To your point: "I have no idea where NAAP-NY's statement came from, or what they think they're doing in advocating for this. I do think this is fascinating--that it's right to code oneself as non-white, as if it might make a difference."
The reasons NAAP, AAI, ACCESS and most of the national Arab-American organizations are asking for Arabs in America to count themselves as 'other' and not 'white' is
1) We are a diverse group that custs across racial/ethnic lines as defined in America and our numbers should reflect that
2) because organizations will have the opportunity to request data cuts of the census results to identify 'other' sub-categories.
Yes, the census automatically categorizes Arabs, Middle Easterners as white, however if we do not count ourselves under the 'other' category, we'll have no data set to pull from and our numbers will never be reflective of the reality - which has been a huge barrier in moving our community forward when it comes to government engagement, funding etc...
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NAAP and Census Statement
Date: 2010-03-19 04:53 pm (UTC)To your point: "I have no idea where NAAP-NY's statement came from, or what they think they're doing in advocating for this. I do think this is fascinating--that it's right to code oneself as non-white, as if it might make a difference."
The reasons NAAP, AAI, ACCESS and most of the national Arab-American organizations are asking for Arabs in America to count themselves as 'other' and not 'white' is
1) We are a diverse group that custs across racial/ethnic lines as defined in America and our numbers should reflect that
2) because organizations will have the opportunity to request data cuts of the census results to identify 'other' sub-categories.
Yes, the census automatically categorizes Arabs, Middle Easterners as white, however if we do not count ourselves under the 'other' category, we'll have no data set to pull from and our numbers will never be reflective of the reality - which has been a huge barrier in moving our community forward when it comes to government engagement, funding etc...
Thank you!