The question of whether Arab Americans should identify as people of color extends to the Arab American community itself. The choice is all the more discouraging because many Arab Americans don’t share the same experience as white Americans, she said. The lack of a box to check for Arab Americans can also limit economic opportunities, said former Cambridge City Councilor Nadeem Mazen, an Arab American and an American Muslim. “With younger people in the Arab American community, you’re seeing people whose goal is to build actual power and not just power for themselves but for the community at large,” said Missouri, an Arab American. Whether Arab Americans fall into the broader category as persons of color is still a matter of debate within the community he said, adding that some “white-passing Arab Americans” prefer to identify as white.

Source: The North Africa Journal October 31, 2021 15:54 UTC