Would you consider Middle Easterners white? (best, areas, cities)

[kelsius]

In America those from North Africa and Middle Eastern extraction are considered white on the census. Do you think this is true, or would you say it would be more accurate to consider them non-white?

I see white as being as much a cultural as a phenotypical thing too. Jews seem to be considered white in America but Arabs generally are not, which I think has more to do with the fact that being a Muslim is seen as making someone 'not white' than the fact that Jews are partially European and Arabs aren't.

If you consider Middle Eastern people non-white, would that mean Ashkenazi are multi-racial since they are of mixed European and Middle Eastern heritage?

[Tiger Beer]

I wish the U.S. census was revamped in a million ways, and that would be one.

[Ttad]

Yes

But I do think there should be some differentiation between European white, Middle Eastern white and North African white.

[Glucorious]

Many are, yes. Why?

[Mooseketeer]

Yes. Anthropologically speaking Middle Eastern ( and North African) people are as white as someone from England or Norway.


People always seem to assume race and ethnicity are interchangeable words for some reason.

[pigeonhole]

Sure. Some are not "lily white" though especially in Egypt and Yemen (darker complexion) and an important Black minority (Nubians) in Egypt.

[kevxu]

Originally Posted by kelsius

In America those from North Africa and Middle Eastern extraction are considered white on the census. Do you think this is true, or would you say it would be more accurate to consider them non-white?...

Yes. But many of the countries in these areas have minority populations that are of sub-Saharan origin as well.

[MalaMan]

It depends.

Many people from the Middle East look white to me. Many Middle Easterns have a very pale skin, and some even have blue eyes.

But the Middle East has a lot of diversity, and other Middle Easterns have a darker skin.

So, the same way that there are Mexicans in the US who are white, and other Mexicans who are not white, I think that there are Middle Easterns who are white, and others that there are not white.



Anyway, I think that the best thing would be if Americans lose this obsession with classifying people in "white", "non-white", "black", etcetera...

Maybe someday that will happen, but will take a while...

[jtur88]

Would you consider Jews white? Hebrews are semitic Middle-easterners, the same as the Arabs, have common roots, and speak a closely-related language.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semitic#Semitic_peoples

[hadrett32]

I wouldn't consider them as "white" as all the European ethnicities. They are somewhere in between like a lot of Hispanics.