Well aktually, Johnny Cash issued a statement to the KKK telling them his first wife wasn’t black and appeared to have some racist attitudes in his youth, though he did come around later on and I wouldn’t say he was racist. Her heritage is described:
“In the image, Vivian, whose father was of Sicilian heritage and whose mother was said to be of German and Irish descent, appeared to be Black.”
Though in other images in the same article she doesn’t appear black at all, so I’m not sure. There seemed to be different attitudes about what was considered “black” in that time.
“The stress was almost unbearable. I wanted to die,” she [Vivian] wrote in her memoir. “And it didn’t help that Johnny issued a statement to the KKK informing them I wasn’t Black.” She did not think the campaign should have been dignified with a response.
So she may have been more upset that he responded at all, not necessarily being upset that he said she wasn’t black.
Sicilians were sometimes “black” in the jim crow south. I couldn’t find the citation, but at least one black dude avoided getting murdered after it was discovered the woman he was sleeping with was sicilian. I think the anecdote is from Isabelle Wilkerson’s Caste.
Irish and Italians were Catholic, which was enemy #3 to the KKK right behind black and jewsiwh people. Irish and Italians weren’t even considered white for the first half of the 20yh century
I thought that the irish were always considered white but faced discrimination due to their nationality itself, along with religion, and typically being poor, more like being viewed as a “lesser” category of whites
It’s not strange if you know the history of KKK. They trace their roots back to the Orange Order.
The orange order is a sectarian group in Northen Ireland and Britain (outside Northern Ireland they are mainly west Scotland). They are pro-Protestant, pro-Monarchy and pro-Union (union between the nations of the UK). When the USA became a republic outside the UK they lost two of their three defining factors. So they replaced it with racism, but kept the sectarianism.
They still share similar rank structures. The KKK burn crosses, the orange order are fans of large bonfires often burning effigies of the pope. The KKK didn’t seem to keep the flute band marches, but both do march in silly dress costumes.
Despite their large presence in Northen Ireland with many of their members being born on the Island of Ireland, they wouldn’t claim themselves as Irish.
A few years ago, I visited Jamaica and was surprised to find out how much everyone there loves Johnny Cash. I was anticipating Bob Marley to be the big name, but it was actually Cash. Didn’t even know there was a connection between him and the country
He had a house there, which I had the chance to visit. I’m quite certain he spent most of his time there. Given his immense popularity in Jamaica, it would be shocking if Johnny Cash had held any racist views.
Well aktually, Johnny Cash issued a statement to the KKK telling them his first wife wasn’t black and appeared to have some racist attitudes in his youth, though he did come around later on and I wouldn’t say he was racist. Her heritage is described:
Though in other images in the same article she doesn’t appear black at all, so I’m not sure. There seemed to be different attitudes about what was considered “black” in that time.
So she may have been more upset that he responded at all, not necessarily being upset that he said she wasn’t black.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/05/16/johnny-cash-first-wife-vivian-black/
Sicilians were sometimes “black” in the jim crow south. I couldn’t find the citation, but at least one black dude avoided getting murdered after it was discovered the woman he was sleeping with was sicilian. I think the anecdote is from Isabelle Wilkerson’s Caste.
Irish and Italians were Catholic, which was enemy #3 to the KKK right behind black and jewsiwh people. Irish and Italians weren’t even considered white for the first half of the 20yh century
I thought that the irish were always considered white but faced discrimination due to their nationality itself, along with religion, and typically being poor, more like being viewed as a “lesser” category of whites
Interesting, the basis of that is so strange
It’s not strange if you know the history of KKK. They trace their roots back to the Orange Order.
The orange order is a sectarian group in Northen Ireland and Britain (outside Northern Ireland they are mainly west Scotland). They are pro-Protestant, pro-Monarchy and pro-Union (union between the nations of the UK). When the USA became a republic outside the UK they lost two of their three defining factors. So they replaced it with racism, but kept the sectarianism.
They still share similar rank structures. The KKK burn crosses, the orange order are fans of large bonfires often burning effigies of the pope. The KKK didn’t seem to keep the flute band marches, but both do march in silly dress costumes.
Despite their large presence in Northen Ireland with many of their members being born on the Island of Ireland, they wouldn’t claim themselves as Irish.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7meZZeYllo
The Irish are the blacks of Europe, and Dubliners are the blacks of Ireland.
There’s the blacks of the UK, the rest of us likes em well enough.
Good old Italian racists would agree with this assessment nowadays.
In context, “black” doesn’t mean brown, it means not white. Where whiteness is a shifting political concept defined by exclusion.
To the goddamn KKK, sometimes it just meant “catholic.”
A few years ago, I visited Jamaica and was surprised to find out how much everyone there loves Johnny Cash. I was anticipating Bob Marley to be the big name, but it was actually Cash. Didn’t even know there was a connection between him and the country
He had a house there, which I had the chance to visit. I’m quite certain he spent most of his time there. Given his immense popularity in Jamaica, it would be shocking if Johnny Cash had held any racist views.
I’m of Sicilian heritage and Cash’s first wife, Vivian Liberto, would look perfectly at home at a family reunion.