This question doesn’t apply to me, and maybe it doesn’t belong in this forum, but can someone explain to me why the U.S. Census considers Berber people, and people of Northern African Countries as white? I know that people from the Middle East are also considered white and I’m not quite sure why that’s the case either?
Is it just one of those “well it’s because the government says so” kind of things or is there a more firmly grounded line of reasoning behind it?
Cause they are primarily genetically more similar to Arab, Tunisian, (Semitic) and the Sahara Desert kept them from socializing genetically with their southern neighbors.
@lostaccount@citymama9 okay, and for the purposes of college admissions and AA, wouldn’t they be more concerned with how well represented these people are in American Universities? I don’t know if they’re wel represented but if they aren’t then I feel as if the title Caucasian doesn’t really help.
There are many North Africans who are in fact black. But they are part of a much discriminated against minorities in most north African countries and rarely have the opportunity to attend college in their African home countries, let alone apply to US colleges. That doesn’t make them less black. I would advise any North African student who was in fact black or of mixed race to state that truth - sadly, it rarely comes up.
^it’s one of those “government says so” things. They do not appear to want to trace the different ethnicities that get lumped into “Caucasian”. And the colleges are forced by the government to ask, using that criteria. As the country becomes more and more diverse, perhaps they will separate out some of these catch-alls.
Perhaps it should track ethnic origins instead: European? Eastern European? Chinese, Japanese, Indian, LatAm, SA, Middle Eastern, African, etc. Then if you are Japanese-Mexican, your origin is Japanese. If you are Spanish origin in Belarus, European, same for German Argrntinians, etc…
But I am guessing logic doesn’t figure too much in the decisions of a bureaucracy:)
Although Arabs often have dark skin, from what I have learned, they are genetically white. Race is much more complicated than the color of one’s skin. There are may dark Greeks and Italians who would never be considered Black.
Dark skinned Arabs are not what I’m talking about here. Spend some time in north Africa or read some of the history. The diversity of populations in these countries is no secret. They are not all Arab. Not even ‘dark skinned’ Arab. Some of the black population arrived as slaves - Arab slave trading in the African continent is well known. Some of them were indigenous as in the Nubian area of Egypt, and the Arab population migrated there later. Western ignorance of the history of these places is no excuse for unilateral determinations of race. And claiming all North Africans as Caucasian is like claiming all Americans are Caucasian just because the majority of images/news coverage coming out of these places reflect the dominant culture.
What’s funny is they are considered Caucasian yet people hailing from the caucus region are not considered Caucasian lol. Hispanics often have the same problem. After you mark the Hispanic box you get to choose black white Native American or Asian, and they fit into none of those categories.