Posted by Eugene Volokh:
OK, Parse This for an Israeli or Armenian Lawyer Who Works at Your Firm:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2007_07_15-2007_07_21.shtml#1184802030
From the fourth edition of the Vault / Minority Corporate Counsel
Association survey:
4. For this survey, minorities are defined as those whose race is
other than White/Caucasian and include African-American/Black,
Hispanic/Latino, Alaskan/American Indian, Asian, Pacific Islander,
Middle Eastern and Multiracial. If your firm has not tracked and
does not have data for one or more of these categories (such as
Middle Eastern), you may include a footnote explaining which
categories are not recognized by your firm. For example: "The
totals above for minority men and minority women do not include
Middle Eastern associates." Please note that for the purposes of
this survey, "White" means "White/Caucasian" and does not include
"White/Hispanic."
So is the Israeli a minority because he is Middle Eastern? Is he not a
minority because it is not the case that his "race is other than
White/Caucasian" -- but if that's so, then how would most Middle
Easterners be minorities, given that under all the standard racial
definitions with which I'm familiar Middle Easterners are considered
white or Caucasian? Is the Israeli only a minority if his forbears
case from the Middle East, as opposed to being from (say) Poland or
Russia, and, if so, what should he do if he thinks your 2000-years-ago
forbears did come from the Middle East?
Or are you supposed to say, "I know what the MCCA means, Israelis
aren't real Middle Easterners or real minorities, because they're too
Western, Middle Easterner means ..." -- means what exactly? Just
people from poor middle Eastern countries? How about people whose
well-educated parents left Iran following the fall of the Shah?
Saudis? Are you supposed to try to decide based on how much
discrimination the Middle Easterners are likely to face or have faced
in America?
OK, now tell me what you do with Armenians. Does it matter whether
they are from Soviet Armenia, Iran, or the Armenian diaspora? (I
should note, by the way, that there are a lot of Armenian law students
at least in the L.A. area.) Do they have to be Middle-Eastern-looking,
as opposed to more East-European-looking?
I realize, of course, that there is imprecision in all measurement
systems, and the imprecision, the opportunities for gamesmanship, and
the difficulty to which people are put when they have to figure out
identity labels for themselves and colleagues aren't reasons enough to
abandon such inquiries. But they are costs to be kept in mind --
especially as groups keep getting added, and the costs and imprecision
(who's "Middle Eastern"? "Asian"? "Hispanic"/"Latino"? "with
disabilities or physical challenges"?) mount.
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