[golemiprague]

In America "white" is not a colour, Italian or Arabs with dark skin are also "white", unless they are from south America, then they are latinos. The only true meaning of white in the US is "not black", so those things working in Japan is not a valid counter point.

[the_af]

It's true that "white" is not a skin color, but also let me point out that people with lighter skin tones than what is commonly called "white people" are hilariously considered "people of color".

Skin "color" is some diffuse concept that doesn't really have much to do with the actual color spectrum and, in many cases, not even physical features. The extremes are easy to tell, but there's a whole world in between with some pretty arbitrary definitions.

[ComputerGuru]

I can assure you Middle Eastern doesn’t quite qualify as White in the racist parts of the country. Even if that’s what the US Census Bureau would have you select.

[jadamson]

> The only true meaning of white in the US is "not black",

That doesn't even follow from your own previous sentence - it would have to mean "not black or latino".

Have you asked any South East Asians if they consider themselves white?

[felipelemos]

I think he is referring to what others considers them, not themselves.

[jadamson]

He's trying to generate a post-hoc justification for an inaccurate statement, there's nothing more to it than that. Still, self-identification matters and I wanted to see if he'd cross the Rubicon and try to force the white identity on groups that don't want it.

Bearing in mind his linchpin example - Arabs - are neither perceived as nor self-identify as white [1], it's bizarre to suggest that it follows that the Japanese, a separate case anyway, must also be white.

Add to that his conflation of ethnicity with race [2], and it might be the single most stupid comment I've ever seen on HN. Just say "OP meant to say black", there's no need to construct an alternate reality in which non-white and black are synonyms.

[1] https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/why-arab-americans-are-p...

"many in the MENA community do not share the same lived experience as White people with European ancestry, do not identify as White, and are not perceived as White by others."

[2] https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/note/US/RHI625222

"People who identify their origin as Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish may be of any race."

[sugarpile]

That is... not how that works at all. No one refers to people that way.