There appears to be a fundamental problem intrinsic in America’s hyper-focus on race and correlations of race / skin color.
As a volunteer working with disadvantaged children, I’m interested. Great Schools offers insight into socioeconomics and academic performance. In particular, I wanted to know how these low-income children are faring academically.
But, I was confused by the data. Where/how are the Middle Eastern children represented?
Maybe you’re already aware of this, but I was surprised to learn that Middle Easterners and North Africans (MENA) are counted as “whites” in the US Census. Is this common knowledge?
A good portion of the ESL children at the Learning Center have Arabic (or Pashto) as their First Language. In this ethnically diverse afterschool program, some MENA have remarkably dark skin. And, some have lighter skin than mine. I quickly learned not to prejudge a child’s origins based on name or skin color. Maria’s MENA flesh is the same shade as Gabi’s Hispanic. Gabi’s a native English-speaker; her parents are not.
Is it surprising that a large percent of “white” students are learning English while a percent of Hispanic are not?
The Learning Center’s student-commonality is based on the socioeconomics of class more than race. Poverty and need look and act the same, independent of skin color and birth language.
Within this microcosm, there’s hierarchy based on character, competence and capability. Evidence of childhood trauma is pervasive, whether caused by DV or homeland warfare. Mixing up the details that matter is harmful if our goal is equitable outcomes. It would seem vital to appreciate the large portion of “white” elementary school demographic who’ve recently arrived from Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq.
We should acknowledge this: the 62% low income students at risk of being left behind are a complex blend of races and ethnicities. But, their needs are consistent and predictable.
Of course, there’s history behind the classification of MENA immigrants as “white”. They begin arriving in mass during the late 1800’s, with distinct waves of migration arriving through the years.
Some were introduced as slaves.1
It became important for new MENA immigrants to establish themselves as white, in order to avoid the stigma of racial distinction (independent of skin color). Dark and fair-skinned MENA’s established themselves as part of a white race.
Meanwhile, there’s this to consider:
And this. I love her!2:
There are enough black whites and enough white blacks and more than enough of all shades in between that we should comfortably stop with the nonsensical racial assignations and get on with living our best individual and collective rainbow lives.3 The Leftist’s overzealous effort to bolster a myth with divisive underpinnings is an unnecessary distraction. There are more important challenges to consider.
Let’s do this!
Arab Americans in the Southern United States Rosemarie M. Esber https://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/182127.pdf
The commonality of need created by socioeconomic strife: “The youngest of 10 children, Byrd was given up to foster care at age 2, when her father abandoned the family and her mother was severely injured after falling 30 feet in a trolley accident and could no longer care for her.
Her African-American foster parents, Ray and Edwina Wagoner from Newton, Kansas, legally adopted her in Kansas City and named her Verda, circumventing racist adoption laws of the 1940s, she says, because ‘my mother was light-complected and they assumed she was white.’” (She reminds me of Maude.)
https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/stories/2021/08/2020-united-states-population-more-racially-ethnically-diverse-than-2010-figure-1.jpg