Islamic identity exceeded skin color in rendering Arabs non-white for citizenship

Evidence

When an immigration judge ruled in 1942 that the Yemeni Ahmed Hassan—perhaps the first Arab Muslim to face the court (the others had been Arab Christians)—could not petition for citizenship, the community faced a setback. “Arabs are not white persons within the meaning of the [Immigration] Act,” wrote Judge Arthur Tuttle, who heard Hassan’s petition, citing Hassan’s Muslim background as proof of his racial difference. “Apart from the dark skin of the Arabs,” he explained, “it is well known that they are a part of the Mohammedan world and that a wide gulf separates their culture from that of the predominately [sic] Christian peoples of Europe.” — Moustafa Bayoumi, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being…, 979 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

When identified as Muslims, whether through the hijab or a Muslim name, the racial classification as white stops applying to Syrians, Lebanese, and Iraqi Americans. Whiteness comes with certain benefits, like being able to walk into a store without being stared at, monitored, or verbally harassed; boarding a flight in the airport without having your body searched several times, and not having to monitor what you say out of fear that someone will report you to law enforcement. It affords individuals these tangible material and social benefits (Harris 1993). Arabs who are Muslim are being ejected from the racial classification of white because their religious identity marks them as the other, and South Asian Muslims are simultaneously losing their footing as honorary whites. — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 473 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Islamic identity rendered immigrants non-white in citizenship cases regardless of legal test — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 154; People who seem white can be raced non-white on the basis of Islam alone.; Muslim identity was legally treated as proof of non-whiteness — Moustafa Bayoumi, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being…, 979 (+14 more)

Related

• Courts treated Islam, not skin color alone, as the disqualifying factor for citizenship (similarity 0.90)
• Arabs gained whiteness-status in 1943 while Muslims generally remained excluded because Islam signified non-whiteness. (similarity 0.90)
• Islamic identity rendered immigrants non-white in citizenship cases regardless of legal test (similarity 0.90)
• Muslim identity ejects Arabs from whiteness and strips them of its material benefits (similarity 0.90)
• Lighter skin and Christian identity secured citizenship privileges that darker or Muslim Arabs lacked (similarity 0.89)
• Islam functionally disqualified citizenship applicants from whiteness regardless of method (similarity 0.89)
• Arabs were classified white for citizenship so they could be distinguished from ineligible Asians (similarity 0.88)
• Muslim Arabs move away from whiteness regardless of actual skin tone (similarity 0.88)
• Muslim identity was legally treated as proof of non-whiteness (similarity 0.87)
• Lighter skin and Westernized names let some Muslims pass as white (similarity 0.86)
• Syrian Christians won nominal whiteness yet were never treated as fully white (similarity 0.85)
• Muslim identity ejects Arab Americans from legal whiteness and its social benefits. (similarity 0.85)
• People who seem white can be raced non-white on the basis of Islam alone. (similarity 0.85)
• Categorical whiteness excludes Arabs and Muslims from the benefits of racial remedy in America (similarity 0.85)
• Whiteness by law was defined as Christian, excluding Muslims from citizenship (similarity 0.85)

Broader Connections

• Muslim identity was legally treated as proof of non-whiteness #corroborates (0.95) — Moustafa Bayoumi, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being…, 979
• Muslim identity ejects Arab Americans from legal whiteness and its social benefits. #corroborates (0.93) — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 473
• Muslim Arabs move away from whiteness regardless of actual skin tone #corroborates (0.92)
• Muslim identity ejects Arabs from whiteness and strips them of its material benefits #expands (0.90) — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 662
• Religion shaped whether courts classified Arab immigrants as White for citizenship #corroborates (0.88) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 521
• Muslim identity gets racialized through names and clothing, not only skin tone #corroborates (0.85) — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 70
• Lighter skin and Christian identity secured citizenship privileges that darker or Muslim Arabs lacked #exemplifies (0.80)
• Arab Muslims gained US citizenship rights by being classified as a Semitic white race #contradicts (0.80)
• Early Levantine immigrants were deemed inassimilable non-Whites due to Muslim affiliation #exemplifies (0.80) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 484
• Lighter skin and Westernized names let some Muslims pass as white #contradicts (0.75)
• Racialized Muslim identity likely blocks immigrant Muslims from full citizenship benefits. #complicates (0.75)
• Arabs classified as white lose that status upon wearing the hijab #complicates (0.72) — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 201
• Arabs’ citizenship eligibility flip-flopped because courts inconsistently defined whiteness #qualifies (0.70)