Census category worries some in U.S.
DE A R BOR N, MICH. • Zahraa Ballout isn’t “white,” and she certainly isn’ t “some other race.” If the government gives her the choice of checking a new “Middle East/ North Africa” box on a census form, would she?
Yes, she says, despite some reservations about what it would mean to stand out after Americans elected a president who wants to ban travel from some countries in the region and has spoken favourably of registering Muslims in the U.S.
“I would feel some wariness because you don’t know exactly the consequences or what’s coming next after you check the box,” says 21- yearold Ballout, a student in Dearborn, Mich., who’s been in the country three years. “I don’t want to fool myself to think that checking another box (other than the new one) is going to protect me in some way.”
The Census Bureau on Feb. 28 for the first time recommended including the new category, which would mostly affect Muslims. The Office of Management and Budget is expected to make the decision later this year. The move is the product of decades of advocacy for Arab and other groups from the region that pre- date Donald Trump’s campaign.
The Census Bureau said that when it tested a new category in 2015, people of Middle Eastern or North African descent tended to check off that box. When it wasn’t there, they’d select “white” or, i ncreasingly, “some other race.” Including the separate category, the agency said, is “optimal” to get a more accurate count of Americans.
The Arab American Institute estimates as many as 3.7 million people in the United States have Arab roots. The Census Bureau estimates there are 1.8 million Arab Americans in the U. S, according to data it has collected. Among other things, that means there are no accurate national numbers to provide clues to whether certain medical ailments are — as suspected — unusually common in people of that background, experts say.
Both tallies show explosive growth in that population since 2000. And both support the new box on the 2020 census that would represent people with backgrounds from 19 countries in the region.
But singling oneself out in that way has become sensitive at a time when Trump has linked a crackdown on Muslims with national security. As a candidate, he called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.”
“The fear is legitimate. It’s something I worry about,” said Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab American Institute, which has been pushing for the change since before the 1990 census
“It’s very hard for us now to sort of reject that wholly, because we’ve been working on it for decades,” she adds. “We’ve been telling our members: We understand why you’re concerned, it’s a legitimate concern. Let’s just proceed with caution.”