gaudior

That's actually really interesting. Thanks for the links. For the most part I had thought most institutionalized discrimination against Asians (including internment) was based on immigrant status, not race, and I hadn't known that people were explicitly prohibited from being naturalized. I think my point still stands, though, when applied to European immigrants. Discrimination that comes from individuals is certainly serious, but it's a new kind of special when you're defined as a different class of human by your own government.

(oh, and by the way, if you get me talking about Europe, I'll argue that, because they were for hundreds of years defined as second-class citizens, Jews weren't white. I really am mainly talking about America).