It was announced that the Biden administration is proposing a new racial/ethnic category be added to ... [+]
In early 2023, it was announced that the Biden administration is proposing a new racial/ethnic category be added to official documents like the U.S. Census. The suggested category is MENA, which stands for “Middle Eastern or North African.” Those who are identify as MENA can trace their origins back to places like Egypt, Morocco, Iran, Kuwait, and Yemen. Currently, those who identify as Arab, Middle Eastern or North African often check “white” on the census and on other documents requesting racial/ethnic demographics.
“I wholeheartedly support the addition of the MENA label...while also recognizing that we need to be prepared for both the positive and negative effects of this change,” shared DEI & intercultural practitioner Rahimeh Ramezany. “The primary positive,” she explained “will be helping both government and non-government institutions more accurately target their services to populations that they will now have a much more accurate understanding of, as well as making a distinct community feel respected and recognized after having so long been erased by lumping under the ‘white’ categorization.”
Those who are identify as MENA can trace their origins back to places like Egypt, Morocco, Iran, ... [+]
Ramezany noted that this more nuanced racial and ethnic information could also serve in nefarious ways. “Not just good intentioned individuals and organizations review demographic data. There are many with an Islamophobic and/or xenophobic agenda that can abuse this information to fan the flames of their fear-based tactics to prove what they feel is a de-centering of dominant cultures in the United States and the West overall, therefore removing the little protection from discrimination that anonymity provides to MENA individuals.”
Not everyone is on board with the new MENA categorization. “I think it's a terrible idea,” indicated anti-racism and decolonization coach Louiza “Weeze” Doran. “I think that it begins to function the way we’ve seen the erasure of Afro-Latine and Indigenous populations within Latin America and are currently fighting for recognition and more expansive language. It's going to function in the exact same way. The way that I view it is a very intentional political erasure through language. North Africa is a very large geographical location...so is the Middle East. Historically different, geographically different, culturally different, linguistically different.”
Doran went on to explain, “not only does it erase the Indigenous and Black North African populations, but [it will be used to bypass the global reality and impact of] whiteness and white supremacist ideologies. What people will do is say, ‘Well, I'm not white. I'm MENA. I don't have to mark the white box. I can mark MENA.’ There are white folks who are culturally Arab. Being racially a certain identity does not necessarily always match to your sociocultural identity. There are folks who racially identify as Arab and culturally identify as Arab, but there are also folks who are culturally Arab and racially a number of other things.” Doran identifies as Amazigh, which are the Indigenous people of North Africa, which some label as Berbers. “We don't like the word Berber because it was prescribed to us by the colonizers. It literally translates to savage or barbarian.”
The Amazigh people are the Indigenous people of North Africa.
Specificity and nuance are beneficial for diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. Ramezany emphasized the importance of highlighting these nuances: “not all Muslims are from the MENA region, and not all peoples from the MENA region are Muslim.” There are many common misconceptions about Arab Americans and Islamophobia is a pervasive issue still faced within society. It’s important to interrogate the role that the media plays in shaping our perceptions. “There's a very long history of portraying Arabs and Muslims as the same identity...as monolithic,” shared Arab and Muslim American scholar Evelyn Alsultany.
“In Hollywood...over time [the Arab and Muslim portrayal] has changed...the terrorism one that we're all very familiar with, which is very rooted in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. After 9/11, some civil rights groups such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee were protesting certain shows like 24, expressing that they were concerned about the continued representation of Arabs and Muslims as terrorists in this context of the war on terror.” Alsultany, who is an associate professor in the Department of American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California's Dornsife College is the author of the book Broken: The Failed Promise of Muslim inclusion.
It’s important to interrogate the role that the media plays in shaping our perceptions.
Advocates for the adoption of the MENA category indicate that it would provide more accurate information about the United States’ racial and ethnic composition, which can improve the accuracy of diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. More focus on Middle Eastern and North African communities may also spark increased conversations about Arab American experiences and the pervasiveness of Islamophobia. “It is essential for workplaces to include considerations of religious identity in their diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, and name religious discrimination as unacceptable in all relevant company materials,” shared Ramezany.
“Company leadership and people managers must establish and maintain a culture of psychological safety and respect for diversity that allows for Muslims to work with their manager and colleagues if they ever experience Islamophobia, or to ask for reasonable accommodations and inclusive practices that will help them thrive in the organization,” explained Ramezany. Even with the issues that may arise from the adoption of the new category, it could provide visibility to communities of people that have been historically erased and ignored. The adoption of a MENA category could also be a necessary catalyst for more workplace policies that center and prioritize the needs of Middle Eastern, North African and Muslim employees.
