The Irish, Italians, and Jews were not a part of this whiteness for a long time. They were considered inferior races of people. The Jews were absolutely considered a different race at the time in Germany. Racial purity was very much the point.
But because Whoopi sees light-skinned as being all of a piece, well, it's just white people being shitty to white people.
And this is a very us thing. If you go to Eastern Asian countries, for example, enjoy that mess. Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, etc. They often consider themselves separate races. The racism you see among these groups towards each other is just amazing.
Meanwhile in America, "Aren't they all Asian? Same race? Eyes, skin and hair color. All the same." So it is with white people. "White is white."
This "only skin color matters" construct is a terrible one as well. It's how we got that "Only white people can be racist" garbage that hasn't worked or helped in any capacity. If skin color is the only thing that matters, then it's the only problem worth addressing.
I can say, living in the extremely diverse Bay Area, lots of groups hate lots of other groups, and it's alllll based on racism. Recent anti-Asian violence ain't all white folks.
Whoopi was just being ignorant as all hell. I've said it already, but people have been shit-canned for saying a lot less about the Holocaust.
= new reply since forum marked as read