Syrian Christians won nominal whiteness yet were never treated as fully white

Evidence

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. — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 662 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: An Arab Christian claimed whiteness by tying Jesus to the same land — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 177; Lighter skin and Christian identity secured citizenship privileges that darker or Muslim Arabs lacked; Muslim Arabs move away from whiteness regardless of actual skin tone (+9 more)

Related

• Syrian Christians accessed nominal whiteness but remained incompletely white (similarity 0.89)
• Muslim identity ejects Arabs from whiteness and strips them of its material benefits (similarity 0.88)
• Lighter skin and Christian identity secured citizenship privileges that darker or Muslim Arabs lacked (similarity 0.87)
• Syrian immigrants won citizenship by proving their whiteness through Christian faith (similarity 0.86)
• Arabs gained whiteness-status in 1943 while Muslims generally remained excluded because Islam signified non-whiteness. (similarity 0.86)
• Islamic identity exceeded skin color in rendering Arabs non-white for citizenship (similarity 0.85)
• Arabs were classified white for citizenship so they could be distinguished from ineligible Asians (similarity 0.85)
• Muslim Arabs move away from whiteness regardless of actual skin tone (similarity 0.85)
• Categorical whiteness excludes Arabs and Muslims from the benefits of racial remedy in America (similarity 0.85)
• Muslim identity ejects Arab Americans from legal whiteness and its social benefits. (similarity 0.83)
• Arab Christians can be racialized out of whiteness by phenotype and origin (similarity 0.83)
• Lighter skin and Westernized names let some Muslims pass as white (similarity 0.83)
• Whiteness by law was defined as Christian, excluding Muslims from citizenship (similarity 0.83)
• Wearing the hijab is read as surrendering whiteness and citizenship standing (similarity 0.83)
• Arabs were legally classified as white in 1943 to distinguish them from ineligible Asians. (similarity 0.82)

Broader Connections

• Lighter skin and Christian identity secured citizenship privileges that darker or Muslim Arabs lacked #corroborates (0.80)
• Muslim Arabs move away from whiteness regardless of actual skin tone #expands (0.60)
• Muslim identity ejects Arabs from whiteness and strips them of its material benefits #expands (0.60) — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 662
• Lighter skin and Westernized names let some Muslims pass as white #corroborates (0.55)
• Courts constructed whiteness on shifting criteria including religion. #expands (0.55) — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 183
• Citizenship in America has historically been tied to whiteness and Christianity #expands (0.50)
• Converting to Islam or wearing the hijab causes loss of whiteness privileges #expands (0.50) — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 261
• Arabs classified as white lose that status upon wearing the hijab #exemplifies (0.45) — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 201
• Categorical whiteness excludes Arabs and Muslims from the benefits of racial remedy in America #expands (0.40)