In the film Goodfellas, Henry Hill tries very hard NOT to be white. His family is just trying to fit in and find where they fit in but he doesn’t want to be a regular American “schnook”. He wants to be a gangster, the ultimate definition of which is an ITALIAN in this film. For example, Tommy is going to be “made” because he is an Italian, only he can fully belong to the gang. Henry and Jimmy are part Irish. As Roediger said, Irish immigrants quickly become thought of as white. While he notion of whiteness usually involves a sense of white supremacy, I believe that in this film, white’s are considered the regular guys while the Italian mafia men are “wise guys”, willing to do what white men can’t to get ahead. Henry laments the fact that he is Irish, thus indirectly lamenting his white status. His neighborhood, despite being populated mainly by average Joe’s, AKA “white ” people, is controlled by the Italian minority. They have the power, which is why Henry wants to go from being a part of the powerless white majority to the powerful Italian minority.
This neighborhood is connected to Hayden’s vision of the preservation of vernacular space. In the beginning of the film, Henry explains that many places in the neighborhood have a specific collective memory associated with them. For example, Pauli’s restaurant seems like just that, a restaurant. However, it is a symbol of the power the Mafia had garnered as well as a symbol of how a formerly powerless minority could overcome all obstacles to grow. This is an important theme that connects many different immigrant groups. One can clearly see that this symbol connected different Urban groups because it is what made Henry, a part Irish American, to join the mafia.
