Suny Empire Power and Privilege

Johnson quotes James Baldwin’s statement that “No one is white before he/she came to America. It took generations, and a vast amount of coercion, before this became a white country.” Identify one group of immigrants who became “White” in the US. Were they considered “White” before becoming Americans? Can you describe how that process of “whitening” happened? Then consider immigrants who did not become “White” when they came to America. How were/are they identified racially? Had that been their racial identity before the process of immigration? Why did these people not become “White”?