How Italians Became 'White'

[mitch96]

6. Lots of anti Italian sentiment in my Western Pa family..

My Uncle just would get livid crazy if we kids mentioned anything Italian.. When pressed he could not tell us why , just fill in the blank racist/anti-who you hate rhetoric. He was so nuts that when my cousin married an Italian American boy he disowned her. Never spoke to her again.
Years later I was curious after seeing a program about organizing unions in the coal mines and steel mills. Turns out (1890's) the companies would hire unsuspecting newly migrated Italian workers to cross the picket lines...... That was the origin of my uncles hate..... and he did not even know it.. We were a big coal and steel family. Crazy how generational hate just keeps on going... My uncles would say and do things that would make my skin crawl... uffda...
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