Raja Abdulrahim, Los Angeles Times, March 31, 2009
{snip}
For years the federal government has classified Arab Americans and Middle Easterners as white. But confusion and disagreement have led some students to check “Asian” or “African,” depending on what part of the Middle East they came from. Some, like Salame, simply marked “Other.”
Now several UCLA student groups—including Arabs, Iranians, Afghanis and Armenians—have launched a campaign to add a Middle Eastern category, with various subgroups, to the University of California admissions application. They hope to emulate the Asian Pacific Coalition’s “Count Me In” campaign, which a few years ago successfully lobbied for the inclusion of 23 ethnic categories on the UC application, including Hmong, Pakistani, Native Hawaiian and Samoan.
The UCLA students said having their own ethnic designation goes beyond self-identity and has real implications for the larger Arab and Middle Eastern communities.
The “white” label can hurt them with universities and companies that use the information to promote diversity, they say, and can result in the gathering of little or no statistical data on important issues, such as health trends in the community. Voter-approved Proposition 209 bars California’s public colleges from considering race in admissions.
The Arab American Institute estimates that including Middle Easterners in the white category on the census has led to a population undercount of more than a million, said Helen Samhan, who works at the institute. There are more than 3 million Arabs in the United States, the institute says.
There is no count of Middle Easterners at UCLA. Student groups estimate that there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Persians and Arabs among the more than 40,000 students on campus.
{snip}
Gualtieri is the author of a forthcoming book, “Between Arab and White: Race and Ethnicity in the Early Syrian American Diaspora,” that explores how Syrian immigrants, who were considered Asian, waged a legal battle in the early 1900s to be classified as white and thus eligible for citizenship. At the time some were barred by the courts under the Asian Exclusion Act.
That classification was cemented in the late 1970s when the Office of Management and Budget, a federal agency, listed all Middle Easterners as white.
But in the last few decades there has been a push to establish a separate category as the general population has grown more diverse and because of the possible benefits it could bring.
“Back then, to get rights you needed to be white,” said Yasi Chehroudi, president of the Iranian Student Group, which is helping spearhead the University of California campaign. “Now it helps to be yourself.”
{snip}
Original article
Email
Raja Abdulrahim
at raja.abdulrahim@latimes.com .
(Posted on March 31, 2009)
Comments
I agree. “White,” according to the Federal government is too loosely defined, many mixed-raced Middle Easterners could be counted as white. And I don’t even want to begin with the Hispanics.
If this is successful, I predict that whites as a percentage of the American population in total will seem to take a sharp drop.
Maybe we should prefer “Eurowhite”. I am not a color, and white (or Black for that matter) aren’t even colors. Besides, it’s a very superficial, skin deep way of identifying ourselves. Note that Blacks insist “Black” be capitalized whereas many “whites” don’t seem to care? “Caucasian” sounds too clinical and misleading as to our origin? European American identifies us by origin and nicely sidesteps “racial” red herrings in discussion, but can be cumbersome at times. Eurowhite is a good compromise and points to our uniqueness. It can apply to any of us anywhere in the world.
They should not call Arabs and certain other Middle Easterners, White. They are not ‘White’. Although there are some countries in the Middle East with large numbers of very White appearing people. Iran has many people that are White. So does Lebanon. However Muslims should NOT be classified as ‘White’.
I am of Basque heritage, and I demand that universities and the government recognize me and my people. Basques are the “Black Sheep” of Western Europe and have been second-class citizens for centuries. I’m very upset that there is not a single Department of Basque Studies in any of the numerous University of California campuses, despite the unique Basque culture and language and our innumerable contributions to the USA and the world at large.
Why this continued prejudice and hatred toward us? Why does the establishment continue to “keep us out”? The Basque people need grants, affirmative action hiring, and community programs such as midnight sheep-sheering and boulder-tossing for our youth. Basque History Month? STOP THE HATE!
You know whites are disadvantaged when you see people running away from being white. Next up is a trend of English-speaking white Americans discovering forgotten American Indian ancestors and declaring they don’t have to be white anymore because of the joys of promoting diversity and all the possible benefits it could bring to be suddenly reclassified as a Native American.
“Back then, to get rights you needed to be white,…Now it helps to be yourself.”
When it was beneficial to be considered white, all these Mid-Easterners (and Hispanics) demanded to be classified as white.
Now that it is no longer beneficial to be considered white, these same Mid-Easterners (and Hispanics) demand a separate non-white category.
Can anyone tell me how importing millions of these venal and opportunistic parasites benefits us?
The term “white” has always meant a person of European extraction (a Caucasian from Europe). No more, no less. The US government in recent times has come to expand the definition to mean anyone of Caucasian ancestry, including Caucasians from the Near East, Middle East, Far East, and North Africa. This creative definition is false and dishonest.
There are only two categories necessary: White and To Be Deported.
Seriously, in a free society, it would not be necessary to declare one’s race or ethnicity because the government would not interfere with the natural right of freedom of association. Quotas and token ethnic recognition are tools of the socialists.
To the Basque gentleman: great satirical rant!
Oh yes, the post-racial America. Non-whites are OBSESSED with race.
“Back then, to get rights you needed to be white,” said Yasi Chehroudi, president of the Iranian Student Group,”
Back then, his Grandad hadn’t even thought of getting married yet. He’s been listening to too many profs UCLA.
From the article: “The ‘white’ label can hurt them …” So true, so true.
There are no benefits to being White in a country with a racial spoils system for everyone else but us. What makes this particularly devastating is that our country was founded by Whites for Whites. We are being conquered and we aren’t supposed to notice.
The girl in the picture (original article) could pass for French, Italian, Spanish, Greek, Turkish…
I think the self classification of “race” must be abolished, it’s not a personal thing but scientific. However, some sub-ethnicities might be added such as “Germanic, Celtic, Latin, Slavic, perhaps also Middle Eastern to satisfy those who demand it.
Mike is right. People have been “white” if it’s beneficial.
What about Yorkshiremen? We demand our rights! We have our own unique language (or dialect as some claim) which is incomprehensible to all you foreigners out there. Of course, it’s very difficult to understand us as we rarely speak, casual conversation being considered a waste of time and energy. A simple ‘eh up?’ suffices most of the time, the tone of delivery carries all the deep meaning. A verbal response could trigger an argument so is not called for. A simple nod or shake of the head will do. It is said that a Yorkshireman can buy from a Jew, sell to a Scotsman and make a profit. It is not true that moths live in a Yorkshirewomans purse, her husband would never waste good money on such a triviality and, in any case, he wouldn’t let her have any coins to put in it. We live in little square stone huts and raise ferrets and pigeons. We have excellent recipes for both.
Coming to Arabs, ahem Egyptians,
As I mentioned above, it is down-right
I would like to warn my White brothers and Sisters
They are basically the natives of the Iranian
Iran’s IQ is only 84 nationally.
“The “white” label can hurt them with universities and companies that use the information to promote diversity, they say…”
Translation from PCspeak to English: “White people are discriminated against by racist Affirmative Action laws and regulations, so we don’t want to be counted as White.”
Then I want a “Slavic” category for myself.
It probably is a first step toward gaining diversity quota status.
Dear Yorkshireman at 4:17,
Thanks for your informative post. It made me realize that learning about different cultures can be quite enjoyable. May your people always keep your interesting and unique culture and humor, and not have it destroyed by forced governmental cultural pollution/dilution.
As a taxpaying slave, I have been/am marginalized politically and socially, I have no government representation, I am ruthlessly taxed on/for everything I own, may own or have owned. I am not entitled to free medical, insurance of any kind or welfare benefits, my vote doesn’t count in elections, I can be sued by any and every illegal or other ‘ethnicity’ (a made up word BTW) I am getting to a point where I should be able to retire but better not! I could easily loose or have my home taken from me. Overall, being a white taxpaying slave is not the American dream I was taught about in the school system which my parents had to pay a LOT of money to put me through.
If they do create a “Mideastern” group, then ethnic Jews have as much right to be a part of it (and collect the spoils) as Arabs, Persians and Turks. If they claim (as they certainly will) that “Jewish” is only a religion, then we can claim that “Arab” is only a language. In fact, every time government gets involved in classifying people, ridiculous situations and arbitrary distinctions come up.
I not only think that being white doesn’t get you anywhere today, the Liberals have defamed us so that it is downright embarrassing to be white these days.
This is all going to blow up real soon. Between the economy, corruption, lawlessness, terrorism, immigration and everything in between, we will soon, once again, have a country of our very own (and that means keeping the white sellouts OUT)!!!
So, many people our government considers “white” do not consider themselves to be white. This makes a mockery of liberal claims that racial differences are only skin deep. This must be irksome to our bureaucratic keepers.
Multicultural societies all contain people who are subjects of identity crisis. But that’s only one of many, many problems associated with trying to lump every race together as one, especially as it is done nowadays.
No multicultural society on earth has ever succeeded. When this is brought to the attention of the multicults it is either ignored or they flat out assert that, “this time it will succeed, because we will do a better job of it.
If this US empire is wrecked beyond repair, as it now looks as if it will be, then it is absolutely imperative that we group these multicult types together and conduct in depth studies to determine how a certain segment of the population is susceptible to being fooled so easily, while others can readily see the fabrication behind the basis of social engineering.
If these types and their heirs are forever going to be unable to understand the importance of carrying on their extended families, then they should be banned from inclusion into our society and relocated to the non-white areas.
Situations involving women as in the above story will no longer exist along with the many dozens of other serious problems, crime and stupidity that exists right now.
The fastest and most complete avenue for societal destruction is to include others of different races in a homogeneous society, no matter what races are involved, plus those of one’s own tribe who have affinities for falling prey to gullibility and naivete.
The federal government probably classifies all non-black, non-hispanic and non-asian as “white” to inflate the percentage of “white” people in this country.
Also this inflates the crime statistics of white poeple.
Always remember = the 9/11 hijackers were “white”.
“The “white” label can hurt them with universities and companies that use the information to promote diversity, they say, and can result in the gathering of little or no statistical data on important issues, such as health trends in the community.”
That’s so very, very true.
Being classified as “White” in 21st century America is just as dangerous and detrimental as being classified “Jewish” in 1930’s Germany, “Kulak” in Russia cerca 1918 to 1955 and “Armenian” in early 1900’s Turkey.
“Iran has many people that are White. So does Lebanon. However Muslims should NOT be classified as ‘White’.”
Posted by Awakened at 6:18 PM on March 31
That’s right - but only because Muslim is not a race designation, but a religious one - logic 101.
The girl in the picture (original article) could pass for French, Italian, Spanish, Greek, Turkish…
I think the self classification of “race” must be abolished, it’s not a personal thing but scientific. However, some sub-ethnicities might be added such as “Germanic, Celtic, Latin, Slavic, perhaps also Middle Eastern to satisfy those who demand it.
Mike is right. People have been “white” if it’s beneficial.
Posted by William Cutting at 2:24 AM on April 1
Willliam, contrary to various political declarations, the definately IS a scientific argument for race categories, just as there are for breeds of dogs or any other species with subspecies categories.
The reason that White is no longer desired is because this country (US) has long come past the critical mass where benefits of being White are concerned. Every type of non-white designation in America is “protected” by law and given preferrence to as it turns out - White males. That is why the majority of posters here are White males….. However, the world is also beginning to realize the getting into this country is easier if you are not self-designated as White.
In my view, we should encourage racial/ethnic identity for every ethnic group. What they want, we want: a place of our own (although for each ethnicity, it’s going to be a different place).
When it was beneficial to be white, they all demanded to be classified as white.
Can anyone tell me how importing millions of these venal and opportunistic parasites benefits us?
It’s sort of like having “fair weather friends”, isn’t it?
Glad to know you, when there’s something to gotten. Otherwise, it’s good-bye.
“…Then I want a ‘Slavic’ category for myself…”
Gay Conservative:
While we’re at it, I demand left-handed rights!
We lefties are forced to live in a right-handed world—one which cuts our lives short.
Here are a few things lefties have had to put up with (and we demand redress!):
“…Left-handers were severely discriminated against during the 18th and 19th centuries and it was often ‘beaten out’ of people
-In adulthood, left-handers were often shunned by society, resulting in fewer marrying and reproducing
—Stuttering and dyslexia occur more often in left-handers (particularly if they are forced to change their writing hand as a child)…”
And this:
“…I predict that whites as a percentage of the American population in total will seem to take a sharp drop…”
Posted by Question Diversity at 5:45 PM on March 31
Yes, and they will no longer be able to claim average White IQ of 100 as their own. If they don’t want to be White, no problem—but use your own IQ category!
From Professor Lynn:
“…East Asians—Chinese, Japanese and Koreans—have the highest mean IQ at 105. Europeans follow with an IQ of 100. Some ways below these are the Inuit or Eskimos (IQ 91), South East Asians (IQ 87), Native American Indians (IQ 87), Pacific Islanders (IQ 85), South Asians and North Africans (IQ 84). Well below these come the sub-Saharan Africans (IQ 67) followed by the Australian Aborigines (IQ 62)….”
Bon
“It’s sort of like having “fair weather friends”, isn’t it?”
That brought to mind this quote of Tom Paine’s:
“These are the times that try men’s souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”
When times get really tough, and they will, these super-hyphenated “Americans” will be the first to jump ship.
To think that millions of these aliens could ever be made to identify with America and the historic American people has to be one of the most asinine and far-fetched ideas ever put forth.
In reading the quotes of Tom Paine’s, I just came across this:
“The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion.”
Oh, well…
(www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Thomas_Paine/
I cant believe anyone hasnt linked to this amren issue yet which discusses this very question: http://www.amren.com/ar/2002/01/index.html
Guess what: the USA is already at 50% white right now, 41 years before 2050.
WRT that girl, the image is too low resolution to make up what she would be classified as, but arabs do not look like white people. The populations of France, Italy, Greece and other mediterranian nations have some non white admixture and thats why there are such looking people there, its also why they are perpetual organizational and economical basket cases compared to f.ex Germany or Denmark. Its not only fair hair and blue eyes that are recessive white genetic traits, there are also recessive white personality traits and these quickly become extremely scarce once the population has been corrupted by non whites.
I lived in Los Angeles 30 years ago when the first flood of those people got here. As drivers, they were dangerously aggressive. I was nearly picked off a couple of times, missed by inches. As pedestrians, they were arrogant and insulting, strolling across streets and blocking traffic, knowing that the infidels didn’t have the sense to run them down. They rioted at UCLA in favor of the Ayatolla, and Jimmy Carter didn’t have the guts to deport the ones arrested. Their contempt for Whites was, and I imagine still is, infinite. Of course, they have the usual Middle Eastern cultural habit of dishonesty in all dealings with people other than their own.
The populations of France, Italy, Greece and other mediterranian nations have some non white admixture and thats why there are such looking people there, its also why they are perpetual organizational and economical basket cases compared to f.ex Germany or Denmark. Its not only fair hair and blue eyes that are recessive white genetic traits, there are also recessive white personality traits and these quickly become extremely scarce once the population has been corrupted by non whites.
____
Gee, are you familiar with this website?
http://tinyurl.com/cj7eg2
or that: http://tinyurl.com/cwk6tu
Non-white admixture in Southern Europe is always exaggerated for political reasons. None of those countries are more mixed than Russians (uralic mixed), Finns (significant haplogroup N carriers) or Deep South Americans (Amerindian mixed).
Fair hair and blue eyes are not recessive. Blue eyed parents can get a brown eyed baby although it’s not common.
Believe me, genetics are far more complicated what you’ve learned at the school:
Most of us learned the model for determining eye color that G.C. Davenport and C.B. Davenport devised in 1907. The Davenport model wrongly says brown eye color is always dominant over blue eye color, which means that two blue-eyed parents always have blue-eyed kids. We know better now.
“Although not common, two blue-eyed parents can produce children with brown eyes,” says Richard A. Sturm, a Principal Research Fellow at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia.
Eye color is a complex trait that depends on the state of several interacting genes. The gene that usually decides the issue (blue eyes or brown eyes) is the OCA2 gene on chromosome 15. But it comes in different strengths. A person with a weak form of the OCA2 gene will have blue eyes. Likewise a person with a strong form will have brown eyes.
The plot thickens, though, because an individual also has other eye-color genes that each has a say in the final eye-color outcome. For example, if one of these lesser genes is strong, it can make the weak form (blue) of OCA2 work much more effectively — almost like the strong form (brown). Then the eye color may be a light brown or muddy grey. In fact, the resulting color can be any shade of brown, hazel/green, or blue depending on the strengths of the interactions.
If they claim (as they certainly will) that “Jewish” is only a religion, then we can claim that “Arab” is only a language.
Ooops! That’s already been accomplished.
Multicultural societies all contain people who are subjects of identity crisis. But that’s only one of many, many problems associated with trying to lump every race together as one, especially as it is done nowadays. No multicultural society on earth has ever succeeded.
In America, whites comprised by far the dominant group until fairly recently. Our culture and standards prevailed. But when we are reduced to a minority, who will rule? Will there by ANY dominant group at all? Or will there be utter chaos among a babble of rivals?
I think the self classification of “race” must be abolished, it’s [should not be] a personal thing, but scientific.
Mike is right. People have been “white” if it’s beneficial.
Willliam, contrary to various political declarations, the definately IS a scientific argument for race categories, just as there are for breeds of dogs or any other species with subspecies categories.SELF -CLASSIFICATION”.
In the past, plenty of people wanted to be white. Now, plenty of people want NOT to be white! Their personal aspirations cannot be considered scientific.
“but arabs do not look like white people.”
Let me disagree. It depends which ones you’re “looking” at. I think that true Arabs, original Arabs do “look white”. Or, at least they are Caucasion (if you wish to make a distinction, limiting “whites” to Europeans). However, during their long expansionist history as a conquering people, they have absorbed the genes of many other groups, some of them non-white, producing a complex mix today that is greater or lesser in various places, depending on their geography (as well as social class).
There should really be three categories replacing the former “white” - North European, North Mediterranian and South Mediterranian, each with progressively dropping IQ scores and increased swarthyness and dysfunctionality. The US “White” IQ score is very likely lowered a bit by the inclusion of non whites into the white category, in real life there are next to no differences between North Asians and North Europeans.
Information Insurgent brings up a good point, as we’re always hearing about the avg. IQ of Koreans, Japanese and other E. Asians being 103 - 105 and higher than the “White” average of 100. Yet Northern Europeans, Germans, Poles, Norwegians etc. all have averages of 104 - 108 according to Richard Lynn, who’s also quoted above regarding E. Asian IQ. I think there should be different IQ “averages” for different European groups, as E. Asians are allowed to have theirs kept separate from SE Asians but N. Europeans are lumped in with Turks, etc who have averages of 90, dropping the average down quite a bit. I’ve always thought this was a slight attempt at political correctness by Lynn and others, as they then could say they weren’t calling (a group of) Whites smartest in terms of avg IQ. But their own work shows otherwise. (Some have accused Lynn of having a bias against certain European groups because of historical political leanings among the British, but I don’t know if that’s true or not) Anyway, the fact is that in the US (and some say parts of Britain, Ireland, Spain, Italy, France) many scores from people who aren’t really White are lumped into the “White” average. The L.A. City School system does this then denies it in the same breath. It’s along the lines of the FBI classifying latino crime victims as “Hispanic” but latino criminals as “white”.
By the way, there is a difference in IQ structure between N. Europeans and E. Asians even though the averages are about the same. The strength and weaknesses of the two groups are different, on average, but both groups are far above blacks and the different groups that come under the heading of “latino” in the US. The US doesn’t need any of these people. What it needs is a reversal of the Immigration Act of 1965, jokingly referred to as the “plan to tan America” by some of the authors of that legislation. No, Ted Kennedy did not write it. He was a paid sponsor.
If it is accepted that Chinese and Koreans and Japanese can immediately tell each other apart, why isn’t it accepted that American Whites can do the same? When I see Middle Easterners, I can tell immediately that they don’t look like the White people that I grew up among. Give them DNA tests if you like, but I’ll bet that it would only confirm my visual judgement.
