I'm Not White
I’m not white. I’m not black. I’m not Asian. I’m not Hispanic.
*groan*. Is this going to be one of those cliché articles discussing the multiracial citizen’s struggle to check a race box? Well, not exactly. It’s not about a mixed citizen, and it’s not really cliché because it becomes relevant again every ten years when we have to fill out the U.S. Census, and roughly every four years when applying to schools, and every time one fills out a job application, or a survey (but remember, it’s just for “statistical purposes”…please.) or pretty much for almost every single piece of paperwork we have to fill out. Cliché? I think not.
Before I begin my writing rampage, firing my missiles of information and experiences at you regarding the futility of the current race box system, I want to provide you with some background facts.
I come from a Moroccan family and throughout my life, I’ve had trouble checking the boxes to indicate my “race”. In elementary school, I think I checked the “white” box which is interesting to me now–I think it was because at that point in my life, I thought Moroccans were the only types of people in the world and I fit into the category of lighter skinned Moroccans (I’d spent some years living in Morocco as a child and the environment there is not as heterogenous as California). As a 6-year-old when I met my father’s Egyptian friend, the first thing I said to him was, “Hey, you speak like they do on TV!,” referring to the Egyptian soap operas that are always playing on the dish. I’m glad to say I’ve come a long way from elementary school and my world has broadened to include people of all kinds of races, faiths, and ethnicities–I now am fully aware that those actors on TV also exist in real life!
As I grew older and became aware of social structure and society in the United States, I began to realize that yes, although I am light skinned for being Moroccan, there’s a whole world of people that are much lighter than me, and they are the true “whites”. That’s also when I learned that Italians, Greeks, Armenians and even Persians are considered white. Just when I was starting to feel comfortable that others shared my olive skin and feel I could relate to them (there aren’t very many Moroccans my age where I live), they were whisked away by a category that indicated a whole different world I could never relate to.
Because “white” does not only embody a color. What the term “white” means in the United States today is something that transcends any skin color. White means the suburbs and white means affluence and white means picket fences. Some people may argue then, that I do fit into the white category based on my definition of the term. But white also means no questions asked ever, no extra security checks at the airport or in that same category, no mispronounciations of my last name or being told it’s a “cool” name as a precursor for the question of where I’m from. Being white means being untouchable in this country.
In middle school, high school, and now in college, I’ve started alternating between the “African/Black” box and the “Other” box. During the cutthroat period of college applications, my friends would ask, “Hey Sarah, can’t you apply as African-American? SO unfair.” I’m sorry, but I don’t want to get accepted into college and be tossed into the gossip conversations of “well, she just got in because she’s African-American…well, technically, she is”. There was one university application–the name doesn’t come to mind, right now–but they had a box for “White/North African”. That one made me especially mad. Those are two completely different worlds, because as far as I’m concerned, in places like Europe, for example, “White” and “North African” represent completely different worlds. “Other”, it was, for college applications at least. Sometimes, there’s a “Middle Eastern” box, but I don’t check that either. I don’t consider myself Middle Eastern, I consider myself Arab. That’s a whole other conversation, however. The last job I applied for, I checked off “African” crossing my fingers that my black manager wouldn’t comment on it. Awkward. Also, I can’t forget the comments from black peers, “You’re African? Nawww, no way!”. YES WAY, I’m Arab, I’m African, I’m not white, I’m not black. Here we go again…
Let’s cut straight to the point. That $300 billion that will be redistributed to local and state governments and communities should reflect the accurate amount of Arabs in the United States. Arabs, please crawl out of your “white” and “other” boxes now, and make sure our numbers are reflected accordingly in the 2010 census. Let’s get our own box.
Join the Conversation
I too have a problem with declaring my “race”. I was always taught that the US is a melting pot and a safe haven for all races. My own ancestry is so varied, that I am always undecided which race to declare on forms, so I just choose what I feel for the day.
I can see why we need the census to count everyone living in the US, but since we are all supposed to be “equal”, why do they need to know if we are white, black, or somewhere in-between…
I for one, will not be answering the “race” question at all.
I am of human race. And you … ?
Frankly, the whole racial (if not racist) business of classifying American residents into race categories is misguided and should be abolished. Only people like Jesse Jackson profit from it now. I am completely disgusted at the fact that any governmental institution is interested in my “Race”. That is precisely what MLK sought to eliminate.
It is also obsolete. In the year 1964, there were some real barriers between “blacks” and “whites”, but, given the frequency of interracial marriages and worldwide immigration into the USA, in the two latest generations, there are more and more Americans whose ethnic heritage is a complex mixture which does not fall into any single category. So, what …? Create 1630 categories for all the combination ever found …? Or divide the nation simply into two categories “White Oppressor” and “Nonwhite Oppressed”, with a dedicated bureaucracy to determine your status at birth?
Yuck. Off with the whole concept, now.
“Or divide the nation simply into two categories “White Oppressor” and “Nonwhite Oppressed”, with a dedicated bureaucracy to determine your status at birth?”
Brilliant thoughts…I say you either include EVERYONE, or not include anyone at all.
I’m glad I’m not the only one that has a problem with the ethnicity info. boxes in the States. If you’ve noticed, within the past few months, applications and such have included Middle Eastern/North African under the “white category”. So, you, who are Moroccan, and I an Iraqi are both being represented, yet in the wrong terms. Neither of us are of European decent, well maybe.. only history can prove that.
Ok so this is how “race” was/is classified: Caucasoid(Caucasian), Negroid, Capoid, Mongoloid and Australoid, but now ethnicity and even linguistics grouping some how turned into “race”… When you are mixed, then wtf are you suppose to be? Race question is useless and serves no purpose in any environment except maybe in census, but then again thats also kind of useless.
I’ve seen that on many different forms as well when they ask you your race.
“A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East or North Africa.” as a description for someone who is white. I’ve been tempted to answer that white because according to their own words, technically a large number of people can now say they are white. I almost got ‘removed’ from my LSAT exam because I have trying to figure out how I should answer the question. Apparently she was annoyed at having to think about my question or just plain disgusted that I said, ” should i just mark white then, and should everyone else just to be sure” well this was in the Southern area of the US so I’m assuming the latter. But seriously, to those of you here who have encountered this, how do you answer?
I am white and I feel exactly the way you do. I grew up in Michigan and everything was Black or White, regardless of ethniticity. Then I left for the Army and met people who had never seen anyone different then themselves, except on TV. I soon learned about many races and religions. I can’t speak for all military but as soldiers we learned everyone is the same but deserves their just due and right to be vastly different. In that, Whites are very privledged by their paleness alone and almost all others deserve what benefits are afforded to them. Accept what is given or allowed to you, the ignorant will always think that privleges such as affirmative action are only for non-white and the non-deserving. NON-SENSE. There should be a spot where you fill in race and they for once know who, what and why they are counting and asking this for every Census. Maybe seeing that there is more than a few categories, White, Black, Hispanic, etc. “The Man” will realize what’s here,……The Human race.
I am white and live in the USA. I hate those race question forms. I don’t answer them. I wonder what it’s like to not be white. I wonder what I would do with those race question forms. I like Marian’s facetious comment about 1630 race categories. Thank you, Sarah Alaoui, for sharing your story.
I am not from the US but look in a lot at their news. From where I stand the US looks like a racist dystopia. When ever there is an election the news is all about the “black voters” “Hispanic voters” “white voters” etc. On their census they need a “Human” box for race. My wife and I are not the same ethnicity or skin color. What will they make of my children? Talking of skin color or eye shape or what ever as dividing factors is ridiculous, it is culture not race that makes people different and compatible or not. I mean, take Condaleeza Rice as an example. She is not “Black” like a Harlem hood, is she? Even though she is “black” she has more in common with Bill Clinton than she does with Florida gangbangers.
I’m Asian and from Korea. But I like Arabs. They have pure and kind hearts.
I respect all of you. We are all same humans.
Dernit, does anyone have a link to the video?
I saw it on some blog on YouTube but can’t find it anymore. It’s a buncha job applicants askin to fill in that stupid box and they’re all sayin the same thing you are.
My dad’s African-American(and quarter native Caribbean), my mom is Eastern European(her great grandparents were northwestern Asians)…umm..can I write on the back? This may take me some time.(Not me personally, but paraphrasing from the video).
Video ended sayin just check the box for ‘Other’ and write in ‘Human’. Works for me.
Census is comming up folks. Remember which box to check and what to write in.
Thank you for this– I could have written it myself. pleased I found your blog