Arabs seek MENA 'race' category in 2020 US Census

[mota bhai 2,675]

by Haya El Nasser

December 17, 2013

...

In the face of an increasingly multiracial and multiethnic population that no longer fits neatly into traditional classifications set by the government, the Census Bureau has been testing major changes in how it asks people to identify their race and ethnicity.

...

The line between race and ethnicity has become artificial, said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., and the author of an upcoming book on the nation’s diversity. “What’s the definition of race? It’s not nationality. It’s not skin color, necessarily,” he said. “It’s sort of a mishmash.”

Last summer, the Arab American Institute sent a letter signed by 30 advocacy groups asking the Census Bureau and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which sets race standards, to create a MENA (Middle East and North Africa) category.

Nicholas Jones, chief of the Census racial-statistics branch, calls the letter “historic.”

Several populations are clamoring for their own categories, but, Jones said, “it’s the only group we’ve received a letter from requesting a separate ethnicity box.”

...

Two-thirds of Arab-Americans are concentrated in 10 states, with one-third in California (260,000), Michigan (159,000) and New York (153,000), according to statistics from the American Community Survey published on Tuesday.

...

“The majority are being classified as white,” said Jaber, a member of a Census advisory committee. “Even Egyptians and North Africans. The rest are falling under ‘other race.’ So the numbers on Arab-Americans are extremely inaccurate, and there is a huge undercount.”

Source: Al Jazeera America

Edited December 18, 2013 by mota bhai

[GandD 5,966]

I love your surveys. (Not getting me to say I love your polls) ........................................... ####

[mota bhai 2,675]

I love your surveys. (Not getting me to say I love your polls) ........................................... ####

That's what she said!

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

We are only going to create a color blind society by further Balkanization. How can you celebrate diversity unless you continuously create new ways to define how different we all are from each other?

[Janelle2002 3,865]

I want a category that says black with no ties to Africa, but don't want to be called black. I want to be called American added to the surveys and employment applications.