I wonder if fans of the show “24” on Fox would classify Dina Araz, mother of the suburban family terrorist cell, as “white.”
Somehow I doubt it.
To be perfectly honest, I worry about beginning with such a statement. It highlights differences instead of similarities, and almost encourages a type of “profiling” that inevitably leads to stereotyping and other negative connotations of the word.
At the same time, I am wholly uncomfortable with being classified as “white.” However, on surveys, I usually have no option, as the option “white” is followed by “(including Middle Eastern).”
The problem begins with awkward definitions. The choices on surveys combine physical features with geographical lineage (white/Caucasian, black/African American), or ethnicity with race (Chicano/Mexican American), and some categories are purely geographical.
Not only are surveys inconsistent in their categories, but so are the students who answer them. Out of the nine students I interviewed, each had his or her own idea of what the survey was asking, and correspondingly, what its purpose was.
Some understood it to concern physical features, as directly consequential of racial and genetic heritage. Some considered it a question of geographical origin. Others considered it in terms of cultural or socio-cultural affinity.
With so many factors to consider, even I often sit and ponder the question, though it should really take less than a few seconds to mark.
I am a Middle Easterner with fair-colored features. Though my features aren’t exactly Nordic or Anglican in structure, before I wore the scarf people assumed I was white.
The same applies to Sarkis Oganesyan, the third-year vice president of the Armenian Student Association. He felt proud of the fact. He emphasized “the fact that Armenians were one of the original eight Aryan nations; we used to be exactly like white people.” For him, it wasn’t an issue of superiority, he said, but one of fundamental lineage.
That definition is loaded with issues, however. For example, in the old world, the Middle East was the crossroads of trade. As a result, Middle Easterners are a mix of different influences and racial heritages. Race, after all, is in part a social construction – and like most social constructions, ambiguous in nature.
Basing a racial survey on geographical considerations involves the same limitations, to a higher degree. Where are the boundaries of the Middle East? Even WorldAtlas.com, the CIA Factbook and classic scholarly thought disagree. Which distinction is correct, and who should be the authority on the subject?
And how fair would it be for an Egyptian to declare himself “African” even though his historical disadvantage in the U.S. is not comparable to that of blacks?
Second-year Middle Eastern/North African studies student Dina Abdel-Chehata, an Egyptian, says she feels declaring herself “African” is deceiving and untrue to her own heritage. She says she dislikes categorizing herself to begin with, as “it robs you of your identity.”
I wholeheartedly agree, but the issue is still complex. “White” is in the U.S. what the biggest drawer in my desk has become – a place to haphazardly throw things in that are difficult to be categorized. As the Armenian Student Association’s Oganesyan realized, “in itself, if you put down ‘white’ ... it’s too broad; that’s why so many nationalities fit under its umbrella.”
Still, if white is the default category, what is the purpose of the “other” category? Why does it not say “white (including other)” instead of “white (including Middle Eastern)”? The practice on the U.S. Census is to consider any written entries claiming Middle Eastern heritage as “white”. This causes inflation of the white category.
For example, consider Orange County. It has a large white population and a large Middle Eastern population. The diversity is easily overlooked, however, as both are considered white on the Census.
Some of those I interviewed feared being labeled as Middle Eastern because of the stigma now attached to the categorization. They equate it with racial profiling attempts, and I am sympathetic to that worry. At some level, however, you cannot escape the human drive to compartmentalize.
Moreover, we need better categorization for the simple reason that I would like to know the progress we have made in the United States. In our post-Sept. 11, 2001 world, I would like to know the effects on income, population distribution, education and the choices of profession that people from the Middle East have encountered.
That is impossible to do as long as we are forced to be something we are not – white. When we are covered by the media as the norm instead of the foreign, when scholars study us as a natural U.S. phenomenon instead of a new topic, I might consider coming to terms with not being racially distinct.
But for now, I want to be recognized. I want statistics that reflect reality, not politics.
Feel lost or cozy in the big default drawer? E-mail Hashem at nhashem@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.