That's interesting because people who're ethnically Italian are considered as white as anybody nowadays.
Irish people, despite sharing the same pigmentation as WASPS, weren't really considered white by the same bigots back in those days. They were often portrayed as "simian" and "ape" like in contemporary political cartoons, much the same way blacks would be; considered a lower race than WASPS.
Irish people were also called "white ni**ers" sometimes and blacks were called "smoked Irish".
Check the verse in the song "Oliver's Army" by Elvis Costello referring to British occupation in Northern Ireland.
There was a Checkpoint Charlie
He didn't crack a smile
But it's no laughing party
When you've been on the murder mile
Only takes one itchy trigger
One more widow, one less white ni**er
Kind of a shared history Irish and Italians have in that regard, having entered the US in droves at the same time and encountered the same suspicion and hostility.
