Arwa Mahdawi has a thoughtful column on an upcoming change in the US census that would create a separate category of "Middle Eastern" (currently, they're considered "White").
The title and subtitle imply that this is an act of exclusion and marginalization (Mahdawi's own words are considerably more measured); but much of the history behind this change is campaigns by Middle Eastern Americans to "check it right; you ain't White!" Meanwhile, last year I linked to an interesting article in Ha'aretz interviewing Middle Eastern Jews in America regarding how they felt about the change -- their thoughts were interesting in their ambivalence (identifying as Middle Eastern, but frequently not identifying as "people of color").
There is something intriguing about this -- for the most part, the racialization process in American history has been about groups struggling to "become" White and to preserve that status once attained. Yet now we're seeing at least some groups try to resist being identified as White, a new and novel form of flight from Whiteness. I've seen it before (at an earlier age identified with it) amongst Ashkenazi Jews, and now we're seeing it from many Middle Eastern and Arab Americans. At the very least, this suggests some level of improvement in racial egalitarianism ("some", of course, not being a synonym for "adequate") -- we've moved from a world in which non-Whiteness was flatly incompatible with being an equal American to one in which people can at least conceptualize "choosing" to be non-White without it coming off as a death wish.
Still, that doesn't explain the motive of why persons would proactively view Whiteness as mischaracterizing their identity. What makes it not the right box? What I suspect is going on here is the sense that being viewed as "White" is thought to diminish or negate the existence of significant ethnic oppression. "White" people are privileged, and so to the extent that Arab Americans are not privileged on account of their ethnicity, coding them as "White" misrepresents their social status in significant ways. Now, one might wonder why this would be so: we can talk of gay Whites as being simultaneously privileged (as White) and subordinated (as gay); so too we might be able to say that White Middle Easterners are privileged (as White) and subordinated (as Middle Easterners). But the idea seems to be that Whiteness absorbs certain types of marginalization -- particularly those based on ethnicity (this is probably related to the loose borders between "race" and "ethnicity" as concepts). Gayness and Whiteness are in different domains, but if a Middle Easterner is White, their Middle Easternness is a subcategory of their Whiteness.
Showing posts with label census. Show all posts
Showing posts with label census. Show all posts
Sunday, March 26, 2017
Sunday, May 20, 2012
It's So Random
You know, I was never the best statistics student. Math's just not my area. But I have enough basic competency so I would never be stupid enough to think a large, non-random internet poll is more accurate than a smaller, random-sample scientific poll. Which, unfortunately, is more than we can say for Rep. Daniel Webster (R-FL).
Webster is pressing to eliminate the American Community Survey (a critical part of the Census), in part because it is "too intrusive", in part because it's "non-scientific". Why is it non-scientific? Because, to quote Webster, it's "random"! The New York Times can barely keep it together as it proceeds to inform its readers "[i]n fact, the randomness of the survey is precisely what makes the survey scientific, statistical experts say."
Random sampling is what makes the survey world go round. It is the only way to cost-effectively gather data about large groups of people given the impracticability of querying all of them. This is Statistics 101.
Webster is pressing to eliminate the American Community Survey (a critical part of the Census), in part because it is "too intrusive", in part because it's "non-scientific". Why is it non-scientific? Because, to quote Webster, it's "random"! The New York Times can barely keep it together as it proceeds to inform its readers "[i]n fact, the randomness of the survey is precisely what makes the survey scientific, statistical experts say."
Random sampling is what makes the survey world go round. It is the only way to cost-effectively gather data about large groups of people given the impracticability of querying all of them. This is Statistics 101.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Block by Block
This NYT tool which lets you examine American Community Survey data for every neighborhood is, as Matt Yglesias says, pretty awesome.
It turns out that Hyde Park, for example, is relatively White close to the Midway (the proportion of White residents crashes south of 60th street), then gets progressively more and more integrated as you move north, until the White population basically disappears north of 47th Street.
Meanwhile, the census tract I live in now is nearly 70% White -- but borders a tract which apparently has 0 White residents.
Fascinating.
It turns out that Hyde Park, for example, is relatively White close to the Midway (the proportion of White residents crashes south of 60th street), then gets progressively more and more integrated as you move north, until the White population basically disappears north of 47th Street.
Meanwhile, the census tract I live in now is nearly 70% White -- but borders a tract which apparently has 0 White residents.
Fascinating.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Sunday Roundup: Landlord/Tenant Edition
Busy weekend. Our landlord is trying to sell our house, which isn't directly a problem for us -- our lease is unaffected -- except that the real estate agent wants the four of us to live in full "sell the house" mode (every room sparkling clean, willing to vacate at anytime for showings, etc.) for the indefinite future. We're quite willing to be helpful up to a point, perhaps a few days of glittering cleanliness, but we can't effectively vacate the house as law students on any random night (where exactly are we supposed to go in Hyde Park?). I assume they can't force us to do anything, so I think we're in a solid bargaining position -- but the idea of a conflict is stressful to me.
Okay, that was a longer introduction than I intended. Roundup!
* * *
Should we keep "negro" as a census option?
South Carolina likens free lunch programs for impoverished children to feeding stray animals. Why? "Because they breed. You’re facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don’t think too much further than that."
Anti-Semitic incidents way up in 2009.
Israeli right-wing extremists call Rahm Emanuel a traitor to the Jewish people in response to his upcoming visit to the country.
Cuban and American doctors are cooperating to relieve the Haiti crisis.
Italian gay couple hunger strikes for marriage rights.
Hussein Ibish warns of the perils of certainty regarding the outcome of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
Pittsburgh police officers nearly beat a student to death for aggravated possession of Mountain Dew (now they're charging him with resisting arrest).
A judge charged with investigating Judge Sharon Keller's conduct in preventing the filing of a last-minute death penalty appeal has decided that fault mostly fell on the defense team, not the judge. He did find several instances of poor judgment on Keller's part, but recommended she receive no punishment. The report will be delivered to the Commission on Judicial Conduct, which can decide whether to accept, reject, or modify the recommendations.
Okay, that was a longer introduction than I intended. Roundup!
* * *
Should we keep "negro" as a census option?
South Carolina likens free lunch programs for impoverished children to feeding stray animals. Why? "Because they breed. You’re facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don’t think too much further than that."
Anti-Semitic incidents way up in 2009.
Israeli right-wing extremists call Rahm Emanuel a traitor to the Jewish people in response to his upcoming visit to the country.
Cuban and American doctors are cooperating to relieve the Haiti crisis.
Italian gay couple hunger strikes for marriage rights.
Hussein Ibish warns of the perils of certainty regarding the outcome of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
Pittsburgh police officers nearly beat a student to death for aggravated possession of Mountain Dew (now they're charging him with resisting arrest).
A judge charged with investigating Judge Sharon Keller's conduct in preventing the filing of a last-minute death penalty appeal has decided that fault mostly fell on the defense team, not the judge. He did find several instances of poor judgment on Keller's part, but recommended she receive no punishment. The report will be delivered to the Commission on Judicial Conduct, which can decide whether to accept, reject, or modify the recommendations.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Civil Rights Roundup: 08/14/08
Your daily dose of civil rights and related news
The census estimates that the US will become majority-minority by 2042. My projection is that many currently non-White ethnic groups will become or will be absorbed into Whiteness to keep the numbers up.
ICE has detained 42 suspected illegal immigrants working at Dulles Airport, stressing that their is no indication of terrorist activity.
An Egyptian Muslim women writes in the Washington Post: If Saudi Arabia doesn't allow women on its Olympics teams by 2012, tell them to not bother showing up in London.
A dispute over whether a school can prohibit its students from wearing the confederate flag has moved to an (all-White) jury.
A former convict turned inmate's rights advocate is proving remarkably adept at slowing down one of President Bush's District Court nominees (the chief lawyer with Corrections Corporation of America).
A Federal Judge said he was "shocked and disturbed" upon reading reports about mistreatment in the case of an immigrant detainee who recently died in ICE custody.
Unions are asking the FEC to investigate whether Wal-Mart violated the law when it allegedly attempted to persuade its workers to vote Republican.
Up to 600,000 Ohio voters are at serious risk of being purged from the voting rolls.
Can electronic voting be trusted?
Several Thai workers who were held as slave laborers in California have now become US citizens.
When Fox wants to talk free speech, it knows exactly who to turn to: anti-Semitic Holocaust deniers!
Marcia McCormick of the Workplace Prof blog has some good thoughts up about Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson's (R-TX) alternative to the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.
The brewing conflict in the North Forest Independent School District took another turn.
A Mexican man was shot by a US officer on the US/Mexico border during a confrontation.
Nevada judges mete out harsher sentences to Black defendants than Whites. The study, however, does not take into account prior criminal activity.
The census estimates that the US will become majority-minority by 2042. My projection is that many currently non-White ethnic groups will become or will be absorbed into Whiteness to keep the numbers up.
ICE has detained 42 suspected illegal immigrants working at Dulles Airport, stressing that their is no indication of terrorist activity.
An Egyptian Muslim women writes in the Washington Post: If Saudi Arabia doesn't allow women on its Olympics teams by 2012, tell them to not bother showing up in London.
A dispute over whether a school can prohibit its students from wearing the confederate flag has moved to an (all-White) jury.
A former convict turned inmate's rights advocate is proving remarkably adept at slowing down one of President Bush's District Court nominees (the chief lawyer with Corrections Corporation of America).
A Federal Judge said he was "shocked and disturbed" upon reading reports about mistreatment in the case of an immigrant detainee who recently died in ICE custody.
Unions are asking the FEC to investigate whether Wal-Mart violated the law when it allegedly attempted to persuade its workers to vote Republican.
Up to 600,000 Ohio voters are at serious risk of being purged from the voting rolls.
Can electronic voting be trusted?
Several Thai workers who were held as slave laborers in California have now become US citizens.
When Fox wants to talk free speech, it knows exactly who to turn to: anti-Semitic Holocaust deniers!
Marcia McCormick of the Workplace Prof blog has some good thoughts up about Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson's (R-TX) alternative to the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.
The brewing conflict in the North Forest Independent School District took another turn.
A Mexican man was shot by a US officer on the US/Mexico border during a confrontation.
Nevada judges mete out harsher sentences to Black defendants than Whites. The study, however, does not take into account prior criminal activity.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Civil Rights Roundup: 07/17/08
Your daily dose of civil rights and related news. I'm going to New York this afternoon and won't be back until late tomorrow, so the roundup will be off until Monday
What is the world coming to when hippies attack the homeless?
An Arizona sheriff is being accused of racial profiling in his aggressive efforts to roundup undocumented immigrants.
The University of Texas is working to make sure websites which document human rights atrocities don't disappear.
Prison guard fired for wearing a beard in accordance with his religious obligations.
Missouri ordered to bolster efforts at registering low-income residents to vote.
ACLU will defend Amish in suit over how to label their horse-drawn buggies.
Census won't count gay marriages.
Latino squad earns respect at Watts basketball tournament.
A 3rd Circuit panel held that removing disruptive Christian protesters from a gay pride event was constitutionally permissible. In an opinion joined by the third justice on the panel, Judge Dolores K. Sloviter justified the removal because the protesters went beyond distributing literature and waving signs, and actively attempted to drown out the proceedings. A concurring opinion also would have upheld the removal, but on the grounds that the protesters used "fighting words" when they referred to a transgender woman as a "she-male" and told her she would be going to hell.
The NAACP was cordial but not exactly warm when John McCain came visiting.
One oft-repeated (by me as much as anyone) refrain about racism is that overt racist sentiment is not really expressed or actively believed much in modern America. Some 2004 survey data seems to indicate we're too optimistic about that.
What is the world coming to when hippies attack the homeless?
An Arizona sheriff is being accused of racial profiling in his aggressive efforts to roundup undocumented immigrants.
The University of Texas is working to make sure websites which document human rights atrocities don't disappear.
Prison guard fired for wearing a beard in accordance with his religious obligations.
Missouri ordered to bolster efforts at registering low-income residents to vote.
ACLU will defend Amish in suit over how to label their horse-drawn buggies.
Census won't count gay marriages.
Latino squad earns respect at Watts basketball tournament.
A 3rd Circuit panel held that removing disruptive Christian protesters from a gay pride event was constitutionally permissible. In an opinion joined by the third justice on the panel, Judge Dolores K. Sloviter justified the removal because the protesters went beyond distributing literature and waving signs, and actively attempted to drown out the proceedings. A concurring opinion also would have upheld the removal, but on the grounds that the protesters used "fighting words" when they referred to a transgender woman as a "she-male" and told her she would be going to hell.
The NAACP was cordial but not exactly warm when John McCain came visiting.
One oft-repeated (by me as much as anyone) refrain about racism is that overt racist sentiment is not really expressed or actively believed much in modern America. Some 2004 survey data seems to indicate we're too optimistic about that.
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