Are Arabs and Iranians white? Census says yes, but many disagree - LA Times

[PAKISTANFOREVER]

America is strange.

https://www.latimes.com/projects/la-me-census-middle-east-north-africa-race/

For all our faults, one thing I can say about the majority of Pakistanis is that unlike ALL other non-Whites, we DO NOT have a desire to be a part of the White race or classified as being White. Arabs, Iranians, indians, South Americans and Blacks do. Have never understood this.

 

[Falcon29]

That's good. But does the official definition of MENA or Middle East include Turkey?

Depends who you ask.

 

[nahtanbob]

That's good. But does the official definition of MENA or Middle East include Turkey?

Middle East includes Turkey
Most Turks would pass off as Whites unless you saw their names

 

[ای ایران]

It's not about wanting to be white, it's about this:

Basically the discussion is to include more ethnicities in the consensus for people to fill out. It's not about who is historically caucasian or not.
...
...

When you take exams(testing, not regular college exams), apply to jobs or population consensus in the US you have a ballot to fill out and there are no options for Middle Easterners. Thus they want those options to be added.

Bro i think you're the only person so far that actually read the article, lol.

 

[KediKesenFare3]

Depends who you ask.

I visited a German university once, one of the oldest in the country. I went straight to the Middle East Center and they told me as polite as the Germans can be that Turkey isn't part of the scholarship. So, the next day I went to the "Institution of Europe" instead. Again, Turkey was not included. At my third day, I went to the building for Central Asian Studies at the very same university. Guess what? No Türkiye to study.

That's why I asked about the definition. It's so arbitrary.

 

[Wilhelm II]

White = caucasian caucasia is backyard of turkey russia and iran. Not sure about arabs but other 3 do have majority caucasian population.

But race doesn't matter. It is just appearance.

Two races are white Arians like Europeans and semetic race include Arabs and jews

 

[Foxtrot Delta]

Two races are white Arians like Europeans and semetic race include Arabs and jews

we arabs and jews look very different from Caucasian or germans.

 

[vostok]

It depends on the classification that you use. In the modern West, the study of races is actually banned. It still being studied only in Russia, Eastern Europe, South Africa and Japan. Races actually have their own distinctive features, including reacting to certain diseases.
In common modern classification Arabs and Persians belong to the southern sub-races of the European race.
They even don't have translation for Russian word "расоведение" - means "race" and "studying" - I've cheked in Google-translation.

 

[500]

About 10-15% of Levantine Arabs look totally European.

 

[Jaanbaz]

Racial identity is a lot more complex then we would like to think. Is White a race or a political identity only based on Europeans or their ancestors that invaded/migrated to rest of the world? If yes then in that context Arabs and Iranians can never be White.

 

[nahtanbob]

It depends on the classification that you use. In the modern West, the study of races is actually banned. It still being studied only in Russia, Eastern Europe, South Africa and Japan.

excuse me - what do you think genetics, anthropology are ?

 

[Mirzah]

People don't get this, in the US there is no Middle Eastern ethnicity when it comes to population consensus figures. There is Asian, Latino, Black and White. Arabs and Middle Easterners are pretty much figured in as white people for some reason.

why not asian? Arabian peninsula, Levant are geographically in Asia

 

[Falcon29]

why not asian? Arabian peninsula, Levant are geographically in Asia

Asian in the US is more associated with Chinese/Japenese/Korean folks. Indians, Bangladeshis, Afghanis and Pakistanis aren't really seen as Asians by the US public.

 

[OldenWisdom...قول بزرگ]

The ONLY reason Middle Easterners are considered "white" is because Jesus is considered White!

There is no other reason, genetic or otherwise. Iranians and Arabs are almost identical just like Germans and French though not exactly the same. Everyone is an individual first.

 

[MastanKhan]

Anthropologically, I’ve read that some studies suggest that even most Pakistanis are a subset of the Caucasian group. Within Europe you have a pretty wide range of skin, hair, eye color and features. Blonde Scandinavians vs the ‘swarthy’ darker Greeks, Sicilians, Spaniards etc for example.

Hi,

Years ago---we pakistanis were categorized as white---. We could not qualify for minority loans---.

It has all become a political issue---.