Race question in N400

[meod 0]

Part 5 in N400 that asks about race?

I m not White, Asian, Black or African American, American Indian or Native Alaskan, Native Hawaiian or other Pasific Islander. im non of the above, Im from Northen African with dark skin. what should i put in there? or should i just leave it blank?

Thank you.

[Lona.C. 16]

Part 5 in N400 that asks about race?

I m not White, Asian, Black or AFRICAN AMERICAN, American Indian or Native Alaskan, Native Hawaiian or other Pasific Islander. im non of the above, Im from Northen African with dark skin. what should i put in there? or should i just leave it blank?

Thank you.

my guess is

[Dise 1]

Part 5 in N400 that asks about race?

I m not White, Asian, Black or African American, American Indian or Native Alaskan, Native Hawaiian or other Pasific Islander. im non of the above, Im from Northen African with dark skin. what should i put in there? or should i just leave it blank?

Thank you.

Regardless, you are African, so Black should be right. There are light skinned blacks all over the globe

[Redneck-NOVA 1]

Part 5 in N400 that asks about race?

I m not White, Asian, Black or African American, American Indian or Native Alaskan, Native Hawaiian or other Pasific Islander. im non of the above, Im from Northen African with dark skin. what should i put in there? or should i just leave it blank?

Thank you.

If you are of Arabic decent, I think you should put "white". If you are of Negroid decent, you should put "african american".

I understand you are not american yet, but the term "african american" is misleading at best and outright stupid at worst. The correct antropological term for this race is in fact "negroid", but years of liberal retardation labeled this term as "racist" comparing it to the actually offensive "n" word. That's how politically correct term "african american" emerged. However this term is clearly retarded and a black person coming from Africa who is not an American is clearly not an "african american" so there is no accurate category for him/her to use. Even non-sceintific term "black" is more accurate in this regard and should not be any more offensive than "white" applied to white people. But, PC culture removed even this last bit of sense from many government forms.

Sorry for the rant, hope it was helpful.

[JewryandJessica 0]

mmm maybe you should attache a sheet of paper explaining that you don't fit in any of the categories, and explain why or you can call USCIS and ask an operator what you should do in your case

[meod 0]

Part 5 in N400 that asks about race?

I m not White, Asian, Black or African American, American Indian or Native Alaskan, Native Hawaiian or other Pasific Islander. im non of the above, Im from Northen African with dark skin. what should i put in there? or should i just leave it blank?

Thank you.

Regardless, you are African, so Black should be right. There are light skinned blacks all over the globe

i look like Hispanic but im not hispanic im from Algeria, we are not black, we are Arabs.

[jpaula 20]

My husband is also from Algeria and has been told to check "white." I know it seems odd, but the US Gov't places people from the Middle East and N Africa in this category. I am sure there is a better source than this, but...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_ethnicity_in_the_United_States_Census

See the part under Census 2000.

[NickD 203]

Seems to be a common problem, wife is of German descent, but in a Spanish speaking country so could also be Hispanic by cultural definition. Was tempted to type in, see attached photo, but selected both white and Hispanic. Actually, the only "white" person I have ever seen, was a ghost, but was actually a kid with a sheet over his head. KKK is also all white. Just another crazy question to maul over.

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

And had Senator Kerry won the presidential race, we would have had the first white African American First Lady, as Mrs. Kerry is originally from South Africa, yet a naturalized USC. So much for the politically correct BS we have to put up with.

[antda 13]

Hi Everyone,

Oh yeah, I totally understand about this situation, as I myself have had to deal with stuff like this...

For example, my parents and grandparents are mixed races, my former maiden last name sounds/looks like one race, I was born in another country that is of another race, I grew up in another country with another race, and am now living in another country with another race....So let's see..that's many different backgrounds and races, and three different countries for me...What boxes do I check off? Lol...makes my life too complicated....And it sure confuses a lot out of people (and a lot of interesting questions along the way too from a lot of people...lol....)! "I'm multicultural!", I like to say to everyone!

"What's the big deal about asking about race and country of origin, here in America?".....

I mean, overall, does it really matter what one's skin colour, ethnic background, country of origin, etc.? Why the need to categorize everyone in such a way? Seems kind of discriminatory, which is in contradiction of the American value of "equality to all"....

Ok, in situations like this, I find myself checking off the box "prefer not to answer", as a lot of other forms have such an option...

Though on the N-400 form, there is no such option...

So I checked of more than one box (I think I checked off 2-3 boxes total).....

And I also added the following box on my own, since they did not have such an option..."prefer not to answer- discriminatory question".....

Needless to say, it raised an eyebrow or two during my citizenship interview yesterday...

(I'll explain about that when I finish writing up about my interview experience review...)

My point is: When checking off the box, check off as many boxes as you can that accurately describes you...

Let them figure out as to what answer they really want..No harm done in saying that you are "more than one race" and "multicultural"....

Hope this helps. Good luck on the rest of your immigration journey too.

Ant

Part 5 in N400 that asks about race?

I m not White, Asian, Black or African American, American Indian or Native Alaskan, Native Hawaiian or other Pasific Islander. im non of the above, Im from Northen African with dark skin. what should i put in there? or should i just leave it blank?

Thank you.

Edited November 19, 2009 by Ant+D+A

[internetkafe 0]

I do not understand why the government wants to see Middle Eastern people as white because that is not true. Perhaps in order to keep the number of minority people limited to few privileged groups? Whenever I am asked my race on a form, I put Asian,not white.

It is up to you whatever you want to put there.No one (incl. the government) can force you to declare this way or that way.

[internetkafe 0]

My husband is also from Algeria and has been told to check "white." I know it seems odd, but the US Gov't places people from the Middle East and N Africa in this category. I am sure there is a better source than this, but...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_ethnicity_in_the_United_States_Census

See the part under Census 2000.

I would have put 'African' there.No one can tell you how to define yourself.

[Redneck-NOVA 1]

I do not understand why the government wants to see Middle Eastern people as white because that is not true. Perhaps in order to keep the number of minority people limited to few privileged groups? Whenever I am asked my race on a form, I put Asian,not white.

It is up to you whatever you want to put there.No one (incl. the government) can force you to declare this way or that way.

Well, once again, from strict sceintific standpoint there are only 3 races:

- Caucasian (Indo-european), which includes native Europeans, Middle Easterners (both Arabs, non-Arab muslims and Jews) and Indians.

- Negroid, which includes native Africans (except Arabs of North Africa) and natives of Australia.

- Mongoloid, which includes Asians, Pacific Islanders, Native Americans (American Indians), and some small northern Nations such as Escimos.

In this strict definition, Middle Easterner would be considered of Caucasian race. However, the way this question is presented on most US forms is not accurate. This list is really a mix of races (such as Black or Asian) and ethnicities/ethnic origins (such as Hispanic or Pacific Islander) which are either part of one of the separately mentioned races or a mix of such.

That creates most of the confusion - while people of Mongoloid race get to choose between Asian, Hispanic and Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, basically based of their country of origin; Middle Easterners, Indians and people of native European decent get all piled up in one broad category "White". Plus, as Ant+D+A mentioned above, there is no accomodation for people of mixed race.

Some forms go even further into the world of PC nonsense and feature such ridiculous terms as "White (non-Hispanic)" or "Black (except Black Hispanic)" and so on. This just makes my head hurt...

[internetkafe 0]

Redneck-NOVA,

Indo-European is also the name of the family of languages, is not it? Turkish is not in this group of languages, therefore can not we say Turks are not Indo-European/Caucasian/White for example? As far as I know Turkish language belongs to Altay subcategory of Ural/Altay/Altai family of languages. More 'Mongoloid', more Asian.That is why I want to put Asian on forms' race box.Or Eurasian maybe. As you said, there is a group 'Pacific Islander', that is not a race.

I wonder what Jewish people think on this issue.Do they have to mark 'white' also?

Edited November 20, 2009 by internetkafe