Non-white South Asian immigrants could obtain citizenship by passing as Black

Evidence

Haney Lopez documents several legal cases where South Asian Indians were determined to be white by the courts. For example, in the early twentieth century, the courts used “common knowledge” and “scientific evidence” to argue about whether Asian Indians were white or not white (Lopez 2006). Common knowledge referred to popularly held notions about race, while scientific knowledge relied on naturalistic studies of humans. In the United States v. Dolla (1910) and United States v. Balsara (1910), the courts ruled Asian Indians were white based on scientific evidence. But in 1923’s United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind, Bhagat Thind, an Indian immigrant, was denied citizenship because Hindus were seen as ineligible for naturalization—one that held even though Thind was actually Sikh. This ruling was based on common knowledge and set legal precedent for the cases that would follow by determining that Asian Indians who were Hindus could not become naturalized citizens because Hindus were not considered white. This case uncovered that a religious identity, being Hindu, distanced Asian Indians from whiteness. — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 93 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Muslim immigrants preferred strained whiteness arguments over an easier Blackness claim; A religious identity once legally determined South Asian eligibility for whiteness. — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 93; A religious identity coded as non-white could legally bar naturalization. (+9 more)

Related

• A religious identity once legally determined South Asian eligibility for whiteness. (similarity 0.87)
• Religious identity alone distanced Asian Indians from whiteness in naturalization law. (similarity 0.83)
• The US Supreme Court manufactured whiteness to permanently exclude Asians from citizenship (similarity 0.83)
• Bengali immigrants navigated citizenship by adopting Black identity after Thind (similarity 0.82)
• Islamic identity rendered immigrants non-white in citizenship cases regardless of legal test (similarity 0.81)
• Muslim immigrants preferred strained whiteness arguments over an easier Blackness claim (similarity 0.80)
• US citizenship law grounded whiteness in popular perception rather than science (similarity 0.79)
• US courts redefined race socially to permanently exclude Asians from whiteness and citizenship (similarity 0.79)
• Immigrant Muslim petitioners chose whiteness claims over easier Black identification. (similarity 0.79)
• Islam functionally disqualified citizenship applicants from whiteness regardless of method (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• A religious identity once legally determined South Asian eligibility for whiteness. #expands (0.82) — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 93
• A religious identity coded as non-white could legally bar naturalization. #expands (0.82)
• Lighter skin and Christian identity secured citizenship privileges that darker or Muslim Arabs lacked #complicates (0.80)
• Islamic identity rendered immigrants non-white in citizenship cases regardless of legal test #contradicts (0.78) — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 154
• Non-white Latin Americans could become white through education and lighter offspring #responds-to (0.75)
• Arabs were classified white for citizenship so they could be distinguished from ineligible Asians #expands (0.74)
• Assimilation lets some ethnic groups become White but never Blacks #complicates (0.72) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 381
• Early US immigration law racialized South Asians more harshly than Arabs. #expands (0.72) — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 92
• The American term ‘Hindu’ collapsed all South Asian religions into one racial category #contradicts (0.72)
• Early US law lumped all South Asian immigrants into the religious category ‘Hindoo’ #contradicts (0.72) — Junaid Rana, Terrifying Muslims, 289