The short answer to the first question depends on who is asking. If you follow the federal guidelines on racial and ethnic measurement of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB), persons from the Middle East and North Africa, like those of European descent, are classified as white. Many Arab Americans whose families are already into their third or fourth generation in the U.S. are fine with this designation—a reflection of acceptance into the majority culture, one that was not so easily offered to our grandparents a century ago.


For other Arab Americans, racial classifications in the U.S. are confusing, counter-intuitive, or irrelevant. Those who have recently immigrated or who have come of age in the distinctly diversity-conscious America of the past several decades, often relate more with American minorities and people of color. The sting of racial profiling, discrimination, and cultural intolerance some have felt, especially since 9/11, has only added to the feeling of being distinct from the white majority.


So how should Arab Americans who cannot relate to the race options offered respond to the next census?


One option is to choose the “Some Other Race” category and write in your ethnic identity or national origin. This gives voice to our concern about the limits of current racial categories, but allows us to be counted for the primary reasons the census is collected: congressional apportionment, and distribution of federal funds to states and localities. Imagine the impact on the cities of Dearborn, Michigan, or Paterson, New Jersey if their sizable Arab American populations sat out the 2010 Census? Funds available for schools, roads, hospitals and other assets serving the entire community would come up short.




This option is not a perfect solution. The Census Bureau does not routinely publish the detailed data collected from the “Some Other Race” write-in box. Until the decennial “short form” is changed (hopefully by 2020) stakeholders like the Arab American Institute and others who study ethnic demographics will still rely on the data we get from the “Ancestry” question which is collected not on the decennial census (which goes to every household) but on the American Community Survey (ACS). The ACS samples the population every month of every year to measure important socio-economic trends beyond the basics: employment status, occupation, language proficiency, education level, among other indicators. While the data from Ancestry responses still under represent the Arab American population, which we believe has grown close to 4 million, it is still an important tool for community empowerment.



It is for this goal—empowerment—that Arab Americans should participate in the 2010 Census. It is more than just a civic responsibility or an exercise in demographic analysis. It is a tool to help the governed make informed choices, to benefit all our communities, and to reflect the rapidly changing diversity of our nation. And the Census Bureau takes seriously its mandate to ensure that the data collected is kept confidential and protected. By law, Census responses cannot be shared with anyone – not other federal agencies, not with law enforcement, not with local authorities. No one.



So my message to Arab Americans is this: when you get the Census form next spring in the mail—regardless of what race you choose to indicate—consider it one easy, safe and important step you can take to empower your family, your neighborhood, your community, and future generations of Arab Americans. It’s in our hands. Be counted!

 

CENSUS 2010 SEEKS PARTNERSHIPS WITH ARAB AMERICAN ORGANIZATIONS

Washington, D.C. July 14, 2009- Arab American Institute’s Helen Samhan shares the benefits of partnering with the Census Bureau for the 2010 Census outreach efforts.  The Census Bureau seeks over 100,000 partnerships for the 2010 Census with organizations, religious institutions, businesses, schools, etc. to increase the reach of the Census, especially in small hard-to-reach communities.

The Arab American Institute (AAI), the lead organization representing Arab Americans’ policy and community interests, was founded in 1985 by James Zogby.  Samhan is the Executive Director of AAI and has been working alongside the Census team to encourage Arab American participation in the Census for the past 20 years.

“It is definitely a positive action for organizations in the Arab American community to become active in the 2010 Census,” says Samhan.   It is an opportunity to promote civic leadership within the community and introduces organizations and their members to the local political decision-makers.

Arab American organizations can also educate their audiences about the benefits of the 2010 Census for the development of hospitals, schools, police stations, roads and other critical community services as well as stress the value of a complete count for projections of Congressional figures.

Samhan suggests working with the local Census offices to produce bilingual brochures and to get local non-profit and religious organizations involved. “Arabic language networks are extremely important because the hardest to enumerate people in the states would be those who tune in to Arabic language networks,” added Samhan.

To ease the process, a new shorter form has been introduced; residents only answer ten easy questions.  It is important to realize that every person must be counted whether he/she is a citizen or non-citizen, documented or undocumented for the purpose of bettering each individual community.

The Census Bureau guarantees total privacy and confidentiality. In addition, with the new presidency, there is newfound hope to involve recently arrived immigrants, who in the past might have felt excluded from government affairs such as the Census.  The Census Bureau hopes that partnering with local Arab American organizations will bring a greater sense of inclusion to these recent immigrants.

The 2010 Census questionnaire will be sent out to every household in America by April 1, 2010.  For recent Moroccan immigrants and non-native English speakers this might be the first census that they participate in.  It is important for first time census participants to understand that recorded data has a positive impact on the community, and that all information is confidential.
 
Since 1790, the United States government has conducted a census every ten years in order to count the full population in the United States.  The 2010 Census will mark the 23rd census of the U.S.  It is a constitutional right of all U.S. residents to participate in the census.
 
The census directly impacts every community in the U.S. including the Arabic-speaking community.  It determines how $300 billion dollars in federal funds is allocated yearly for states.  The areas with the highest population counts will get the most funding.  Census data guides local decision-makers on where to build schools, child-care centers, healthcare facilities, new roads, housing and other development.
 
The 2010 Census has the shortest questionnaire in history—this simple form takes just a few minutes to complete and send back by mail. The 10 easy questions ask for such information as name, gender, age, date of birth, race, and whether respondents own or rent their home.   All responses are used for statistical purposes only, are strictly confidential and are not shared with anyone, including any other federal agency.
 
The first visible sign that census is approaching is address canvassing.  Census workers knock on doors to verify every address throughout the United States.   They update this information electronically using hand-held computers.  The Census address list is the most comprehensive list in the U.S. and is used for the nation’s 911 operations, U.S. Postal Service, and GPS technology (MapQuest, Google Maps).

For more information about the history of the United States Census, visit www.census.gov/history.

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