I encourage all Iranians in the US to fill out this year’s census form and mark the ethnicity/race question #9 as “Iranian” or “Iranian-American,” instead of “White.”
This is purely for organizing reasons. It is better to have one or two obvious categories so that the tallies can count how many Iranians live in the US. This is why “Persian” is being discouraged. (Also Persian might include Indian Parsis and other nationalities).
Filling out the survey regardless of whether you choose to put down White or Iranian will help the immediate community you live in (zip code) to the tune of over $3,000 allocated by the US Government per year per person. So make sure you fill it out and send it in regardless so that at least you can be counted. Also make sure to include all of the people living in your residence.
Marking yourselves as “Iranian” helps us flex our collective muscle together as a minority in the US. If done properly, it can have huge positive consequences from a cultural and political standpoint, and as well as financially through government grants, economic assistance, and minority owned business contracts. Politicians, businesses, schools, cultural institutions, government agencies, financial aid, civic centers, and more depend on public census data to tailor their services to each community.
Of course, once we have some tallies that are substantial (hoping to record a higher official tally than the 2000 census’ 380,000 number), we can move to the next goal of establishing ourselves as a recognized minority and gain all of the benefits mentioned above.
There are some Iranians who object to this, and prefer to mark themselves as “White” and not “Other: write-in Iranian or Iranian-American.” That is a valid objections since the census form is flawed. It is trying to ask about ethnicity, culture, and race all in one question which is impossible. While Iranians are racially considered to be White, they are culturally Iranian, and their ethnicity might be Azari, Kurdish, Gilani, or Ghashghaie. Since this is less than ideal, we have to weigh the best option for our community. In my opinion to be White makes us completely invisible. To be identified as Iranian carries with it no small burden either. Also individual census data is absolutely confidential. It can never be shared and cannot affect your immigration status in any way.
I am choosing to write in myself as Iranian, because in the end, I think it describes me as closely as is possible with this current form. Addressing these problems with the census question #9 should be one of the highest priority projects to pursue for the next census in 2020.
For more information visit: http://www.iranianscount.org/
Pingback: The Prince of Caucasia « 3rd Smartest Man