In what USA Today is calling “the biggest realignment of federal racial definitions in decades,” the White House is recommending to the Federal Register to add a new racial category for people from the Middle East and North Africa (or MENA) who, under current law, are considered white.
Helen Samhan of the Arab American Institute has been advocating this change for more than 30 years, and says it is a positive step. “What it does is it helps these communities feel less invisible.”
If approved, the new designation could appear on census forms in 2020 and, according to USA Today, “could have far-reaching implications for racial identity, anti-discrimination laws and health research.”
