Ask that question of the Scots who survived the Clearances. Or the Irish who, as late as 1987 could be arrested for wearing a scrap of ribbon in the colors of their national flag, and who could also be arrested for speaking their native tongue in public, and who faced years of "No Irish Need Apply" signs. This narrative that no one with light skin can possibly understand what it's like to face discrimination is politically useful for a lot of people but it's simply not accurate. In the mid-90s, a friend of mine was in a cab just as a primary school was getting out and the cab driver commented, "Look at 'em. These F-ing (racial epithet)s breed like rabbits." They weren't children of color. They were Irish.