From white privilege to civil rights beneficiaries (op-ed)
A long time ago I discovered some Filipinos didn’t like to be called “Asian”. Since I didn’t ask why, my ignorance drew its own conclusions.
At first I figured they were annoyed because most Americans knew nothing of America’s colonization of the Philippines. (From 1898-1946) During that period Filipinos, for better or worse, were “Americanized”, and the term “Asian” rejected their cultural assimilation.
Then I thought it was about the distinction of nationality.
For example, Iraq is in Asia, but no one called Saddam Hussein “Asian”. Furthermore, people from Asian countries from Israel to India aren’t called “Asian” either; they’re referred to by their nationalities.
So the term “Asian” lumped together all the people from the continent’s “far east” disregarding their distinct nationalities. The term “Asian” implied a continental culture that doesn’t exist, or only existed in the imaginations of Americans, making the term more American than foreign.
Then I thought it wasn’t that complex. “Asian” was just a term that avoided mistaking everyone from the “far east” of the continent for Chinese and Filipinos resented the political correctness.
This year American humanitarian efforts were focused on the Syrian civil war and its refugee crisis. And “under current law, people from the Middle East are considered white, the legacy of century-old court rulings in which Syrian Americans argued that they should not be considered Asian -- Because that designation would deny them citizenship under the 1882 Chinese exclusion act.”
So the term “Asian” did have Chinese implications that were not beneficial, and the American white race adopted nationalities from Asia without “far east” Asian features. And during the racial climate of the twentieth century the adoption had its advantages, but now a new option is available.
Recently, the White House announced it is putting forward a proposal to add a new racial category for people from the Middle East and North Africa on the 2020 census. (The 2010 Census defines white as a person having origins in any of the original people of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.) Advocates for the new federal racial classifications believe people with Middle Eastern roots find themselves caught between White, Black, and “Asian”.
Scholars suggest a new Middle East and North African classification is broader than Arab (an ethnicity) and Muslim (a religion), and this classification would stretch from Morocco to Iran. It will include Syrian and Coptic Christians, Israeli Jews and other religious minorities. (It doesn’t include Turkish, Sudanese, or Somali Americans.)
The Arab American Institute stated the new racial category would help these communities feel less invisible. (Were they invisible like Ralph Ellison’s invisible man?) But an Egyptian-American professor said, “If you talk to anybody at the census, they’ll tell you that their job is not to help anybody with their racial or ethnic identity” and “It’s not about identity in the psychological way. It’s about where you fit best on this form.”
And according to the White House the new race box on the census form will be used for policy purposes such as: Enforcing the voting rights act, Drawing political districts, establishing federal affirmative action plans, evaluating claims of employment discrimination, monitoring discrimination in housing, enforcing school desegregation policies, and helping minority-owned small businesses get federal grants and loans.
The Egyptian-American professor concluded, “This could be a great sign of inclusion about what it means to be an American.”
But the future “formally known as white” Nationalities already know what it means to be an American because they were privileged not to know what it meant to be “Asian” or a non-white minority.
First published in the New Pittsburgh Courier 10/12/16
At first I figured they were annoyed because most Americans knew nothing of America’s colonization of the Philippines. (From 1898-1946) During that period Filipinos, for better or worse, were “Americanized”, and the term “Asian” rejected their cultural assimilation.
Then I thought it was about the distinction of nationality.
For example, Iraq is in Asia, but no one called Saddam Hussein “Asian”. Furthermore, people from Asian countries from Israel to India aren’t called “Asian” either; they’re referred to by their nationalities.
So the term “Asian” lumped together all the people from the continent’s “far east” disregarding their distinct nationalities. The term “Asian” implied a continental culture that doesn’t exist, or only existed in the imaginations of Americans, making the term more American than foreign.
Then I thought it wasn’t that complex. “Asian” was just a term that avoided mistaking everyone from the “far east” of the continent for Chinese and Filipinos resented the political correctness.
This year American humanitarian efforts were focused on the Syrian civil war and its refugee crisis. And “under current law, people from the Middle East are considered white, the legacy of century-old court rulings in which Syrian Americans argued that they should not be considered Asian -- Because that designation would deny them citizenship under the 1882 Chinese exclusion act.”
So the term “Asian” did have Chinese implications that were not beneficial, and the American white race adopted nationalities from Asia without “far east” Asian features. And during the racial climate of the twentieth century the adoption had its advantages, but now a new option is available.
Recently, the White House announced it is putting forward a proposal to add a new racial category for people from the Middle East and North Africa on the 2020 census. (The 2010 Census defines white as a person having origins in any of the original people of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.) Advocates for the new federal racial classifications believe people with Middle Eastern roots find themselves caught between White, Black, and “Asian”.
Scholars suggest a new Middle East and North African classification is broader than Arab (an ethnicity) and Muslim (a religion), and this classification would stretch from Morocco to Iran. It will include Syrian and Coptic Christians, Israeli Jews and other religious minorities. (It doesn’t include Turkish, Sudanese, or Somali Americans.)
The Arab American Institute stated the new racial category would help these communities feel less invisible. (Were they invisible like Ralph Ellison’s invisible man?) But an Egyptian-American professor said, “If you talk to anybody at the census, they’ll tell you that their job is not to help anybody with their racial or ethnic identity” and “It’s not about identity in the psychological way. It’s about where you fit best on this form.”
And according to the White House the new race box on the census form will be used for policy purposes such as: Enforcing the voting rights act, Drawing political districts, establishing federal affirmative action plans, evaluating claims of employment discrimination, monitoring discrimination in housing, enforcing school desegregation policies, and helping minority-owned small businesses get federal grants and loans.
The Egyptian-American professor concluded, “This could be a great sign of inclusion about what it means to be an American.”
But the future “formally known as white” Nationalities already know what it means to be an American because they were privileged not to know what it meant to be “Asian” or a non-white minority.
First published in the New Pittsburgh Courier 10/12/16
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