BOSTON — Are Arab Americans peoples of color?
This question has been simmering below the surface of Boston’s historic Mayor’s Race, where Annissa Essaibi Georg, one of the two candidates has been challenged on the campaign trail over her decision to identify herself as one.
On Tuesday, Essaibi will face Michelle Wu, a fellow Boston City Councilor, and Democrat. Wu is a daughter of Taiwanese immigrant parents. The winner will become the first person of color and the first woman elected to the top political office.
Essaibi George, a Polish-Arab American, admits that she hasn’t always been identified as a person or color. This is partly because Arab Americans don’t fit into the boxes Americans typically check on official forms such as the U.S. Census.
“We are in a strange position where there isn’t a place to identify ourselves as Arabs,” Essaibi Georg said in a recent interview with GBH News. “It is unfortunate that Arabs don’t have the proverbial box that checks and it is important that the Arab community be counted, seen, heard, and recognized.”
Essaibi George stated that she has been identified as a person with color throughout her time in elected office.
Essaibi George often spoke about the difficulties faced by her father, a Tunisian Muslim immigrant, and the challenges she expected to face as his child. Her mother, a Catholic, came from Poland.
A Boston city with a long history of electing white men, especially of Irish descent, would not allow a girl of Arab heritage to be elected mayor.
The 47-year old Essaibi George, a Boston resident and former teacher in public schools, won an at-large seat in the Boston City Council in 2015. He also came in second in a preliminary election in September 2015, which set up the match with Wu. Wu won the preliminary.
Essaibi George identifies herself as a person with color but she acknowledges that her physical presence, including her Boston accent, allows her to be “a woman who can maneuver between different rooms in different places.”
She also stated that her father was from North Africa and she does not consider herself to be African American. This is a term used to describe Black people.
The question of whether Arab Americans should identify themselves as people of color extends beyond the Arab American community.
Nuha E. Muntasser describes herself as a Muslim Arab American or Muslim Libyan American. She said that she cringes when she is asked to tick the box for “white” rather than being allowed the option of identifying North African or Middle Eastern.
She said, “I don’t identify as white” and that it was frustrating to have to identify as such.
She said that the choice is more difficult because not all Arab Americans have the same experiences as white Americans. She said that women from Arab and Muslim American countries who wear hijabs can feel more different.
“People like myself, we have to show our Americanness,” stated the 26-year old, who lives in Sudbury, 45 minutes west of Boston, and is a member of the town’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee.
Muntasser is also reluctant to identify herself as a person of colour. She stated, “Because of the differences that Black women experience in this nation, I’m not comfortable saying I’m a person of colour.”
Economic opportunities can be limited by the absence of a checkbox for Arab Americans, according to Nadeem Mazen, a former Cambridge City Councilor and an American Muslim.
This is especially true when it comes to possible business contracts, particularly with the federal government.
Mazen stated, “When you are a minority-, veteran-, or women-owned company that’s important.” People make many assumptions about the boxes that you can check.
Mazen, who lives near Cambridge, stated that he doesn’t look like a Black person, but he isn’t seen as such. He described his position as a moving window.
Mazen stated, “I don’t go around proclaiming I’m a person or not a person with color, but I know someone who is like me faces a lot of discrimination than your average upper-class white Cambridge resident.”
The Sept. 11 attacks were a pivotal moment in many Arab Americans’ lives. Many feel still singled out and suspect 20 years later.
An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found that 53% Americans had negative views of Islam, compared to 42% who held positive views.
Mohammed Missouri, 38 is the executive director of Jetpac in Massachusetts. The nonprofit seeks to increase American Muslims’ political power. He said that earlier generations of Arab Americans had tended to be more focused on assimilation than their identity.
Missouri, an Arab American, stated that younger members of the Arab American community are more focused on building power, not only for themselves, but for the entire community. “Younger Arab Americans are proud of their heritage and consider it an integral part of their identity as Americans.”
Missouri stated that he does not consider himself to be white, even though he is required to check “white,” which refers to all individuals who identify as belonging either to one or more ethnic groups originating from Europe, North Africa or the Middle East.
He said that it is still up for debate whether Arab Americans are considered persons of color. However, he added that some “white-passing Arab Americans”, prefer to identify themselves as white.
He said, “It’s going be a fluid discussion we’re going on keeping having.”
Marty Walsh, a Democrat and former mayor of the city, resigned to become U.S. Secretary for Labor under President Joe Biden.
Walsh was replaced by Kim Janey on an interim basis. Janey was sworn in as Boston’s first Black and female mayor.
