I Was Forced To List Myself As Caucasian On My Census Form
Have you ever stared at a survey in which the questions shown did not accurately represent your sentiments or even your identity?
In the month of October 2020, I was required by law to fill out a census form. I chose the online version and I literally had to stare at the screen blankly for at least thirty minutes. I know that the census gets filled out every ten years so one would think that I would have stared at the questionnaire ten years ago when I was 25 years old. To be honest, ten years ago the knowledge of gaslighting, red line zoning, and the cancel culture was not exposed or understood as it is today.
What caused me to have a Zack Morris “Saved By The Bell” freeze? Actually two things… The first abomination is question number 7. The box for people of Caucasian descent lists Egypt and Lebanon as examples. Egypt is a country in the Northern part of Africa and Lebanon is located in the Middle East. I am of Egyptian and Afro-Cuban descent. My mother was born in Havana, Cuba and my father was born in Alexandria, Egypt.
The second item that I take issue with is question #8. The question of origin according to Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin. One of the boxes asks me If I am Cuban? I am Afro-Cuban. The question needs to be broken down into subcategories such as European-Hispanic, African-Hispanic, Asian-Hispanic, Middle Eastern-Latin, European-Latin, African-Latin, and so forth. A Hispanic is a person who derives from a Spanish speaking country. A Latin native is someone who was born in North, South, and Central America or the Caribbean.
The Census inconvenience I am facing today is due to the shortcuts that Arab Christians took in America around the 1890s-1940s. When coming to America at that time period; people of Middle Eastern descent were listed as Chinese-Mongolians and were denied citizenship.
In 1909 George Shishim, a police officer born in Lebanon went to court in Los Angeles County in California and he won the right to be called Caucasian. Shishim won the case by proclaiming “If I am Mongolian then so was Jesus because we came from the same land” according to an article called “Dept. of Justice Affirms in 1909 Whether Syrians, Turks, and Arabs are of White or Yellow Race” on ArabAmericanhistory.org. The defendant’s strategy worked because many believed Jesus to be White therefore increasing the perception that Middle Eastern people are part of the Caucus. Henceforth the door to American citizenship opened up at a very costly price of mistaken identity for millions of Americans.
Now for the year 2021 and further; part of the $1.5 trillion that is acquired and separated to fund federal programs will be allocated to the wrong ethnic groups, according to an article from the George Washington Institute of Public Policy. Middle Eastern Americans are in dire need of research money for a disease that is prevalent towards its women. Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) causes, according to Dr. Monikaa Chawla MD, type 2 diabetes, alopecia, acne, and infertility. There are also higher rates of gastrointestinal and liver diseases among Middle Eastern people according to an article from PubMed Central publications.
Additionally, African American men are more likely to see complications with prostate cancer more than any other ethnic group as well as lung cancer according to an article called “Culture, Black Men, and Prostate Cancer: What is Reality?” from PubMed Central publications. This includes the African people that are listed in the census as Cuban for example.
African American women are more likely to die from breast cancer than other ethnic groups according to an article called “African American Women & Breast Cancer” on bcpp.org. Women of African descent are also more likely to die from labor complications due to excessive bleeding and are prone to delivering their children prematurely according to an article called “Racial/Ethnic Disparities In Pregnancy-Related Deaths-United States” according to the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report from the CDC. Some of these women are listed in the census as Dominican, Puerto Rican, or Mexican instead of African.
African Americans also deal with the frequency of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, strokes, and sickle cell disease according to an article called “African American Health Creating Equal Opportunities for Health” from the CDC. In order for Middle Eastern and African people to receive the funding to combat the diseases that pertain to their ethnic backgrounds there need to be extremely specific census categories.
Hopefully, in the next census, we will see a category called Middle Eastern North African (MENA). There are roughly 3.7 million Middle Eastern people in this country and the funds needed to address the concerns for this group have been allocated to the Caucus.
I am looking forward to more clarification on African Heritage as well on the next census. I have the right to be listed as Afro-Cuban not just Cuban. I know in ten years I will not be part of the Caucus in this country. I will wait in excited anticipation to be listed as African and Hispanic in one census box. Better days are ahead.
