The addition of a new category to the OMB's standards for race and ethnicity for the first time in U.S. history means that an estimated 8 million Americans who trace their origins to the Middle East and North Africa will no longer be automatically considered “white” on federal forms, including the U.S. census. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is one of the world's most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, enduring ever higher temperatures, rising seas, droughts, floods, intense water scarcity and polluted air. Where will its refugees go?
“Woke” the term that originated in the black community to represent a person who is aware and seeking knowledge of the truth of his/her history is now best known as a negative political buzzword used to describe anything deemed too liberal, progressive, or pertaining to the inclusion and equity of non-white people that may pose a threat to unfair advantages inherent in systems based on white supremacy and privilege.
The new Middle Eastern or North African category announced by the Office of Management and Budget on Thursday will help shed the cloak of "whiteness" draped on members of the community, like Salih, for decades, experts say. The new identifier will have six subcategories beneath it that include Lebanese, Iranian, Egyptian, Syrian, Iraqi and Israeli, which were selected to represent the largest population groups in the U.S., an OMB spokesperson said. The identifier will also include a blank space where people can write in how they identify if their ethnicity isn’t one of the subcategories. It also opens the way for US census takers to have the final say in what race a person is based on skin color or phenotype no matter what is written in the forms!
Welcome to America! What races are recognized by the census?
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) requires five minimum categories (White, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander) for race. OMB permits the Census Bureau to also use a sixth category - Some Other Race. The category “Black or African American” includes all individuals who identify with one or more nationalities or ethnic groups originating in any of the black racial groups of Africa. Examples of these groups include, but are not limited to, African American, Jamaican, Haitian, Nigerian, Ethiopian, and Somali. The category also includes groups such as Ghanaian, South African, Barbadian, Kenyan, Liberian, and Bahamian.
WHY DID THIS HAPPEN?
The category “White” includes all individuals who identify with one or more nationalities or ethnic groups originating in Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa. Examples of these These groups include, but are not limited to, German, Irish, English, Italian, Lebanese, Egyptian, Polish, French, Iranian, Slavic, Cajun, and Chaldean. North Africans were listed as White by law because in the 19th century and 20th century Eurocentric scholars wanted to prove that the civilizations that started in North Africa and the Levant were white non Black African civilizations! Now that the bulk of the research supporting this inane theory has been debunked by scholars the world over and fraud from nations like the UK, US, and Egypt has been revealed the lies cannot be maintained or imposed on an awakened public.
Ancient Egypt is the most advanced and sophisticated civilization of the ancient world. It is one of these few countries whose ancient history is a special branch of history: Egyptology whose scientists raided graves stole artifacts and put them in museums or hid them away or destroyed them if they did not support white supremacist thought. According to 19th and early 20th century scholars Egyptians (Actually the people of Kemet which means The Black People), ancient and modern, cannot be non-Whites. The so-called modern "white" Egyptians allowed the desecration of the gravesites of what they proclaimed were their ancestors for over a century.
In 1922, Egypt was occupied by the Ottomans and the British. It would have been difficult for Egyptians to be considered white at that time European scholars noted in 1820 "In terms of skin colour, the Libyan has the lightest complexion, followed by the Asiatic who is yellowish in appearance. The Egyptian is reddish-brown (Like African Americans),while the Nubian is black (Nilotic)." (Heinrich Menu von Minutoli Archeologist 1820) Just to put things in context; even decades later, in 1906, five British soldiers decided to hunt pigeons in an Egyptian village called Dunshway, and in the events that followed one of the soldiers accidentally shot and killed Egyptian woman and tried to cover it up by setting a fire, this angered the rest of the villagers, and they chased the soldiers, the soldiers panicked and shot a more of the black Egyptians while they escaped, but their captain died of a heatstroke from running 8 kilometers in the desert sun, an Egyptian farmer tried to save him, but another group of British soldiers saw him near the captains body and shot him as well.
A few days later, there was a trial which convicted 36 Egyptian villagers of murder, they were given varying sentences, while the British soldiers were not judged at all for their actions. Sound familiar? If you know US history it does.
The USA was built on white supremacy and chattel slavery based on race and ethnicity, actually racism is considered the US original sin even before genocide.
Therefore their is no reason to allow these obviously eumelanated (Black and Brown) populations to access the status of whiteness which is a political assignation created to support privileges for Anglo Saxon Europeans with pheomelanin dominant genetics. But the MENA community is not alone! Government officials also approved proposals for the U.S. census and federal surveys to change how Latinos are asked about their race and ethnicity. Going forward, participants in federal surveys will be presented with at least seven "race and/or ethnicity" categories, along with instructions that say: "Select all that apply" if the person physically appears to be that race census takers can accept that but if the person appears to be another race even in the same family the selection may be overruled by census takers.
There is a requirement in the US to prove Native American heritage but not any other races. For African American, the rule (not enforced) is the super disturbing “one drop rule,” meaning any of your ancestors were black going back forever. Historically, there could be repercussions for calling yourself white without being “white enough,” but there are no consequences now.
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