Are Middle Easterners considered to be 'white'?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:White and they worked to make sure of that because they did not want to be lumped in as West Asian. White was better.

Now that it's more beneficial to be labeled as something other than white and asian, the tide is turning to wanting a separate racial distinguisher.

Not all white people are privileged, it's still okay to be white folks. You can be white and muslim, white and jewish, white and christian. Religion is not race.

You're correct, but religion can overlap with ethnicity. For example, Judaism is a religion, while Jews are an ethnic group. Most Jews do not actually practice Judaism.

In any event, what about the Muslims, Jews and Christians who are not Black, not "Asian" looking, and not white? Many people in this world really are brown. It depends on how you define white. Some people define it in terms of features, while others define it in terms of skin color. It really is kind of dumb to refer to brown-skinned people as white. "Caucasian" makes more sense, because what you're looking at is their facial features.

Religion and ethnicity are not race.

White is a synonym to Caucasian. They can be used interchangeably.

Anglo Saxon is not the only form of white/Caucasian. Southern Europeans are white/Caucasian, Middle Easterners are white/Caucasian, Eastern Europeans are white/Caucasian.

All that said, the checkboxes are arbitrary. "Asian" is used to describe whitish skin East Asians and brown to black skin South Asians.

Half the boxes use color as race and the other uses continents as race. Then there are posters here that want to use religion as a race.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t consider Italians as white

I don’t think Italians are one race.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t consider Italians as white

I don’t think Italians are one race.

Italians are the white Europeans.

[Anonymous]

One of our HS is always criticized for not being diverse, yet significant numbers of Middle Eastern students attend but are counted as Caucasian.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of our HS is always criticized for not being diverse, yet significant numbers of Middle Eastern students attend but are counted as Caucasian.

- because they are whites.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t consider Italians as white

I don’t think Italians are one race.

Italians are the white Europeans.

As opposed to Norwegians?

[Anonymous]

By the census yes. By general population, no, esp if they wear religious headwear or look brown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I struggle with this. I am an Arab -- mother/family born in Syria, father/family born in Iraq. Both families Muslim. I check off the "white" or "caucasian" box and was always told I should do so by my parents who do the same (and indeed the census does consider us white). I look white in terms of skin color, though I have Arab features. My brother could pass for black, and I have cousins with blonde hair and blue eyes.

I do struggle with it now, given the political climate. Does half of America consider me white? I highly doubt it. Should I consider myself white? I think I am starting to identify more as "brown" but more than anything it's because I feel society views me as such.

You are YOU yourself. End of story and agony!

Let's disengage from the nonsense!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:By the census yes. By general population, no, esp if they wear religious headwear or look brown.

So if an "typical" white women converted to Islam and wore a hijab, she would not longer be white?

What about those "typical" white people that live in Florida and are so tan they have brown skin. They became non-white?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Muslim Middle Easterners are Muslim and white. They do not fall into the “brown” category because of their religion.

Jews are also subject to harassment/discrimination but are not ‘brown’ because of it. They are still considered white.

No, it's not this simple. Many Muslim and Jewish Middle Easterners ARE brown. And even if they have white skin, they are often "othered". I'm a light-skinned Jew and trust me, I was never considered white until about twenty years ago, and even now, I am only considered white by certain people. I am not "brown" obviously, but I do not identify as white. I identify as a Jew (which has nothing to do with religious belief, as I am an atheist).

I understand how YOU identify yourself, but identity is also about how others perceive you. Light skinned Jew? You are most certainly received as white by the public.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Muslim Middle Easterners are Muslim and white. They do not fall into the “brown” category because of their religion.

Jews are also subject to harassment/discrimination but are not ‘brown’ because of it. They are still considered white.

No, it's not this simple. Many Muslim and Jewish Middle Easterners ARE brown. And even if they have white skin, they are often "othered". I'm a light-skinned Jew and trust me, I was never considered white until about twenty years ago, and even now, I am only considered white by certain people. I am not "brown" obviously, but I do not identify as white. I identify as a Jew (which has nothing to do with religious belief, as I am an atheist).

I understand how YOU identify yourself, but identity is also about how others perceive you. Light skinned Jew? You are most certainly received as white by the public.

I get this point. Both DH and I are Arab except he is dark skinned and I am light skinned. He would definitely be perceived as brown and I would be perceived as white, AND it makes a difference in how people treat us. I always said I have the privilege to hide my ethnicity unless I want to reveal it, whereas DH has had to deal with a lot of crap bc of his skin color and being an Arab man in the US.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t consider Italians as white

Then what are they?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t consider Italians as white

I don’t think Italians are one race.

Italians are the white Europeans.

Europe is a place not a race. Southern Italians and Siclians genetically cluster closer to Levantine Arabs and other West Asians than they do to all Europeans besides Greeks and southern balkanites. They're just as close to Lebanese and Syrian people genetically as they are to Northern Italians.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Muslim Middle Easterners are Muslim and white. They do not fall into the “brown” category because of their religion.

Jews are also subject to harassment/discrimination but are not ‘brown’ because of it. They are still considered white.

No, it's not this simple. Many Muslim and Jewish Middle Easterners ARE brown. And even if they have white skin, they are often "othered". I'm a light-skinned Jew and trust me, I was never considered white until about twenty years ago, and even now, I am only considered white by certain people. I am not "brown" obviously, but I do not identify as white. I identify as a Jew (which has nothing to do with religious belief, as I am an atheist).

I understand how YOU identify yourself, but identity is also about how others perceive you. Light skinned Jew? You are most certainly received as white by the public.

Jews are only perceived as white people in highly liberal metropolitan areas. Right-wingers and actual neo-nazi groups do not consider Jewish people to be whites. Just go to Stormfront and see what they say about Jewish people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t consider Italians as white

I don’t think Italians are one race.

Italians are the white Europeans.

Europe is a place not a race. Southern Italians and Siclians genetically cluster closer to Levantine Arabs and other West Asians than they do to all Europeans besides Greeks and southern balkanites. They're just as close to Lebanese and Syrian people genetically as they are to Northern Italians.

Asia is a place not a race?

Africa is a place not a race?

Should everyone get to put down their 23 and me statistics?