Page - 187 - in Media – Migration – Integration - European and North American Perspectives

Kenneth Starck | Perpetuating Prejudice 187 As to the number of Arabs in the United States, confusion abounds. The reason centers in large part on the definition of race, a volatile social issue for most of the history of the United States. U.S. Census Bureau efforts to com- pile accurate ethnic data have not been very successful when it comes to Arabs. For example, in one set of data collection, given a limited choice of ra- cial categories, many Arabs marked “white” or “other.” While the U.S. Census lists the total Arab-American population as 1.2 million, or 0.42 percent of the U.S. population, the Arab American Institute Foundation estimates the num- ber to be 3.5 million, or 1.2 percent of the population. Problems associated with the data collection methodology aside, a U.S. Census Special Report helps provide a demographic profile of the Arab-American population in the United States (Brittingham and de la Cruz 2005). Based on 2000 data, the report shows that Arab families had a higher median income than all families ($52,300 compared to $50,000) while at the same time a higher proportion of Arabs than the general population was in poverty (17 percent compared to 12 percent). Arabs also were shown to be more highly educated than the general population with more than 40 percent holding at least a bachelor’s degree. Also, more Arab Americans than the general population held management, professional, and related occupations (42 percent compared to 34 percent). Nearly half of U.S. residents of Arab ancestry were born in the United States (46 percent). The data also shed some light on the national origin of the Arab- American population according to ancestry: National origin Percentage of Arab-American population Lebanese 28.8 % Egyptian 14.5 % Syrian 8.9 % Palestinian 7.3 % Jordanian 4.2 % Moroccan 3.6 % Iraqi 3.5 % “Arab” or “Arabic” 19.7 % Other Arab5 9.6 % Table 1: National origin of the Arab-American population according to ancestry 5 “Other Arab” includes Yemeni, Kurdish, Algerian, Saudi, Tunisian, Kuwaiti, Libyan, Berber, Emirati (United Arab Emirates), Omani, Qatari, Bahraini, Alhuceman, Bedouin, Rio de Oro, and the general terms Middle Eastern and North African. Source: Brittingham and de la Cruz 2005, p. 3.