Lack of visibility is nothing new for the Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) community in America; neither is the question of how they should be accounted for. For decades, those of West Asian heritage have fought for visibility within official American statistics, a breath out from underneath the unnatural placeholder identification of “white.” Change might be near. What began as murmurings deep within the Biden administration have begun to take shape. The addition, the first in half a century, would add a novel category under the label “Middle Eastern or North African” to federal forms, including the census.
Although the seemingly insignificant revision has been on the docket since 1997, when the race and ethnicity guidelines were updated, the lack of consensus surrounding the definition of the group prevented any modification from reaching fruition. The term “Middle East” has long been employed to refer to Arab nations alongside Israel, Iran and Turkey, nations who do not see themselves as culturally aligned. All this is to say, there is a lack of agreement surrounding the exact nations that are a part of the MENA definition. To combat this ambiguity, some have utilized the term “South West Asian and North African” (SWANA). Debate is certain to persist.
The growing MENA community within the United States garnered headlines in recent months for their reaction to the White House’s handling of the Israel–Hamas war and their opting to state their affiliation as “uncommitted” in the Michigan state primary. The lack of precise numbers prevents analysts from accurately predicting their impact on the 2024 presidential election, where Arab Americans in battleground states, such as Michigan, are almost certain to play a significant role in the outcome of the election.
Recent estimates by the Michigan government suggest the Arab-American population is over 500,000 strong, while national estimates by the federal government place the total population at over 3 million. These are undoubtedly substantial quantities, especially once the populations of other MENA communities are accounted for. After Super Tuesday, the Biden campaign promised to reach out to Muslim-American voters to hear and address their concerns. In an interview on “All Things Considered,” Mitch Landrieu, the former mayor of New Orleans and national co-chair of the Biden campaign, was asked about young voters. In reference to the Israel-Hamas war and many other crucial issues, he responded, “Everybody’s already seen what Donald Trump has done; he is going to govern in chaos.”
In the runup to the election, one thing is clear: Biden must work with the young and growing Muslim-American population if he is to have any hope of winning another four years in the White House. A lack of a precise definition and size of the MENA community residing in the United States only adds to the difficulties the incumbent faces in addressing the population’s concerns.
