I apologize for butting into this conversation, but I feel some important context is missing. It’s not the Irish who distance themselves from “whiteness”, it’s the Europeans who did that and continue to do so to this day. Irish are openly discriminated against in Europe. As a result, Irish do not consider themselves European or white, they consider themselves Irish and green, just like the rest of planet Earth. Just because the United States decided to include Irish in the made-up “white race” didn’t change the rest of the world or their genetic structure which is unique and different than Europeans.

My point is that some Irish, mainly “Irish-Scotts” which is a completely different country not even part of Europe anymore, wanted to be part of the European “white” group, they tried to assimilate, they were pushed away and are still pushed away to this day. They are only included when it’s convenient to white Europeans.

I have some other opinions to offer but I’ll do that on the main thread as they are not relevant to the conversation here.