Arab-Americans Tell Census, 'We're Not White'

[Beet]

Comedian Amer Zahr’s upcoming documentary challenges how the last Census classified Arab-Americans—as white—in the hopes that the next one will be different. But he’s not the only one who believes the nation’s decennial count misclassifies or just plain erases their identities. According to AJA, Hispanics comprise 90 percent of the 20 million individuals who, during the 2010 Census, checked “some other race.” Capturing how Americans increasingly do (or don’t) identify themselves matters as the Census determines everything from the apportionment of congressional districts to the distribution of $400 billion in federal aid programs and the enforcement of civil rights laws.

http://colorlines.com/archives/2014/07/arab-americans_tell_census_were_not_white.html

Thoughts? Personally, I think the census should just get rid of the race category altogether and replace it with ethnicity. That accurately reflects the whole classification of people are significant mostly as a social identity, insomuch as it matters because of the way people identify and are treated, not because of obscure 'scientific' differences.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

I don 't like being called white, either.  The last time I tried to put "Hispanic" (on account of my Portuguese heritage), I was kinda called out on it.  Understandable for me, but for an Arab-American... Yea, they don't seem anything like your typical white.

[memphis]

Well, anybody who feels that way needn't select White on his Census form. Problem solved.

[bullmoose88]

We're still using "white?"  I thought using caucasian was more precise (?)

[bedstuy]

I think they should get rid of Hispanic and add mestizo.  That way, afro-Caribbean people are black, Chinese Latin Americans are asian, most Mexicans are mestizo and Spaniards and most Argentines are white, etc.  That seems like the simple fix.

Or, instead, just have a category: Appearance instead of race/ethnicity.  It would go:
East Asian
Central Asian
South Asian
Pacific Islander
Native American
Eskimo/Inuit/Alaskan
Mestizo
White
Black
Swarthy

[TDAS04]

I agree that racial classifications are always problematic, and the ones on the US Census form are kind of silly.  However, if the "white" classification remains, I think Arabs as a whole could be iffy, just like Hispanics (based on appearance).  Some Hispanics, like Cubans of unmixed Spanish ancestry, are at least as white as Italians, and so are people of Lebanese origin (such Ralph Nader). 

[Horus]

As I've said before, we need to adopt the Canadian model for census taking.

[Indy Texas]

I'm pretty sure my dad's side of the family would totally lose their sh*t if the Census tried to tell them they weren't white. There's a lot of racism/colorism in Arab society, particularly against Africans or people who are perceived as having African-looking features (really dark skin and thick hair). I think it would make more sense to treat "Arab" as an ethnicity in the way that "Hispanic" is treated, since there really is no monolithic "Arab" race of people - the term just refers to "Arabic-speaking peoples" and that includes everyone from people in Somalia (pretty obviously African) to people in Lebanon (pretty obviously white).

I don 't like being called white, either.  The last time I tried to put "Hispanic" (on account of my Portuguese heritage), I was kinda called out on it.  Understandable for me, but for an Arab-American... Yea, they don't seem anything like your typical white.

I've always thought of Hispanic as referring specifically to people from the Spanish-speaking Americas who have both Iberian and indigenous American ancestry. I don't think of people from Spain or Portugal as being "Hispanic." I just think of them as like any other white European. If we're going to put them in a separate category, it seems like we'd have to do the same for all ethnolinguistic groups in Europe.

[Hifly]

Arabs certainly shouldn't be classified as white and should have their own option called "Arab".

[angus]

We're still using "white?"  I thought using caucasian was more precise (?)

I actually don't like the term Caucasian and I find it offensive.  I prefer the term white if we must do it.  Apparently others feel the same way, because white has been re=introduced in most forms after a decade or so of that pesky term Caucasian.  (I usually pick "other" and write in white if a form insists on using Caucasian.)  As for hamito-semitic peoples, that should be a choice in itself.  Arabs who identify as white (and those might actually prefer the term Caucasian for a number of reasons) can pick that, but those who prefer to self-identify as Hamitic or Semitic stock would have that option as well. 

That said, I think we should drop the whole business altogether.  Having folks racially categorize themselves on all sorts of forms seems to create more problems than it solves.  So I sort of agree with the OP.  Still, why have ethnicity either?  We'll run into many of the same problems with that type of categorization as well.  I say that race, ethnicity, and the like are not really merited as identifiers on census forms.  You could argue that religion might be, on university or hospital admission forms, since it might aid in an executive decision during a crisis, as well as native language.  After all, knowing whether to call a priest if you're about to die, or that I should shout Ukrainian instructions at you in emergency situations are much more important considerations than knowing whether I should describe you as Ukranian, Slavic, White, Caucasian, East Slavic, Balto-Slavic, Aryan, or Indo-European in some government report.

[Hatman 🍁]

As I've said before, we need to adopt the Canadian model for census taking.

Yes; We have options for Arab and Latin American. But most importantly, we do not lump all Asians together. Obviously Chinese and South Asians are not the same race.

[swl]

It's impossible to satisfy everyone on these questions anyway.
Seen from Europe, Arabs are definitely not white.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I don 't like being called white, either.  The last time I tried to put "Hispanic" (on account of my Portuguese heritage), I was kinda called out on it.  Understandable for me, but for an Arab-American... Yea, they don't seem anything like your typical white.

But that's just silly. I mean that's the same ridiculous logic krazen tried to use to pass Pat Toomey off as an example of a minority Republican Senator (as he's half-Portuguese) and was laughed at by just about everyone. And anyone trying to pass themselves off as not white in Brazil on those grounds would be considered just as ridiculous as say someone descended from white South Africans trying to pass themselves off as black in the US...and Brazil is plurality white under its Census.

But perhaps most importantly, you'd still be considered White by the Census anyway since Hispanic is not a separate category.

[Beet]

But perhaps most importantly, you'd still be considered White by the Census anyway since Hispanic is not a separate category.

That's the thing though. The Census shouldn't be trying to force people into a category they don't want to be in. Not all Hispanics are as 'white' as Toomey, or whatever the most European Hispanics out there are. If they want to identify as non-white mestizo, it's a legitimate ethnicity as much as say, Chinese is. And yes, 'Asian' is not a race either, but a continent. This is why we should stop categorizing people by race and just use ethnicity instead. In the real world ethnicity is what matters, to the extent that such things matter.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

But perhaps most importantly, you'd still be considered White by the Census anyway since Hispanic is not a separate category.

That's the thing though. The Census shouldn't be trying to force people into a category they don't want to be in. Not all Hispanics are as 'white' as Toomey, or whatever the most European Hispanics out there are. If they want to identify as non-white mestizo, it's a legitimate ethnicity as much as say, Chinese is. And yes, 'Asian' is not a race either, but a continent. This is why we should stop categorizing people by race and just use ethnicity instead. In the real world ethnicity is what matters, to the extent that such things matter.

But there is such a category. They mostly check "Hispanic" and "Other race". No one is trying to argue that mestizos are "white", but the idea that anyone with 100% European ancestry is not "white" is downright absurd and a pretty literal example of Insane Troll Logic.

[Beet]

But perhaps most importantly, you'd still be considered White by the Census anyway since Hispanic is not a separate category.

That's the thing though. The Census shouldn't be trying to force people into a category they don't want to be in. Not all Hispanics are as 'white' as Toomey, or whatever the most European Hispanics out there are. If they want to identify as non-white mestizo, it's a legitimate ethnicity as much as say, Chinese is. And yes, 'Asian' is not a race either, but a continent. This is why we should stop categorizing people by race and just use ethnicity instead. In the real world ethnicity is what matters, to the extent that such things matter.

But there is such a category. They mostly check "Hispanic" and "Other race". No one is trying to argue that mestizos are "white", but the idea that anyone with 100% European ancestry is not "white" is downright absurd and a pretty literal example of Insane Troll Logic.

So why was the KKK railing against Roman Catholics in the 1920s?

My point is that race is a social construction. A person who is at the top of the color hierarchy in Brazil may become an effective minority if he moves to the middle of Nebraska. Or he may not. But the Census doesn't dictate what somebody 'is'. It should reflect social realities. That is the only reason for categorizing people based on looks/genetic background to begin with. If it had no social relevance, I would agree with angus... but it does. 'Other' unfortunately is not a real category, it is more of a catch-all.

[Indy Texas]

So why was the KKK railing against Roman Catholics in the 1920s?

The KKK hated people for reasons other than race. Religion was another example of the way their bigotry manifested itself.

[angus]

If it had no social relevance, I would agree with angus... but it does.

It does only because you say it does. 

And the KKK?  Seriously?  You, BRTD, and Indy Texas are probably the only three posters on this forum who take them seriously.  Nobody else in America takes them seriously.  Have you been to one of their rallies lately?  They're so hard-up that they're even willing to admit catholics and jews. All you gotta be nowadays is white. Sorry state they're in.  They're "a bunch of disorganized rednecks" according to Derek Vinyard of American History X.  Find another example to make the point.

If there were a good reason to make us all pick a category then it might make sense, but outside bigotry I can't think of any.  Why make Arabs or Norwegians or Ukrainians or anyone else claim to belong to some bigger group.  We're all pretty familiar with the Out of Africa Theory by now.  Why should someone say on a government form, "Well, my ancestors apparently got across the Caucasus mountains between 20 and 40 thousand years ago and killed off the Neanderthals."   What the hell does that have to do with anything in the constitution?  There's really no good reason for it besides the fact that you and the census bureau say that there's a good reason for it.  Let's just be done with race and ethnicity.  Keep language and religion, of course.  Those have practical consequences.  Race and ethnicity do not.

[Indy Texas]

If it had no social relevance, I would agree with angus... but it does.

It does only because you say it does. 

And the KKK?  Seriously?  You, BRTD, and Indy Texas are probably the only three posters on this forum who take them seriously. 

Uh, excuse me, I've never pretended the KKK is relevant in the 21st century. We're just talking about something they did in the 1920s when they most certainly were relevant.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

I don 't like being called white, either.  The last time I tried to put "Hispanic" (on account of my Portuguese heritage), I was kinda called out on it.  Understandable for me, but for an Arab-American... Yea, they don't seem anything like your typical white.

But that's just silly. I mean that's the same ridiculous logic krazen tried to use to pass Pat Toomey off as an example of a minority Republican Senator (as he's half-Portuguese) and was laughed at by just about everyone. And anyone trying to pass themselves off as not white in Brazil on those grounds would be considered just as ridiculous as say someone descended from white South Africans trying to pass themselves off as black in the US...and Brazil is plurality white under its Census.

But perhaps most importantly, you'd still be considered White by the Census anyway since Hispanic is not a separate category.

I did say it didn't work.  Around the 2012 election I was making it a point to do things like that.  I'm just pointing out that if a European-American like myself might want to distance themselves from "whiteness" that I'm hardly surprised an Arab-American would.

[Indy Texas]

I don 't like being called white, either.  The last time I tried to put "Hispanic" (on account of my Portuguese heritage), I was kinda called out on it.  Understandable for me, but for an Arab-American... Yea, they don't seem anything like your typical white.

But that's just silly. I mean that's the same ridiculous logic krazen tried to use to pass Pat Toomey off as an example of a minority Republican Senator (as he's half-Portuguese) and was laughed at by just about everyone. And anyone trying to pass themselves off as not white in Brazil on those grounds would be considered just as ridiculous as say someone descended from white South Africans trying to pass themselves off as black in the US...and Brazil is plurality white under its Census.

But perhaps most importantly, you'd still be considered White by the Census anyway since Hispanic is not a separate category.

I did say it didn't work.  Around the 2012 election I was making it a point to do things like that.  I'm just pointing out that if a European-American like myself might want to distance themselves from "whiteness" that I'm hardly surprised an Arab-American would.

For Arab-Americans, the situation is different. Particularly if you're Muslim, you're facing a lot of discrimination comparable to what a bona fide non-white person in America faces; but you get none of the "benefits" non-whites get via affirmative action because you are treated, on paper, like a European-American white.

So a lot of them feel like they're saddled with the "responsibilities" of being white but none of the "privilege" of being white. No offense, but I doubt that kind of discrimination is a problem for you.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

And if you want to distance yourself from "whiteness" because of the awful history of whites you can't exactly exclude the Portuguese. They got quite the history of colonialism and genocide too.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

And if you want to distance yourself from "whiteness" because of the awful history of whites you can't exactly exclude the Portuguese. They got quite the history of colonialism and genocide too.

Which is why I went with the blanket term "Hispanic".   

[memphis]

That's the thing though. The Census shouldn't be trying to force people into a category they don't want to be in.

The Census isn't forcing anything. People pick for themselves which race they feel fits them best. They can pick more than one of they want. They can pick other if the don't like any option.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

And if you want to distance yourself from "whiteness" because of the awful history of whites you can't exactly exclude the Portuguese. They got quite the history of colonialism and genocide too.

Which is why I went with the blanket term "Hispanic".   

*Sigh*