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Arab population grows

By Mike Wilkinson
Detroit News
Posted on Thursday September 27, 2007

2006 U.S. Census data estimate 123,400 in region but community leaders say number is 300,000.

Michigan became the second-largest state in terms of Arab population—passing New York but remaining behind California, according to the profiles released today.

In the state, the population is at about 147,000. New census data show the Arab community in Metro Detroit has grown substantially since 2000, but community leaders continue to question whether the numbers should be higher and the details are valid.

The community here, firmly centered on Metro Detroit, is substantially different from the Arab-American community nationwide, the data shows. The region’s Arab community, estimated at nearly 123,400 by the new census data, is less educated, poorer and younger than the Arab community throughout the country.

The latest numbers are from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, a survey of 3 million people every year. The data is from 2006.

Despite a greater than 20 percent increase in the number of people who consider themselves of Arab descent, community leaders say the increase is tied to better reporting, not a huge wave of immigration and births. And they say it still doesn’t accurately measure how big, and financially powerful, the community is.

While the census says there are 1.2 million Arabs in the country, the community says that number should be doubled. For Metro Detroit, the more accurate figure, they say, exceeds 300,000.

“It’s always been an issue that there’s an undercount,” said Warren David, a communications specialist who has worked to accurately depict the Arab community. He is a third-generation Arab-American whose family is from Lebanon.

Community leaders acknowledge that part of the problem lies within: A substantial number of Arabs are reluctant to classify themselves as such. For some, it may be a desire to distance themselves from discrimination tied to their ethnicity. For others, it may be fear of reprisal.

If more Arabs claimed their heritage, leaders say the community would benefit financially and politically.

“You know the game here: the power of money and the power of the vote,” said Imad Hamad, regional director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

Hamad said he and others are working with the U.S. Census Bureau on a campaign to get more people in the Arab community to trust the process, which is confidential.

For many, the census surveys create conflict. Are they white? Jordanian? Asian? Arab? In some cases, they could be all four.

“Even I’ve had a hard time filling out the forms,” said Rima Merooueh, who works for the Michigan Media Empowerment Project, created to improve relations between the media and the Arab and Muslim communities. She is an Arab whose family is from Lebanon and she considers herself Caucasian.