Neither ‘white’ nor ‘other,’ Middle Eastern, North African NYers want their own box to check

As the legislative session speeds toward its end, New York state lawmakers are being urged to approve a measure carving out a separate racial category for Middle Eastern and North African residents, who for decades have been classified as “white” in most government analyses — which the measure’s proponents say cloaks their distinct experience with bias crimes, poverty, housing and health care, among other issues.

The state Senate voted 57-0 on Thursday to approve legislation requiring every state agency, board or commission that collects demographic data to disaggregate Middle Eastern and North African New Yorkers from the “white” demographic, setting the stage for a possible Assembly vote in the coming days. The bill’s backers contend the change will enhance visibility for challenges faced by both groups, which are collectively referred to as the “MENA” community. They said it could also bolster their eligibility for assistance programs that target marginalized communities.

“Lumping MENA communities into the ‘white’ category creates intentional systemic exclusion from programs and services dedicated to communities of color,” said the legislation’s sponsor, Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas of Queens. “Disaggregating the white category to identify the MENA population is extremely important, as it will remove certain barriers and allow much-needed resources to reach these residents.”

The discussion is in line with a national movement aimed at enacting the same change in state legislatures across the country, and comes amid an immigration wave that demographers say has resulted in residents from MENA nations making up an increasing share of New York’s newest arrivals.

At 305,000, New York state’s MENA population is the third-largest in the nation after California and Michigan, according to the 2020 census. Of that, the largest subgroups are Egyptians, Lebanese and Israelis. But proponents say that figure represents a significant undercount due to the dearth of MENA data, and peg the number at more than 500,000.

The U.S. Census Bureau announced in March that it would provide a new response option for “Middle Eastern or North African,” along with “Hispanic or Latino.” The two new options in response to the question, “What is your race and/or ethnicity?” expand the existing list, which includes “American Indian or Alaska Native,” “Asian,” “Black or African American,” “Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander,” and “white.” The update was also noted in the Federal Register, which stated that it was “intended to result in more accurate and useful race and ethnicity data across the federal government.”

What box to check?

At various points throughout the 20th century, U.S. courts and federal agencies affirmed and reaffirmed that people from the Middle East were considered white. This included a 1944 ruling by a federal court that declared an Arab petitioner, Mohamed Mohriez, to be white. Efforts to adopt a separate MENA category gained ground after a sharp rise in hate crimes against members of the community following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Middle Eastern communities include Iranian, Iraqi, Israeli, Palestinian, Lebanese, Syrian, Yemeni, Armenian, and Saudi Americans, while North African communities comprise Libyan, Egyptian, Moroccan, Algerian and Tunisian Americans.

“MENA communities across New York state remain underserved, exhibiting higher rates of language needs, housing insecurity, poverty, domestic abuse and health disparities,” according to the legislation. “Despite this, MENA individuals, organizations and businesses face difficulties when attempting to receive equity-based support due to their classification as white.”

Salma Mohamed, a consultant to Arab American organizations who has been pushing for the bill’s passage, said the change is even more necessary after Hamas’ attack against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, when bias incidents against members of MENA communities sharply rose.

“We can’t look at hate crime data and see how it’s impacted Middle Eastern, North African communities,” Mohamed said. “We can’t tell the stories of bias incidents. We can’t tell the stories of disparate school suspensions and expulsions.”

The bill’s advocates have argued that under the status quo, MENA communities are excluded from minority and women-owned business enterprise contracts with the government, and are not considered in state redistricting efforts meant to ensure equal representation.

Unintended consequences?

Rana Abdelhamid, the executive director of Malikah, a Queens-based anti-violence group for women and girls, said in many instances, people from MENA communities opted to check “other” instead of “white.”

She said the problem of categorization also played out in housing, including in parts of Queens, where large numbers of working-class Arab Americans reside.

“Developers will make the argument that, well, this community is a majority white community, so it’s not impacted by luxury development in the same way that a minority community or an immigrant community would be impacted,” said Abdelhamid.

The bill cleared the state Senate in 2023. But its opposition in the Assembly includes Assemblymember Andrew Goodell, a Republican from western New York. Goodell said he has long opposed such disaggregation, which he argues is impractical and of limited value.

“It’s not a new issue for me,” he said in an interview. “I feel the same about intrusive data that’s irrelevant on any of our forms, whether you’re gay, straight, bi, neither, both, or whether you’re from Iraq or Iran or England.”

Khaled Beydoun, a law professor at Arizona State University and the author of “American Islamophobe,” wrote in a 2016 Loyola University Chicago Law Journal article that the change could hurt Arab Americans.

Beydoun wrote, “the MENA box, if adopted, would enable the collection and compilation of precise and broader demographical data about Arab Americans — communities acutely associated with radicalization and terrorism.”

He said the data would “would intensify and expand the functional reach of anti-terror surveillance and policing,” further eroding Arab Americans’ civil liberties.

Abdelhamid said that threat is something community members are “vigilant about,” but she expressed hopes about the legislation’s broader goals.

“This would be really historic for New York state to be a champion on this and lead on ensuring that Middle Eastern North African people are truly represented,” she said.