South Asian racial classification has been fluid and contested in the US.

Evidence

Surveillance of culture is racialized when cultural practices are essentialized as innate to Muslims, subjecting them to intense scrutiny. For example, any abuse that Muslim women experience at the hands of Muslim men is reduced to religious cultural values perpetuated by Islam. The Taliban’s treatment of women in Afghanistan is an example of this culturally fueled racism. Muslim women were constructed as in need of saving from Muslim men, which in turn justified the invasion of Afghanistan (Razack 2008 Abu-Lughod 2013). Another example of this is the misconception that Muslim women are forced to wear the hijab. Private citizens chastise Muslim American women who wear the hijab because for them it represents subservience to patriarchy, rather than being understood as a choice. Wearing the hijab is treated as a cultural aberration to American societal values and individuals who wear it are understood as antimodern and antifeminist. — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 274 (#expands, via linked claim)

Racialization is rooted in relationships of power that are institutionalized. Racializing bodies serves those who wield power in society and therefore is constantly changing and mutating based on the interests of those in power. This explains why some groups of people are vilified at one point in time over another. For example, the belief that Syrians are potential terrorists and dangerous to Western nations is perpetuated when the government wants to limit Syrian refugees from entering the United States at a time when millions of Syrians have been forced out of their country due to internal wars and political conflicts. However, as I describe in chapter 1, Syrians were once treated like white ethnics in the United States partially because of their skin tone. — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 86 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Religious identity racializes Arab and South Asian Muslims along shared lines; Cultural traits like language, clothing, and religious practice can racialize a group.; Cultural practices become racialized when they are essentialized as innate to Muslims — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 274 (+5 more)

Related

• Racialization shifts with the political interests of those in power (similarity 0.85)
• Cultural traits like language, clothing, and religious practice can racialize a group. (similarity 0.85)
• Muslim identity ejects Arabs from whiteness and strips them of its material benefits (similarity 0.85)
• Racialization operates through cultural traits and social interactions, not only physical cues. (similarity 0.85)
• African American Muslims experience racialized religion differently due to distinct history (similarity 0.85)
• Categorical whiteness excludes Arabs and Muslims from the benefits of racial remedy in America (similarity 0.84)
• Muslim identity stripped South Asian men of their model-minority racial privilege (similarity 0.84)
• Arabs gained whiteness-status in 1943 while Muslims generally remained excluded because Islam signified non-whiteness. (similarity 0.84)
• Cultural and religious practices can racialize a body just as skin tone does (similarity 0.84)
• Muslim Americans are racialized even when visibly white, so racialization must include cultural traits (similarity 0.83)
• Arabs were classified white for citizenship so they could be distinguished from ineligible Asians (similarity 0.83)
• Muslim Arabs move away from whiteness regardless of actual skin tone (similarity 0.83)
• Muslims move down the racial hierarchy rather than becoming a new race (similarity 0.83)
• Cultural racism targets Muslims’ beliefs and traditions as if they were inherited essence. (similarity 0.83)
• Cultural practices become racialized when they are essentialized as innate to Muslims (similarity 0.83)

Broader Connections

• Religious identity racializes Arab and South Asian Muslims along shared lines #qualifies (0.70)
• Cultural practices become racialized when they are essentialized as innate to Muslims #expands (0.70) — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 274
• Racialization shifts with the political interests of those in power #expands (0.65) — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 86
• Cultural traits like language, clothing, and religious practice can racialize a group. #expands (0.60)
• Muslim identity stripped South Asian men of their model-minority racial privilege #exemplifies (0.60)
• Muslim Americans are racialized even when visibly white, so racialization must include cultural traits #contradicts (0.55) — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 88
• Arabs were classified white for citizenship so they could be distinguished from ineligible Asians #exemplifies (0.55)
• Religious identity replaced ethnicity as the marker making Muslim Americans seen as anti-American #qualifies (0.50)