A Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) category could be added to US federal surveys and censuses, after government advisory panel has recommended approving a longstanding demand.
The United States presents White, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander.
Arab-Americans have long been counted as “white” in the United States’ racial identification systems, as all official forms don’t have a Middle Eastern or Arab option.
But Middle Eastern and Arab American activists have been campaigning for the addition of a new category, since many do not identify with the “white“ description.
A working group of US representatives and officials called for adding “a response category for Middle Eastern and North African, separate and distinct from the ‘White’ category,” in preliminary recommendations released on Thursday.
Among the countries of origin that would get a check for the MENA category would be Lebanon, Iran, Egypt, Syria, Morocco and Israel, the notice said.
The working group said their proposals were “preliminary,” and that they don’t yet reflect the official standards of the federal government, reports ABC.
However, officials pushing for this change are asking the public and MENA diaspora in the US to engage in this request.
“We want to hear from the people,” Karin Orvis, the US chief statistician says, giving the communities until mid-April to submit comments.
If this change is implemented, it would be the first since 1997, when the US government accepted two modifications: the Asian or Pacific Islander category will be separated into two categories, “Asian” and “Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander,” and the term “Hispanic” will be changed to “Hispanic or Latino.”
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