Are Arabs and Iranians White? Professor Karim Comments

LOS ANGELES TIMES -- “I think it’s a big disappointment to people because there was a real effort made from the last census to create that category,” said Persis Karim, director of the Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies at San Francisco State University. “It’s another erasure of both Middle Eastern and North African people.”

Those communities have struggled to become visible for decades, Karim said, especially in the post 9-11 period.