Anyone with a last name ending in ‘-ian’ is likely Armenian. Most Armenians who settled in America when Kim’s family did are from a VERY long-persecuted minority in Turkey. Initially in America, they were NOT accepted as European or as ‘white’ as in ‘white privilege.’ They were perceived as Middle Eastern people. They were Christian Middle Eastern people. (Armenia was the first country to accept Christianity.) Living in a part of the world dominated by Islam, Kim’s branch became dominated by the Ottomans — the Turks.
Sharia Law defines non-Moslems as kafirs. Ever hear that word used to describe black South Africans? It’s their version of the ’N’ word. The word means ‘Infidel.’ Any infidels, kafirs, living within a Moslem country may have no rights the Moslems in that country are bound to respect. A kafir’s testimony against a Moslem was inadmissible in court.
These Armenians lived with that burden for many centuries and nonetheless functioned as small-business people within the empire. I would imagine some became rebellious when the first world war was stressing the Turkish system. There was a much-contested genocide of them. A very large segment of the population died when they were forced from their homes and driven into a desert with no food or water.
Kim’s family who survived the genocide
The Armenians I’ve known tend to relate more to POC in America than white Americans, far more than is typical of western European descended people. I believe that’s what we’re seeing with the Kardashians, starting with their father who was a long-loyal friend to OJ Simpson. Being a long-persecuted minority develops a deep-seated worldview and particular character traits that persist as elements of identity for many generations.
People prefer being around others who are familiar to them. In this case, that would be other people descended from long-persecuted minorities. When your own family still carries generational trauma from a severe genocide that drastically reduced your numbers you inhabit a space that innately appreciates how well black America has survived the same pressures while maintaining a near-constant percentage of the overall population. Such survivors! Such overcomers! Your primal associations regarding them will involve admiration and respect — a far cry from what is assumed to be in a ‘white’ American’s implicit bias.
America being what it is, Armenian degree of pigmentation and the fact that they are Christian means that they are nonethless defined as ‘white’ with all the attending stereotypes of attitude attributed.
Some people prefer to be themselves.
Interestingly, Armenians were NOT originally considered white. There are three lawsuits from the turn of the last century documenting Armenians who were not allowed to become citizens since, at that time, only white immigrants were allowed to become citizens. It took several judges to weigh the evidence and grant that privilege. The average bureaucrat deciding on who should be naturalized reflected the common perception that Armenians were NOT white people.
How Armenian-Americans Became “White”: A Brief History – Ajam Media Collective
United States v. Cartozian, 6 F.2d 919 (D. Or. 1925)
Poem: Not All White People Are White
What supremacists think of Armenians: https://www.stormfront.org/forum/t680621/
EDIT: Since writing this I heard from an old, dear friend. She hadn’t seen this post, but she’s always been a bit sixth sensible and the timing was interesting. Her dad was Armenian. When he was a boy growing up in the US, depression era, he was called a ‘nigger.’ My own dad, who was growing up the same time, Serbian, was called ‘liver lips’ which Back of the Yards Chicago meant the same thing. A young lady responded in a comment that her Greek grandfather was called an ‘olive nigger.’ He told her Greek men didn’t dare to even LOOK at a white American woman for fear of their lives.
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