The Biden admin. has proposed adding a 'Middle Eastern or North African' identifier to official documents like the census. For decades, Americans who trace their origins to these regions have had to choose 'white' or 'other' on government forms.
For decades, Americans who trace their origins to the Middle East and North Africa have had to choose "white" or "other" on the census and other government and business forms.The Biden administration’s proposal to add a “Middle Eastern or North African” identifier, or MENA, to official documents like the census is the latest progress in a decadeslong fight to secure representation for a historically statistically invisible community.
Middle Eastern and North African are included under the"white" category, meaning Americans who trace their origins to those geographical regions have to check “white” or"other" on documents like the census, medical paperwork, job applications and federal assistance forms. "There was a desire to understand how Covid affects certain communities, but if you look at the research done on the MENA community, you'll see that majority of it" wasn't useful, because the community wasn't specifically identified, Berry said."We still don't know how many of us received the Covid vaccine because of this."
Throughout history, MENA Americans have been"on the receiving end of bad policies" like surveillance programs and watchlisting with no way to study those practices because there is no definitive data, Ayoub said. The change proposes to include"Middle Eastern or North African" as a standalone category, with the subcategories Lebanese, Iranian, Egyptian, Syrian, Moroccan and Israeli, according to the document. There would also be a blank space where people would write in how they identify.It isn't the first time the U.S. has concluded that a MENA category is necessary.
Khalaf says it's like déjà vu and wonders why the Biden administration took two years to issue the proposal.
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