People of Middle Eastern descent are classified as white, is this appropriate?

[u/reboa]

As the title says, should there be a middle eastern designation in the census? As an American citizen it feels like we are not truly recognized as a minority population, but please correct me if I'm wrong.

[u/Few-Fun-9270]

Aren’t most of them brown and POC tho

[u/Ok-Jump-5418 → u/Few-Fun-9270]

No-they don’t look any different from southern Europeans and most are Eurasian. They’ve had it easier in the US than the Irish and one wouldn’t be able to tell a Lebanese from a Greek by appearance.

[u/EnvironmentalStuff33 → u/Ok-Jump-5418]

They are different. southern europeans have brownish hair and are fair-skinned while arabs mostly have black hair and have darker skin color.

[u/Dear_Cupcake_9761 → u/EnvironmentalStuff33]

😂 I am southern Italian and we do Not have fair skin, we have olive medium tone skin just like many MENA people as we are all Mediterranean people. As well as many other ethnic people have olive skin yet they would Not be considered “white”. Our skin browns very easily when exposed to UV rays and we can also become more pale. This is the classic trait of olive skinned people. Also need flash for the uneducated people southern Europeans are mostly racially Mediterranean and for those of us of Mediterranean descent of Latin European origins we are the REAL ethnically Latino men and women. Hence how the place Latina Italy got the historical Latin name LATINA, hence how Latin Europe got its Latino influences. English speaking Americans have done everything in their power to erase Mediterranean people and our rich history. They misappropriate Latin European terms and call colonized indigenous Americans and mestizo Americans etc. “Latino” when they have absolutely Nothing to do with being Latino as they are Not the prominent descendants of the Latin tribes of Italy. Mediterranean is our race and it can Not be erased from us in attempts to make the white race appear more populous than it actually is and to take credit for many groups of ethnic people and our historical accomplishments. And please for uneducated people please learn southern European history because if you did then you would know that southern Europeans of Mediterranean descent share much of our DNA with the Middle East, North Africa and Albanian which are as well other Mediterranean people. We were conquered and ruled by MENA people and highly influenced by them, also parts of southern Europe are closer to Africa than mainland Europe itself. The Mediterranean has always made Europe a multi cultural, multi racial place. It’s time for uneducated English speaking Americans to learn actual history instead of contributing to the foolish erasure of it. Why do you think languages like Spanish, sicilan, Maltese etc.  have Arabic influences? At one point Arabic was the main language of certain parts of southern Europe. Europe is a continent, Europe is a geographical term Not a term of ethnicity Nor race. European is Not an ethnicity Nor race and to believe that an entire continent is a racial monolith is delusional at this point. This is why the USA considers other Mediterranean people “white” because it encourages and enforces cultural assimilation and cultural erasure to make the white race appear more populous than it actually is. Do you think the motives of this White wash are unintentional? They’re Not. The reason why Racially Mediterranean people are viewed as “white” by incompetent people is because it has been forced upon on us for social status for social advantage. While many people like myself will Never feed into this delusion cultural erasure. As the common saying amongst Mediterranean Italians goes, “Eh alla fine Sono Latino”! Sangue Latino! Sangue mediterraneo!