Posted on 12/17/2009 9:20:07 AM PST by NativeNewYorker
DEARBORN, Mich., Dec. 17 (UPI) -- Ethnic groups, especially Arab-Americans, say the U.S. census all but eliminates any way of distinguishing their background by simply classifying them as white. "It's unfair because we are not treated as white in society and by the government, but we also don't qualify as minorities to get the benefits of some programs" such as minority contracts, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee Regional Director Imad Hamad said. The concern arose because, for the first time, the regular 2010 U.S. census form eliminates a question asking people about their ancestry. Government officials say they shortened the form so more people would fill it out than in previous decades. The U.S. Census Bureau considers anyone with Middle Eastern roots, for instance, as white. "That's just weird to me," said Khadigah Alasry, 23, whose parents were born in Yemen. Alasry of Dearborn, Mich., has light-brown skin and told the Detroit Free Press she doesn't consider herself white.
"There is no such thing as white culture," said Thaddeus Radzilowski, president of the Piast Institute, a Polish-American group near Detroit.
Having the ancestry question "provides a better notion of our pluralistic society and who we are," the newspaper quoted him as saying.
"We're aware of the problems with the census," U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, a Chinese-American, told an Arab-American group in Dearborn, Mich. "But we still need you to participate."
Locke, whose department oversees the Census Bureau, said the ancestry question remained on the American Community Survey, sent to some 250,000 addresses monthly to replace the decennial census' long form.
They have a point. We have the category of non-Hispanic whites so Hispanic whites can get benefits like affirmative action and minority business set asides. 54% of Hispanics self-classify themselves as white.
Why should Hispanic whites (the 54% who describe themselves as white including those coming from Spain) deserve minority status?
I watch the Spanish channel. Blond hair. Blue eyes. They sure look White to me. In fact, they speak a language very close to Italian. And we are White.
Theordore Roosevelt
This is from that nutjob at harvard who is upset that “whites” have not balkanized into various victim groups.
This is racist. I guess they just don’t want to be lumped in with whitey who doesn’t get all the free goodies and preferential treatment. Ah, we’ve come a long way.
Why should a white raised biracial with no slave blood (other than slave owning and trading) benefit?
If we continue to give government benefits to people on the basis of ethnicity, gender, and race, is it any wonder that various groups want to be included? I don't blame the Arabs or Muslims for wanting a piece of the action. The problem is the public policy that bestows these benefits and the American people for supporting them.
Because that is the law. We have the one drop rule. Why should a non-existent group like Hispanics be accorded benefits? Or Asians? Or newly arrived immigrants?
Hispanic American” means a person having origins in any of the Spanish-speaking peoples of Mexico, South or Central America, or the Caribbean Islands or other Spanish or Portuguese cultures and who is regarded as such by the community of which this person claims to be a part.
Let’s change our discriminatory laws that give special rights and benefits based on gender, race, and ethnicity and then you might have less hyphens.
Some whiteys do get “free goodies and preferential treatment.” The 54% of Hispanics who self-describe themselves as white.
You don’t want to attract the attention of the Government, FRiend.
Have her get certifications and then she can get a solid job and work her way through school.
Why not check the box next to “Asian?” Sure, Middle Eastern’s not what most people think of when you hear “Asian,” but it’s not technically inaccurate.
“”It’s unfair because we are not treated as white in society and by the government, but we also don’t qualify as minorities to get the benefits of some programs” such as minority contracts”
Lots of white folk in my area get minority scholarships to attend the local black university.
“White isn’t an ethnicity. A Fleming isn’t a Macedonian.”
This German Scotch-Irish Slovenian agrees.
;^)
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