Arabs were legally classified as white in 1943 to distinguish them from ineligible Asians.

Evidence

In 1942, a Michigan court ruled against naturalizing Ahmed Hassan because Arabs were not white, while in Massachusetts, a Syrian man was able to access citizenship because the court ruled in 1944 that Arabs were eligible for citizenship (Lopez 2006; Love 2017). By 1943, Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) determined that Arabs were white and eligible for citizenship due to having a shared culture and civilization with Western countries. INS relied on the case United States v. Thind (1923) to argue that Arabs were not like Asians, who were ineligible for naturalization. — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 123 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

Category: Causal Relationships

Related

• Arabs gained whiteness-status in 1943 while Muslims generally remained excluded because Islam signified non-whiteness. (similarity 0.94)
• Whiteness was defined through exclusion of non-black immigrant groups too. (similarity 0.93)
• Courts disagreed across jurisdictions about whether Arabs were white (similarity 0.92)
• Arabs were classified white for citizenship so they could be distinguished from ineligible Asians (similarity 0.92)
• INS declared Arabs white by shared civilization, reversing court rulings to the contrary (similarity 0.89)
• INS granted Arabs citizenship eligibility by classifying them white and separate from Asians. (similarity 0.88)
• Arabs achieved economic success yet still lost whiteness through foreign-policy racialization (similarity 0.88)
• Muslim Arabs move away from whiteness regardless of actual skin tone (similarity 0.86)
• Arabs classified as white lose that status upon wearing the hijab (similarity 0.86)
• Lighter skin and Christian identity secured citizenship privileges that darker or Muslim Arabs lacked (similarity 0.85)
• Wearing the hijab is read as surrendering whiteness and citizenship standing (similarity 0.85)
• Islamic identity exceeded skin color in rendering Arabs non-white for citizenship (similarity 0.85)
• INS formally classified Arabs as white via a nationwide instruction in 1943 (similarity 0.85)
• Syrian Christians won nominal whiteness yet were never treated as fully white (similarity 0.84)
• Muslim identity ejects Arabs from whiteness and strips them of its material benefits (similarity 0.84)

Broader Connections

• Arabs were classified white for citizenship so they could be distinguished from ineligible Asians #corroborates (0.95) — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 123
• Invisible minority describes Arabs marginalized though classified as white by the census #expands (0.60)
• Categorical whiteness excludes Arabs and Muslims from the benefits of racial remedy in America #expands (0.60)
• Muslim Arabs move away from whiteness regardless of actual skin tone #expands (0.55)
• Muslim Americans are racialized even when visibly white, so racialization must include cultural traits #expands (0.55) — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 88
• Wearing the hijab strips Arab women of their perceived whiteness #complicates (0.50) — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 145
• Converting to Islam or wearing the hijab causes loss of whiteness privileges #complicates (0.50) — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 261
• Arabs classified as white lose that status upon wearing the hijab #qualifies (0.45) — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 201