I think that in the first half of the 20th century and earlier - Iranians and Iraqis would have been considered Asian and I'm not sure that Arabians wouldn't also have been considered Asian -- and by "Asian" I mean "Oriental" - which, I suppose is a more generic term than "Asian".

My Friend's Sicilian grandparents referred to me and an Irish friend as the white friends, but then, they were also convinced for a while that I was Jewish and therefore possibly not white. Being white to them had much more to do with where people could buy housing in NYC in the 40s and 50s.

but there's a clear distinction between saying someone smells bad and someone's wearing a smell you don't like.

THIS, a thousand times.

Iranians and Iraqis would have been considered Asian and I'm not sure that Arabians wouldn't also have been considered Asian

Persians (Iranians) are Caucasian, Iraqis are Arab, so probably "Oriental," I guess.

Heh. My friend teaches - god, for 12 years now -- at a alternative school in KC. It's a last chance school. There's mostly black and Hispanic students.

Fran has a fun personality; she dances and sings, she's an art teacher. I know what she's like with the kids.

She told me this anecdote:

Kid 1: Miss Francie, you crazy! You don't act white!

Kid 2 (witheringly): That's cause she ain't white; she's Italian!

My boss, who is Italian American of Sicilian ancestry got married in the early 80's and her husbands family was upset that their son was marrying someone not white. I think they have since gotten over it.

The grad school admissions office I temped at had a whole Underrepresented Minorities program which targeted a weird variety of groups like Polynesian and excluded others like Cuban and Chinese. (mind you, the excludeds got regular chances)

I think that in the first half of the 20th century and earlier - Iranians and Iraqis would have been considered Asian and I'm not sure that Arabians wouldn't also have been considered Asian -- and by "Asian" I mean "Oriental" - which, I suppose is a more generic term than "Asian".

Right, the Middle East was considered part of the "The Exotic Orient." The Arabian Nights are tales of the Orient.

(And, of course, etymologically the word "orient" refers to turning your map to the Holy Land where Jesus was born. Which is how maps were turned until they sorted out the North Pole.)

I saw one of those geneolgical programs with Queen Noor and her Syrian ancestors petitioned the US government to be clasified as white when they immigrated in the 1890s.

And, of course, etymologically the word "orient" refers to turning your map to the Holy Land where Jesus was born.

That makes perfect sense! Why did I not know this?

I have very little to do at work today, other than some filing and other paperwork. I would rather go home and edit. ::sigh::

the white Cubans that came over after Castro's takeoer were the middle and upper middle class pre-revolution

This is my BIL and his family. His dad was a lawyer in Havana, and they got out on one of the last planes to leave Cuba in 1962 before Castro cracked down. His older sister (she was from his dad's first marriage and 20 years older than BIL) happened to live a few doors down from Castro's mistress, and her block would be completely shut down by his security forces when he came by for some nookie. She and her husband got out on the same plane as the rest of the family.