US census updates its race categories
Survey changes aim to improve data collection
BERGEN, N.J. – It never felt right to Bader Risheg to select “white” on the U.S. census and other federal forms. “White” did not reflect how he felt about his identity or how he was treated – but that is how people from the Middle East and North Africa have long been counted.
“We are not European,” said Risheg, a Palestinian American from North Bergen, New Jersey. “We have our own distinct culture and language.”
Now, under changes to the census, people from the Middle East or North Africa – the MENA region – will finally be able to check off their own race and ethnicity category. Announced by the Biden administration last month, it is one of several revisions that will allow for more detailed reporting on race and ethnicity in the census.
Advocacy groups say better data reporting is critical to helping communities identify their needs and strengths and secure resources in such areas as health, employment, education and housing.
“For the first time, Arab Americans will be made visible – not just on the decennial census, but in all federal data that collects race and ethnicity, and that is historic,” said Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab American Institute, an advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.
Under the changes, people will be now able to choose MENA from among a list of categories. They can also check off their ethnicity from six examples under each ethno-race category or write it in if it is not listed. Instructions tell respondents to “select all that apply.”
The new standards “will have a lasting impact on communities for generations to come,” Berry said. But she and other advocates also raised concerns that questions muddle race and could lead to undercounts of Black Americans who also identity as MENA or Latino.
Arab Americans counted as ‘white’ since 1944
Legally counted as white since 1944, Arab Americans have been overlooked on the census, an omission that has obscured their needs.
Early Arab immigrants, who were mostly from modern-day Lebanon and Syria, fought to be counted as white at a time when the Naturalization Act – a 1790 law in place until 1952 – restricted naturalized citizenship to whites.
Newer immigrant waves have been more diverse and felt a greater affinity with minority groups.
Over time, and as the law changed, community leaders said the categorization hurt them and cost them money, services and recognition. Census data is used to determine government funding for education, housing, business loans, social programs and voter outreach.
As an uncounted community, leaders also felt they had less political leverage.
Detailed demographic data is also important for medical research. When COVID-19 ran rampant, doctors said the impact on Arab Americans was unclear because they were not tracked as a distinct category.
In a diverse city such as Paterson, New Jersey, Mayor Andre Sayegh expects that census changes will bring more accuracy and transparency about the makeup of communities.
“I keep saying we have the largest Bengali, Turkish and Palestinian populations in the country, percentage-wise, but I couldn’t say for sure,” said Sayegh, who is of Lebanese and Syrian ancestry.
He hopes the changes will also encourage more people to fill out the census forms and bring in new funding streams.
“Every 10-year cycle, we were stuck at 147,000 people,” he said. “If you reach over 150,000 residents, you are designated a first-class city and you can get more federal funding.”
Revised census improved, but flawed
Advocates say the revised census still contains major flaws.
In its current form, the census asks if a person is Latino in one question, followed by a second question asking their ethnicity. The new standard combines these questions under Latino and Hispanic identity.
Besides MENA and Latino, the ethno-racial categories include Black, white, Asian, American Indian, Middle Eastern and Native Hawaiian.
“By listing Latino ethnicity as coequal with racial categories, Latinos are inaccurately portrayed as a population without racial differences despite all the research showing how Black Latinos are treated differently from other Latinos,” the AfroLatino Coalition said in a statement.
“Separating ethnicity from race is essential for making visible the actual and intersectional racial disparities that exist within a racially diverse ethnic group like Latinos and ... (how they) access important public goods such as ... education, employment, housing, medical services,” the group said.
Berry also called for further revisions to the standards, which she said “do not take into account the racial and geographic diversity of MENA communities here in America, including its members from the Black diaspora community, who will most assuredly be undercounted under the new standards.”
New standards ‘empowering’
Jeff Chang, a board member at AAPI Montclair, a nonprofit representing Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, said the new ethnic reporting standards are “empowering.” Asians are a widely diverse and large group that includes Indians, Koreans, Pakistanis, Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese.
Detailed information can help identify their different social and economic needs. For instance, it could show if a certain ethnic group was lacking in health insurance compared with other groups, Chang said.
“Lumping us together in one category obscured what our community members are going through,” said Chang, who is of Taiwanese ancestry.
But he doesn’t agree with the decision to provide just six ethnic examples per category, fearing that it will discourage self-reporting.
“We have concerns that if it’s not on the list and you have to write it in, that people will not write it in,” Chang said. “We think it’s still not going to capture the full scope.”
Many advocates are calling on the Office of Management and Budget, which oversees census standards, to do more testing on the sample questions and further revise them. Chang has an idea for how that could be accomplished – pointing to New Jersey’s new data disaggregation law.
Signed into law in January, the law updates guidance for state agencies, asking them now to include MENA and South Asian and Indian Disaspora in survey categories.
“Given the diversity of languages and culture, separating data ... and making that data publicly accessible are critical for enhancing our state’s understanding of the needs and experiences of these different communities,” the bill says.