Muslim Arabs move away from whiteness regardless of actual skin tone

Evidence

For Arabs who are racially classified as white, they lose this status when they wear the hijab. It is clear in the stories here that the women interviewed were not accustomed to these racial encounters before they wore the hijab. — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 201 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Maryam, a Syrian American, told me she passed for white before she decided to wear the hijab. She grew up in a small Midwestern town where hers was one of only a few Muslim and Arab families. Growing up, she said her family was never overtly religious. They used to celebrate the major Muslim holidays, but other than that, culture played a more prominent role in her family’s everyday life than religion. Maryam did not have Muslim friends in high school, but at college in Chicago, she began to meet other Muslims, and this strengthened her interest in Islam. As a result, she started to wear the hijab, which is when she recognized her status as white beginning to change. — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 145 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Cultural and religious practices can racialize a body just as skin tone does — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 89; Arabs gained whiteness-status in 1943 while Muslims generally remained excluded because Islam signified non-whiteness. — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 123; Arabs achieved economic success yet still lost whiteness through foreign-policy racialization — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 130 (+16 more)

Related

• Lighter skin and Westernized names let some Muslims pass as white (similarity 0.94)
• Arabs were classified white for citizenship so they could be distinguished from ineligible Asians (similarity 0.93)
• Arabs classified as white lose that status upon wearing the hijab (similarity 0.92)
• The hijab overrides whiteness as a racializing agent on any wearer. (similarity 0.91)
• Wearing the hijab strips Arab women of their perceived whiteness (similarity 0.90)
• Wearing the hijab is read as surrendering whiteness and citizenship standing (similarity 0.90)
• Arabs gained whiteness-status in 1943 while Muslims generally remained excluded because Islam signified non-whiteness. (similarity 0.90)
• Converting to Islam or wearing the hijab causes loss of whiteness privileges (similarity 0.90)
• Muslim identity ejects Arabs from whiteness and strips them of its material benefits (similarity 0.89)
• Removing the hijab restored women’s ability to pass for white (similarity 0.89)
• The hijab functions like skin tone by marking bodies as racial others (similarity 0.89)
• Cultural and religious practices can racialize a body just as skin tone does (similarity 0.89)
• Hijab converts white-passing women into racialized outsiders (similarity 0.88)
• Lighter skin and Christian identity secured citizenship privileges that darker or Muslim Arabs lacked (similarity 0.88)
• Islamic identity exceeded skin color in rendering Arabs non-white for citizenship (similarity 0.88)

Broader Connections

• Arabs classified as white lose that status upon wearing the hijab #exemplifies (0.70) — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 201
• Wearing the hijab strips Arab women of their perceived whiteness #exemplifies (0.70) — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 145
• Muslim Americans are racialized even when visibly white, so racialization must include cultural traits #corroborates (0.60) — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 88
• The hijab functions like skin tone by marking bodies as racial others #expands (0.60)
• Lighter skin and Westernized names let some Muslims pass as white #qualifies (0.50)
• Muslim names alone can racialize phenotypically white people #qualifies (0.50) — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 91
• Lighter skin and Christian identity secured citizenship privileges that darker or Muslim Arabs lacked #complicates (0.50)
• Muslims move down the racial hierarchy rather than becoming a new race #responds-to (0.40)