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.

[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.

[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.