 People were desperately trying to identify as white in a variety of cases. You even had in the early 20th century, Indian Americans going for the Supreme Court, arguing that they were sort of the original Aryans and therefore should be classed as white. I mean, that's what a white supremacy or a white privilege environment looks like. Today, you have the exact opposite, where if you are legally identified as white, but you can identify yourself as some other way.