Calling American southern Italian immigrants just 'white Americans' is an erasure of their culture and hardships.

This goes for other immigrants that faced hardships in the early 20th century and beyond like the Irish. However, since I'm a 2nd generation Italian American, I've seen a fair share of this with my own eyes in both real life and recently these sentiments online, and it pains me because of the stories my grandfather told of his and his fathers hardships facing racism in this country.

In a way, it could be interpreted as "oh we finally made it, we're no longer discriminated against" but to me, having no acknowledgement is even more offensive.