Arabs became legally White only when US oil interests in Saudi Arabia demanded it

Evidence

Yet we do not see any cases in which there is an immigrant who spends his time, money, and resources to argue that he is Black even, as in the case of Hassan, when it would have been an easier burden. These petitioners would rather make complex and sometimes contradictory legal arguments to argue for whiteness. As a matter of practicality, however, who could blame these petitioners for attempting to position themselves with every advantage possible? If immigrants did not know about the position of African-Americans before immigrating to the United States, they certainly made these observations once they were in the country. — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 189 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Saudi Arabia’s UN participation was financially underwritten by US oil interests it opposed rhetorically — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market: Human Rights…, 138; US empire excluded Arab Americans from their prior marginal whiteness; International oil politics overturned the legal whiteness ruling for Arabs within seventeen months (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Arab and Muslim immigrants deliberately pursued legal whiteness despite easier Blackness claims #complicates (0.72) — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 189