The United States Bureau of the Census (U.S. Census Bureau) plans to test a “Middle Eastern or North African” (MENA) category box for possible inclusion in the 2020 Census. The box – if adopted – will afford Arab Americans, with an estimated population of six million, the unprecedented opportunity to identify as MENA and dis-identify as white if they so choose. "Make Us Count," a study published by the Campaign to Take on Hate, outlines the structure of the MENA box, and its forecasted benefits and the perils it poses to Arab Americans.
Currently, Arab Americans are legally classified as white, although societal racism, state surveillance and policing functionally deems them as national security threats, prospective terrorists, and “others.” In short, in many ways the vast majority of Arab Americans are white without privilege – classified as such but burdened with many of the challenges, stigmas and struggles of minority status. While segments of the Arab American milieu have, in part, assimilated into whiteness – or gained an “off-white” status – the majority are still classified as other and treated as pariah.
The proposed MENA category would materially reform the legal classification and conception of Arab American identity. First, the proposal would redact “Middle East and North Africa” from the preexisting white category.
Second, it would shift these geographic designations into a standalone MENA category; as one of eight options an applicant may choose from while filling out the 2020 U.S. Census. If adopted, MENA American will be included as a separate box along with White; Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin; Black or African American; Asian; American Indian or Alaska Native; Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander; and Some Other Race. Instead of being submerged into a generic and amorphous “white” category, Arab Americans will have the opportunity to select a standalone box that explicitly includes it as a broader group.
Third, the proposed MENA designation, like its seven counterparts, would be supplemented with a fillable box, allowing the applicant to “print specific ethnicities” that fall within the broader (racial or ethnic) classification. As a result, it will enable applicants to identify along new ethnic or racial terms and, in addition, specify which subgroup or nationality they belong to. Arab American applicants would be able to write in “Arab American” or “Moroccan American,” for instance, into the fillable box. And, therefore, articulate their identities in the manner they see fit, in addition to identifying broadly as MENA. The proposed framework enables individuals to identify as specifically as they like and as broadly as they choose.
The US Census Bureau is currently testing the new category. Arab Americans are, overwhelmingly, supportive of the MENA Box because of the economic, existential, political legal benefits it will extend. As illustrated in my recent White Paper for the Campaign to Take on Hate, "Make Us Count," Arab American grassroots support for the proposed box is also strong. However, in addition to the anticipated benefits, criticism of the box has focused on the possibility of enhanced profiling and policing of (an already vulnerable) population, made possible with more "precise and comprehensive" demographic data.
While the benefits Arab Americans stand to gain with the MENA box are clear, and a number of possible perils coming to fore during the protracted "War on Terror," a population long imagined as "other" may have the option – in 5 years – to choose a racial classification that corresponds with their lived reality.