Passage of AB91 would mean California’s 1 million-plus Arab and MENA residents could be accurately counted in education, health, housing, and economic data.
The California Assembly Appropriations Committee’s last week suspended a racial inclusion bill that would have officially recognized people of MENA descent.
For generations, millions of Americans whose roots lie in the Middle East and North Africa — MENA — have essentially become invisible people because the Census Bureau has denied requests for their own racial category.
