Arab Americans are missing out on big gains from the ‘discriminatory’ exclusion of the US census
CHICAGO: The continued exclusion of Arab Americans from being counted in the ten-year U.S. Census is “another form of discrimination” that results in financial gains and the loss of vital data needed for health and other programs, said Samir Khalaf, national president of According to the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.
During an interview on The Ray Hanania Show on the US Arab radio network and sponsored by Arab News, the ADC leader stated that while he is in favor of using the word “Arab” on the census, the consensus of the community is MENA, or the Middle East. And the answer is to use . African, has the support of the Biden administration and cuts through many divisions in the community.
Khalaf said that Arab Americans have lost out on benefits because of not being included in the census – from receiving federal grants to joining Congress’s political empowerment programs.
“It’s not that we’ve lost things. We never got something we deserved. It’s not just a financial aspect. There’s never been a National Institutes of Health study on the Arab community. And that’s because it’s like that.” There is no reliable data that can be used in the study because we are not calculated. We have become an invisible minority,” Khalaf told Arab News.
“So, apart from the financials, there are other things that we are not getting. We don’t know what our COVID infection rate is. We don’t know what percentage of people in our community have been vaccinated because that data simply isn’t collected. This goes beyond just a financial loss to our community. We have lost a lot… we don’t even know.’
Khalaf emphasized: “It (census exclusion) is discrimination because it basically keeps us out of a lot of programs that we think we deserve. Plus, it’s treating us like ours.” There is no existence. Actually we do not exist in this country and that is the biggest problem for us.
Khalaf said that over the years the diversity of the Arab world and the Middle East has actually turned against the US government adopting the word “Arab” as a possible designation on a future census, possibly in 2030. That’s why the emphasis is on “mena”. ,
“ADC’s number one priority is always ‘billion.’ worry), again, what we thought was the bigger picture is that as long as we counted as a separate and distinct group, the Arabs (or MENAs), we just need to count,” Khalaf said.
“We want the issue to be taken away from (the word is) being used, so that we can be counted. Get the issue of being under-counted and out of the way. So we, as an organization, said right. If it’s going to be MENA, as long as we count, we’re fine with it.”
Khalaf said the Arab community had failed to receive its share of the federal government’s support which ranges from funding to political recognition and support for cultural and health programs.
One example of how Arabs are marginalized, Khalaf said, is in the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the pandemic’s impact on Arab Americans. He said the government has instead asked the Arab community to gather the necessary community data that is needed for Arab families and businesses to qualify for COVID-19 relief.
“One of the pushback we’re getting from the federal government is that there are no statistics, or no numbers, of how many billion American businesses are there. Where are they located? Are they successful? They want to know from us. Do we have problems getting loans. Are our interest rates higher than others because of discrimination? That information is not available,” Khalaf said.
“They went to us and accused us of collecting that information. So the ADC is studying now. We are trying to collect data. We are asking Arab American business owners across the country to fill out a questionnaire that we have on our website at ADCRI.org.
“Business owners can go there and fill out a questionnaire. It will be anonymous so no one knows who they are. But at least now we can get the data and take that data to the government and say hey look, we have the data for you. Now give us the minority business designation. ,
“It changed and changed the landscape. So we looked at issues with respect to our own businesses. We saw other problems develop because of COVID. And a lot of it is with our community more or less fully reaping all those benefits. Was unable to exploit the kind that the federal government and state governments are giving to individuals.
“And some of that was due to our own lack of knowledge. Some of it was because of our language barriers, language barriers. And some of it was the fact that as a community, we are not recognized. We are still classified as white. So we weren’t even able to get some of those benefits by definition.”
Khalaf said that exclusion from the census as “Arab” or “Mena” “holds us back,” and that Arabs have become an “underserved community” when faced with challenges facing all communities, including family services, domestic violence, and domestic violence. When it comes to providing resources to cope. , disability, mental health and health care.
“We have been denied the resources to know how these issues affect our community and how serious they are,” he said.
Khalaf said the Arab community had come close to being fully included in the census during President Barack Obama’s administration, but noted that former President Donald Trump blocked it. President Joe Biden, he said, is “reviewing it.”
“There is a possibility that this is going to happen. It is a matter of time. But we need to be cautious,” Khalaf said.
“We need to conduct the census and the OMB – and don’t forget that the OMB is a key player in all of this, the Office of Management and Budget. The OMB is what defines the classification, and we need to hold their feet to the fire.” and say it was a deal and you were supposed to do it if not for the former administration.
The Ray Hanania Show is broadcast live every Wednesday at 5 p.m. Eastern EST on WNZK AM 690 Radio in Greater Detroit, including parts of Ohio and on WDMV AM 700 Radio in Washington DC, including parts of Virginia and Maryland. The show re-airs on Thursdays at 7 a.m. on WNZK AM 690 in Detroit and at 12 p.m. on WNWI AM 1080 in Chicago.
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