If you weren’t aware, the U.S. classifies people of Middle East and/or North African descent as white. Yes, the U.S. Census defines white as “a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.” However, white privilege does not extend to Arabs and Arab Americans. Arabs and Arab Americans are routinely scrutinized and are common targets for racism, Islamophobia, and other forms of abuse.

 

This has increased surveillance in the community by official U.S. government agencies.

These surveillance operations may have occurred in your own neighborhood or near you. 

America prides and brands itself as the land of the free, where people can come from different parts of the world and become valued and free members of society. This ideal view of the country couldn’t be more untrue. Communities of color systematically receive fragmented pieces of the American Dream. To the Arab and Arab-American community, they are told, yes, you’re an American (with unequal representation and constant demonization). Overall, this treatment creates the condition of being invisible and hyper-visible at the same time. 

Arab and Arab-American culture and heritage is diverse and unique. It does not deserve to be sandwiched into a racial category that is so opposite of itself. We deserve better. Therefore, how can we as a society push for an inclusive and significant change? And what do you do when the college of your choosing and the U.S. government does not recognize your race/ethnicity?

 In recent years, people have proposed that the category Middle Eastern and North African, also known as MENA, should be added as a new racial category in the U.S. Census. This category is designed for Arabs and shows the range of roots of the Arab identity. Maybe people will finally learn that not all Arabs are from the Middle East! But I digress. 

What is #CountMENAIn ?

How does one go about creating inclusion for a severely discriminated and ignored group of people? Students and staff members of the Arab-American Cultural Center at UIC are confronting this issue. The Arab-American Cultural Center (ArabAmCC) is one of the seven cultural centers at UIC which was founded in 2016. It is also currently the only Arab-American cultural center at a U.S. college campus. The ArabAmCC provides Arab and Arab-American students resources and support during their time at UIC. The ArabAmCC is not blind to the blatant white-washing of the MENA people. Keeping the issue in mind, ArabAmCC launched the #CountMENAIn campaign on February 2nd, 2021. The campaign demands for the University of Illinois system to provide a MENA racial category on “student records, job and internship applications, the Banner program used by the U of I system, student surveys, scholarships, grants, and university reports.”

 I spoke to Sarah Hassan, a lead campaigner at the ArabAmCC, about the campaign and the center’s efforts. Sarah, like many people on the team, has a personal connection to the campaign. She once wanted to apply to a UIC research initiative. Like the majority of research and scholarship applications, applicants are asked about their demographic information. The application populated Sarah’s demographic information from UIC records, which listed her as white.  

Now, Sarah does not identify as white, she identifies as Arab/North African. She went to an office at the university for help on what she should do with the application. The official offered no help and said she had to mark herself down as white. Though Sarah did receive the research opportunity, the overall experience left Sarah feeling that her identity was erased. 

Racial identity markers play a big role and affect our chances at success — whether we recognize it or not. By checking the white racial category box, many Arabs and Arab-Americans are confined to this category without white privilege and no real representation.  College students are especially hurt by this as college is a pivotal time for one’s career.  Within the last twenty years, many universities, companies, and scholarships have created specific career opportunities for students of color in an attempt to diversify fields and finally try to balance the scale of success among their white counterparts. Because of this rigid classification, Arab and Arab-American students can’t apply to these programs and/or have a harder time proving that they are in fact people of color and deserve to have their application considered. 

Sarah and other campaigners understand that identity is personal. Sarah interviewed approximately 40 Arab and Arab-American students at the University of Illinois system about their experiences at school and their identity beyond campus. The majority of students expressed the sentiment of not being represented or heard by the administration. The ArabAmCC drafted a solidarity letter, where supporters could sign their name in support for the resolution, and presented the demands to the Undergraduate Student Government. To further gauge student opinions and create a discourse about the topic at hand, the ArabAmCC held a town hall on March 2nd, where students of the U of I system could share their experiences about being a MENA student. 

The ArabAmCC has also been sharing Instagram posts with Arab students sharing what MENA means to them and their experiences as an Arab and Arab student. UIC highlights itself as being a diverse school, which is true if you go on campus. In fact, UIC was the first university where I could constantly hear Arabic on campus in all its wonderful dialects. If UIC wants to continue to push for diversity, then the university has to commit to truly supporting and recognizing all of their students. 

What does the implementation of the MENA category mean for the ArabAmCC? 

Everything. 

With the establishment of MENA, the cultural center would be able to better assess students with proper documents where students can correctly identify themselves. The cultural center will also be able to know how many MENA students visit the center and understand what these students need. These needs may take the form of financial aid, academic support, career development, and counseling. Using the goal of acknowledging and accounting for MENA students, the cultural center can also get to know their students better by asking about students’ majors, colleges, and career goals. With these responses, the cultural center can best tailor their services to best fit the community. All in all, this category aids both the cultural center’s staff and students. Forget the analytical benefits, implementing the category is a major step towards real representation and truly embracing diversity.

Was The Team Able to Break Through? 

Yes, the team was able to accomplish several goals!  I also had the chance to speak with Dr. Zeina Zaatari, the Director of ArabAmCC, about the accomplishments and engagements the team had. She told me that UIC has agreed to the following initiatives: MENA category will appear in the Banner program, MENA will be included in graduate school applications, and MENA will be included in student surveys and the Office of Diversity’s Equity Dashboard. Dr. Zaatari also reported that during the campaign, the team was also able to share their work with various colleges and non-UIC affiliates, like the City of Chicago’s Department of Housing, Deans of Law Schools across IL, and the Chancellor of City College. The campaign also resonated with individuals and organizations, as over 600 individuals and 20 organizations signed the solidarity letter.  Now, is there more work to be done for the MENA community at UIC? Absolutely. The MENA community is still in need of vital resources and opportunities, as do all of UIC’s communities. Yet, these accomplishments and the team’s work sets the path for the real representation and understanding of the MENA community. 

Moving MENA beyond Halsted Street and the Blue Line

We live in a data-focused world, where Arabs and Arab-Americans are deemed statistically insignificant, unless it comes to surveillance (though, that’s a different story). Imagine if the MENA proposal was accepted for the U.S. Census, it would likely lead to a domino effect, as other official U.S. documents and applications would change to include this category.  This would go on to change the way businesses and institutions create their own applications. This category would finally recognize Arabs and Arab-Americans as members of  MENA and distinguish themselves in the “melting pot” that is America. 

 Moving away from data, we can see that Arabs and Arab culture are treated as a monolith, where the diversity within the Arab world is disregarded. The addition of MENA is the first step in recognizing and welcoming the existence of Arab people. There is still plenty of work to be done for the Arab and Arab-American community. 

The Arab heritage, history, and the struggles are buried underneath the blanket category of white. How can institutions claim to embrace diversity when their compliance with this classification is leaving Arab students in the shadow of whiteness? If this campaign is successful, it will a be a key move to finally bringing this community of out of the shadows and into the light of the Middle East and North Africa, so yalla let’s #CountMENAIn.