The racial identity and racial formation of the Irish is rooted back to the English conquest and hostility toward Catholicism. The Irish were deemed savages, a social group that did not know how to use land properly. Many had fled from Ireland due to oppression and loss of land. The Irish were not accepted socially as being white.
             The Irish were able to politically use the socially accepted racial identity, "whiteness", to overcome ethnic discrimination. The Irish used to be the object of race riots, in which along with the blacks they would be lynched. By politically changing how the pubic identified who they were, they were able to escape this oppression.
             The Irish Americans were becoming a powerful economic and political group and because of this their "racial distinctions" soon became less evident. The Irish Americans who were once classified as Celts, were now of Caucasian fold. By being racially classified as "Caucasian" the Irish Americans would find that their would be a lot more political and economic opportunities.
             The ethnic group that was once racially personified as being lazy, self-indulgent and vain now hold prominent figures in all aspects of society. The Irish were able to challenge the "Irish race" designation, an gain a new social respect by racially being labeled "Caucasian." Unfortunately race will forever play a dominant role within the social aspect of American culture. Collectively as a society it is important that we eliminate prejudice and discrimination as diversity has become a central aspect of our culture. We will however never reach equality unless the dominance and superiority that underlies "whiteness" within our culture is erased.
             The idea of racially categorizing certain individuals as being "white" is a fallacy. America "invented" this ethnicity as a means to control who has political and econ
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