U.S. census moves closer to give Middle Easterners an alternative to ‘white’ for the first time
By JANET ADAMY
The Wall Street Journal
The U.S. Census Bureau on Tuesday moved toward counting Middle Eastern people in the country for the first time, setting up a potential clash over how much the federal government knows about Americans from that part of the world.
In a report suggesting changes to 2020 Census forms, the bureau called for adding a new “Middle Eastern or North African” category designed to count those in the U.S. who identify as one of about 19 nationalities, including Iranian, Syrian, Lebanese, Egyptian and Israeli. Currently such people declare themselves as “white” on the surveys.
Arab-American groups have pushed for a so-called MENA category for years, and some said Tuesday they were pleased to see it move closer to reality. But they also voiced concerns that Middle Easterners may be reluctant to check any box for fear of being stigmatized.
The Census Bureau also called for creating a new scheme that counts Hispanics as a broad category in line with races like white and black. The agency noted that research showed nearly half of Hispanic respondents hadn’t identified within any of the current federal race categories.
The Census Bureau recommendations come at a moment of heightened national focus. The Trump administration is seeking to temporarily restrict citizens of seven Muslim-majority nations—Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Somalia and Sudan—from entering the U.S.
