Definition of White people Poll

[King Lear]

I ask this question because it has important political, cultural, and sociological ramifications. Honestly, I define White people as anyone who's Racialy Caucasoid, which is a Forensic anthropological term that describes the skull structure of the native populations of Europe, North Africa, and the Middile East. This is basically the definition the US census uses. However, most White Americans with racial and religious biases (and who don't understand Forensic Anthropology), tend to use the term "White" as a synonym for Europeans (particularly Christian ones), due to the fact they don't want to acknowledge the fact that those "scary brown Arab Muslims", are the same Race as themselves. Finally, hardcore Neo-Nazi types tend to believe only Blue-eyed, Blond-haired, Germanic people are White, though from a historical perspective this used to be the mainstream definition of the term, hence the fact that conservative nativists were so desperate to stop the mass migration of Irish, Italians, and Slavs, in the early 1900s (the historical Irony is that the majority of the descendents of those three persecuted immigrant groups are Trump supporters today). So taking all of this into consideration, what do you think the most accurate definition is in today's political climate?

[America's Sweetheart ❤/𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕭𝖔𝖔𝖙𝖞 𝖂𝖆𝖗𝖗𝖎𝖔𝖗]

Honestly, race is a stupid concept. according to a lot of people, anyone with white/paler skin is white and anyone with brown skin is Mexican or an Arab. and just look at the huge swath of people who are counted as Hispanic, many of whom would be considered white or possibly black by the average person.

[catographer]

Honestly, race is a stupid concept. according to a lot of people, anyone with white/paler skin is white and anyone with brown skin is Mexican or an Arab. and just look at the huge swath of people who are counted as Hispanic, many of whom would be considered white or possibly black by the average person.

agreed. race is arbitrary and mostly BS.

[Boss_Rahm]

Race is culturally constructed based on skin color and is not defined by ancestry.

[Padfoot]

In today's society race is a mix of how you perceive yourself and how others perceive you.  As others have mentioned, race is a cultural construct largely based on your skin color and facial structure and it has very little to do with your actual ancestry.  As long as your skin color isn't too dark you can probably "pass as white" regardless of who your ancestors are.  Wearing culturally identifying clothing or speaking with an accent will probably "give you away" and even if if you consider yourself to be white, others will classify you as something else.

[支持核绿派 (Greens4Nuclear)]

I consider anyone whose ancestry is visibly from Europe, North Africa, and/or West Asia to be racially Caucasian. "White" however is a different story....

[Dr. MB]

If they look "white" usually I'll see them as white. "Caucasian" isn't a good descriptor for anyone unless they are from southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, or Azerbaijan. I tend not to pay a whole lot of attention to that stuff, though.

[SingingAnalyst]

I chose option 2. I am always dismayed when I hear, after every census, that Metro Detroit is one of the most racially segregated areas in the country. That is only true if those from North Africa and the Middle East are counted as White-- when in fact the history and culture of immigrants from these places, of which there are many in Metro Detroit, is very different from that of the earlier wave of European immigrants (especially those from southern and eastern Europe).

[America Needs a 13-6 Progressive SCOTUS]

Other: No one is White

[jimrtex]

The Census Bureau has defined its questions for the 2020 Census. They basically explain that they are serving the government agencies who are their clients.

The Census Bureau has decided not to ask for a Middle Eastern ethnicity, and will continue to ask for Hispanic ethnicity separate from race.

But along with a check box for white, black, and AIAN  there is a fill-in the box with instructions that state;

Print, for example, German, Irish, English, Italian, Lebanese, Egyptian, etc.

Print, for example, African American, Jamaican, Haitian, Nigerian, Ethiopian, Somali, etc.

Print name of enrolled or principal tribe(s), for example, Navajo Nation, Blackfeet Tribe,
Mayan, Aztec, Native Village of Barrow Inupiat Traditional Government, Nome Eskimo Community, etc.

For Hispanic, there are check boxes for;
No, not of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin
Yes, Mexican, Mexican Am., Chicano
Yes, Puerto Rican
Yes, Cuban
Yes, another Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin –
Print, for example, Salvadoran, Dominican, Colombian, Guatemalan,
Spaniard, Ecuadorian, etc.

There is no Asian checkbox. but instead check boxes for Chinese, Vietnamese, Filipino, Korean, Asian Indian, Japanese, and Other Asia (Print, for example, Pakistani, Cambodian, Hmong, etc.)

[Pennsylvania Deplorable]

White means European ancestry. That's fairly self explanatory. Just as black or African American clearly only refers to sub-Saharan African. It's the Hispanic category that messes everything up because, if your grandparents moved to Argentina from Italy and Germany then you were born there and moved to the US, you'd be called Hispanic, despite being just as white as if your grandparents had moved directly to the US.

I think we need to abolish the Hispanic question and add Mestizo/Mulatto and Native Meso/South American categories. The current census definition of white should be split into Middle East/North African and European (white) because that's how everyone defines it anyway. Asian should be split into South/Central Asian and East/Southeast Asian. Calling Pakistanis and Koreans the same race is dumb (from both a biological and a cultural standpoint), imo.

My ideal list of options:
European
Sub-Saharan African
Middle East/North African
South/Central Asian
East Asian
Native American (US + Canada)*
Native Meso/South American*
Mestizo/Mulatto
Pacific Islander
Australian Aboriginal
Other

*Kept these separate due to historical context. A Mayan moving here tomorrow shouldn't be able to get benefits that go to groups like the Cherokee that were expelled from their land by the US gov.

[Person Man]

White means European ancestry. That's fairly self explanatory. Just as black or African American clearly only refers to sub-Saharan African. It's the Hispanic category that messes everything up because, if your grandparents moved to Argentina from Italy and Germany then you were born there and moved to the US, you'd be called Hispanic, despite being just as white as if your grandparents had moved directly to the US.

I think we need to abolish the Hispanic question and add Mestizo/Mulatto and Native Meso/South American categories. The current census definition of white should be split into Middle East/North African and European (white) because that's how everyone defines it anyway. Asian should be split into South/Central Asian and East/Southeast Asian. Calling Pakistanis and Koreans the same race is dumb (from both a biological and a cultural standpoint), imo.

My ideal list of options:
European
Sub-Saharan African
Middle East/North African
South/Central Asian
East Asian
Native American (US + Canada)*
Native Meso/South American*
Mestizo/Mulatto
Pacific Islander
Australian Aboriginal
Other

*Kept these separate due to historical context. A Mayan moving here tomorrow shouldn't be able to get benefits that go to groups like the Cherokee that were expelled from their land by the US gov.

There's actually enough genetic similarity between all Aboriginal Americans to have that be one group of people. They also have similar historical challenges and are subject to similar patterns of discrimination.

I think that people like Cubans are white. Most of them have all of their ancestry from the north of Spain. I actually dated someone who was like whom you stated. She claimed that she was an "inside out n" because she kind of brown but described herself as white to the Census man.

[bagelman]

All non-Muslims of Caucasoid ancestry.

[America's Sweetheart ❤/𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕭𝖔𝖔𝖙𝖞 𝖂𝖆𝖗𝖗𝖎𝖔𝖗]

All non-Muslims of Caucasoid ancestry.

Wait, so if a white person from Vermont converts to Islam, he's no longer white?

[All Along The Watchtower]

Whomever the police let off easy.

[Beet]

It's a social construct, or at the very least, something subjective (or both.)

The OMB/Census Bureau is the last officially racist instrument of the U.S. government, an official endorsement that the notion of "race" is something real and objective. If ethnic data is needed, let the government ask directly about people's ethnicity (the 2020 census takes one step in this direction, but still asks about race.) It looks like we'll have to wait for the 2030 census for the hope of something non-racist and rational getting an official stamp of approval.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

All non-Muslims of Caucasoid ancestry.

So this woman is not white?

[America's Sweetheart ❤/𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕭𝖔𝖔𝖙𝖞 𝖂𝖆𝖗𝖗𝖎𝖔𝖗]

Whomever the police let off easy.

So basically rich people of any race?

[支持核绿派 (Greens4Nuclear)]

All non-Muslims of Caucasoid ancestry.

TIL Bosnians and Albanians aren't white

[Obama-Biden Democrat]

I know in Canada people from North Africa and the Middle East/West Asia are considered minorities, while in the US they are lumped in as whites.

[The Free North]

It also bears noting that a large portion of South (more so than Central) Americans are also 'White' although the US Census effectively lumps them into another ethnic category all together.

[Person Man]

All non-Muslims of Caucasoid ancestry.

All non-Muslims of Caucasoid ancestry.

TIL Bosnians and Albanians aren't white

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Seriously exclusion based on religion is pretty bizarre. So if I converted to Islam, I'd cease to be white? And most Albanians are not white, but Mother Teresa was simply because she wasn't a Muslim? The communist leaders in Bosnia were white only because they were atheists?

[Rookie Yinzer]

My head hurts.

I chose Option 3.