I came across this wonderful LA Times article on what race and identity Arabs are. Are we white? BIPOC? Do we fit into a census box or are we, as a people, as a heritage, as a meaningful group, invisible to the census bureau?
Samira Damavandi knows that when she fills out her 2020 census form, she will be counted. But it pains her that, in some way, she will also be forgotten.
When asked to mark her race, Damavandi will encounter options for white, black, Asian, American Indian and Native Hawaiian — but nothing that she believes represents her family’s Iranian heritage. She will either have to choose white, or identify as “some other race.”
“It erases the community,” she said.
Reading Between the Dunes 