Skip to content
  • Image
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • Podcasts
  • Email
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Opinion
  • News
  • Features
  • Comment
  • Store
The Arab Daily News

The Arab Daily News

Original news, features, opinions from Chicago to Jerusalem

  • About
    • About
    • Our Writers
    • Subscribe to Ray’s Columns
    • Book Store
    • Contact
    • Submit Book Reviews, Press Releases
    • Advertise
    • Privacy Corrections Policy
    • Profile on Ray Hanania
    • Submit Press Release
  • Features
    • Food
    • Book Review
    • Humor
    • Movies
    • Travel
  • Arab Stores Targeted
  • Arab Community Network Page
    • Arab Community Network Page
    • Arab Heritage America resources
    • Directory
      • Groups & Organizations
      • Mosques, Churches
      • Restaurants
      • 2008 & 2014 Arab Media Directories
    • National Arab Heritage Month
    • Video: Chicago Arab History
    • Video: Photo Array of Chicago Arabs
    • Overview of Arabs in America
    • Hanania standup comedy
    • Arabs on the Titanic
    • Obituaries
  • Podcasts
    • Arab News Ray Hanania Radio
    • Ray Hanania on Politics Podcast
    • Podcast Info
    • Hanania Podcast intro
    • Live Arab Radio
  • Your Views
  • Hanania on Tiktok
  • Toggle search form
  • Arab Democratic Club Feb 12, 2023 Forum & Brunch flier
    Arab Democrats host forum for Chicago and suburban candidates Feb. 12 American Arabs
  • The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) announced Dr. Manal Fakhoury has been elected to the position of Chair of the National Board of Directors, and that attorneys Spojmie Nasiri of California and John Floyd of Texas have joined the organization’s National Board.
    CAIR Announces Dr. Manal Fakhoury as New Board Chair, New Board Members Spojmie Nasiri and John Floyd American Arabs
  • AHRC Executive Director Imad Hamad
    AHRC: Honor Dr. King Day with Civility, Unity, and Action American Arabs
  • Citgo Gas Station and Quik Mart at 3759 W. Chicago Ave in Chicago ordered closed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot because a street gang member with an AK-47 killed someone in front of the store. Only Arab and Muslim stores are being closed by the Mayor
    When Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot targeted Arab businesses in 2021 and 2022 Activism
  • Hussam al-Mayman, The Mayman Show, podcast Arab News
    Arab News launches third season of The Mayman Show podcast Arab News
  • State Rep. Cyril Nichols interviewed on live Arab American radio in Detroit with host Ray Hanania Friday Dec. 9, 2022
    Nichols discusses need to improve Arab-Black relations in Chicagoland American Arabs
  • Voting sticker issued to voters in Cook County elections in 2016. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania
    Gov. Pritzker Announces Six Appointments to Boards and Commissions — no Arabs included American Arabs
  • Closure notice posted on the doors and windows of Arab American businesses during Mayor Lori Lightfoot's closure of Arab owned stores in June - Sept. 2021. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania
    Pritzker again ignores needs of Arab businesses in latest appointments Activism
  • Arab American Democratic Club (AADC) official candidate endorsements for the November 8, 2022 General elections.
    Arab American Democratic Club issues endorsements for Nov. 8, 2022 Cook County Illinois elections Activism
  • Arab Democrats urge NO VOTE on Gov. J.B. Pritzker re-election bid Activism
  • Assyrian American GOP issues endorsements in Nov, 8, 2022 elections
    Assyrian American GOP group endorses candidates in Illinois Activism
  • Abdullah Hammoud, elected Mayor of Dearborn Nov. 2, 2021. Photo courtesy of Abdullah Hammoud Facebook Page
    AHRC’s 2022 Spirit of Humanity Gala a Great Success American Arabs
  • Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts
    Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts Arab World
  • Rep. Cyril Nichols to be feted by supporters at fundraiser Saturday Oct. 22 Activism
  • Stand up For Human Rights website, United Nations
    UN experts condemn Israel’s ‘sadistic’ punitive measures against French-Palestinian rights defender Salah Hammouri Activism

Census and (lack of) Sensibility in the way nation’s manipulate population data

Posted on June 19, 2019June 19, 2019 By rayhanania No Comments on Census and (lack of) Sensibility in the way nation’s manipulate population data
SHARE ...
48         
 
  
48
Shares

  • Tweet

Census and (lack of) Sensibility in the way nation’s manipulate population data

Governments around the world manipulate their Census data on populations in order to undermine minority rights and strengthen government abuses against minorities. In the United States, the government has used the Census for decades as a means of suppressing the actual numbers of Arabs and Muslims in order to weaken the rights of Arabs and Muslims and deny them their fair share of Federal Grants and political empowerment. It’s a disturbing practice that continues unchallenged

By Ray Hanania

You would think that every country would want an accurate count of who lives in their country, right?

Ah, but that’s not the case at all.

In fact, you might get the impression from the way that many countries act, that they don’t want an accurate census count because any shift in demographics, especially involving ethnicity and religion, can directly impact a nation’s policies, its spending and even its politics.

Too often, many countries embrace a Census that is based on estimates or unofficial calculations.

 

 

As a Palestinian, I know how important Census data can be. The United Nations abandoned the official Census taken in 1932 to instead estimate population sizes uses other means.

 

Population (From the UN Partition Plan document)

(a) POPULATION STATISTICS

10. There have been two censuses of population in Palestine, in 1922 and in 1931. In 1936, in 1941 and again in 1946, the Government had made all preparations for a census, but political disturbances caused them to be postponed. There are, however, records of births and deaths for the whole population except the small Bedouin group living as nomads in the semi-desert areas of the south. On the basis of these figures, estimates of the total population and of its quantitative distribution according to various classifications are made by the government statistician at regular intervals. The population statistics of Palestine, compiled in this manner, are considered to be fairly accurate; but there is a margin of error which tends to increase as the census year on which the calculations are based becomes more remote. Only a new census can test the accuracy of these estimates.

 

Basically, the UN Partition drafters figured out a bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo to explain away their lack of accurate census data, allowing them to put whatever numbers into the plan to boost up the Jewish needs while undermining the needs of the Muslims, as much as  possible.

The 1932 numbers showed the Arab population was more than 6 times the size of the Jewish population (861,211 Arabs, 174,610 Jews), but that didn’t sit well with the powers that wanted to create a “Jewish State” in Palestine 16 years later, choosing to use unofficial population estimates to argue that the Jewish population, including legal and illegal immigrants was far larger, and therefore deserving of a larger land mass.

Today, Israel, the “Jewish States,” continues to manipulate its Census to preserve the “Jewish advantage” in order to justify giving more state resources to Jews and less to non-Jews. They do that by ignoring all the non-Jews that live among Israeli Jewish citizens in the Occupied West Bank and in Occupied East Jerusalem.

Nearby in Lebanon, the government is structured based in a “confessional” sectarian population balance of the three top religious groups defined by a nearly 90-year-old Census taken in 1932 which shows Christians and Muslims living in near equal balance. The President of Lebanon must be a Maronite Christian, the Prime Minister must by a Sunni Muslim, and the Speaker of the Legislature must be a Shia Muslim.

No official Census has been taken in recent years which would disrupt the current balance and reflect the growth of the Muslim community and the reduction in the Christian community because it would change the government sharing arrangement. According to unofficial estimates, the Muslim population is more than 64 percent while the Christian population is only 36 percent. With less people, the Christian minority would deserve less power. To prevent a push for a Census, Lebanon agreed in 2008 deal to give Hezbollah, which is Shi’ite, a greater voice in the legislature, including veto power over all Cabinet decisions, including appointments.

================== 

The PEW Research Center oftens reinforces stereotypes using biased standards provided by governments and a biased mainstream news media, such as the inaccurate use of statistics in determining the Census … They HATE to be criticized!

==================

One of the main reasons why Western nations seem to manipulate or avoid Census data is to allow them to refuse to acknowledge the growth of Muslims in their population. Countries like France where the Muslim population is growing faster than in the rest of Europe, representing 8.8 percent of the French population, have implemented policies to challenge Muslim traditions, such as the wearing of facial veils and Berqas.

Are Muslims 8.8 percent of the country or are they more, or less? We don’t know officially and rely on estimates, such as those provided by the PEW Research Center. If there are more Muslims in Europe, they deserve a greater share of the resources and public assistance to encourage greater voter turnout, all the things the non-Muslim population doesn’t want to provide.

In America, the Census is taken very seriously for every ethnic and religious group except for Arabs and Muslims. More than $16.5 billion will be spent on the 2020 Census count of the estimated 329 million Americans, or about $50 per person. The U.S. Census is so important, especially in determining how much Federal grants support ethnic groups deserve.

The Census has been accurate and beneficial to minority groups like Blacks, Asians, Hispanics and LGBT community who all have special identifiers on the Census forms to solicit accurate counts.

But illegal (undocumented) immigrants are not the only victims of an incomplete or inaccurate Census in America. The biggest victims are Arabs and Muslims, a population that dominates much of the American public’s concerns, fueled by news media bias portraying Arabs and Muslims as “terrorists” or negatively.

The option to answer “Arab” or “Middle Eastern/North African” to the census question on race has been blocked from appearing on the  U.S. Census forms.

As a consequence, there is no official data on America’s Arab and Muslim populations. The estimates are low-balled, at Arab and Muslim leaders assert. This Census absence weakens Arab and Muslim demands for a greater share of funding, and representation in the U.S. Congress.

The PEW Research Center asserts there are only 3.45 million Muslims living in the United States, although again, Muslim American activists assert that is half of the actual population. Black Muslims are the largest segment of America’s Muslim population

According to the U.S. Government, there are only 1.9 million Arabs in America, but again, Arab leaders assert that number is also half of the actual number.

In the instance of Arabs and Muslims, low-balling Census counts undermines and reduces the community’s empowerment and results in less Federal funding support. It makes your existence negligible in comparison to larger numbers for other ethnic minorities. And that is done intentionally by the U.S. Gpovernment.

(Ray Hanania is an award winning syndicated columnist and US Correspondent for the Arab News. He is a veteran, former Chicago City Hall political reporter who covered the beat from 1976 through 1992. Despite pushback from mainstream American news media, Hanania has pushed to produce reporting on the reality of the challenges facing Arab and Muslim Americans. The media bias goes unchallenged by major new smedia organizations. Visit his personal website at www.Hanania.com or email him at rghanania@gmail.com. A version of this column ran in the Arab News online.)

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
rayhanania
rayhanania
Op-Ed writer, author, radio host, podcaster at The Arab Daily News
RAY HANANIA — Op-Ed writer, author, radio host, podcaster

Ray Hanania is an award winning political and humor columnist who analyzes American and Middle East politics, and life in general. He is an author of several books.

Hanania covered Chicago Politics and Chicago City Hall from 1976 through 1992 at the Daily Southtown and the Chicago Sun-Times. He began writing in 1975 publishing The Middle Eastern Voice newspaper in Chicago (1975-1977). He later published “The National Arab American Times” newspaper (2004-2007).

Hanania writes weekly columns on Middle East and American Arab issues as Special US Correspondent for the Arab News ArabNews.com, at TheArabDailyNews.com, and at SuburbanChicagoland.com. He has published weekly columns in the Jerusalem Post newspaper, YNetNews.com, Newsday, the Orlando Sentinel, Houston Chronical, and Arlington Heights Daily Herald.

Hanania is the recipient of four (4) Chicago Headline Club “Peter Lisagor Awards” for Column writing. In November 2006, he was named “Best Ethnic American Columnist” by the New American Media. In 2009, Hanania received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. He is the recipient of the MT Mehdi Courage in Journalism Award. He was honored for his writing skills with two (2) Chicago Stick-o-Type awards from the Chicago Newspaper Guild. In 1990, Hanania was nominated by the Chicago Sun-Times editors for a Pulitzer Prize for his four-part series on the Palestinian Intifada.

His writings have also been honored by two national Awards from ADC for his writing, and from the National Arab American Journalists Association.

Hanania is the US Special Correspondent for the Arab News Newspaper, covering Middle East and Arab American issues. He writes for the Southwest News newspaper group writing on mainstream American issues.

Click here to send Ray Hanania email.

Follow RayHanania on Gettr.com, the uncensored Twitter Ray Hanania on Gettr, the new Twitter
rayhanania
Latest posts by rayhanania (see all)
  • Israeli-push behind effort to ban Tiktok in the United States - January 19, 2023
  • Arab Democrats host forum for Chicago and suburban candidates Feb. 12 - January 18, 2023
  • CAIR Announces Dr. Manal Fakhoury as New Board Chair, New Board Members Spojmie Nasiri and John Floyd - January 12, 2023

  • Tweet

SHARE ...
48         
 
  
48
Shares
 
48
Shares
48         
 
 Tweet 
Arab News, Arab World, Arab World Politics, Bloggers, Christian & Muslim, Civil Rights, Commentary, Editors Picks, Features, immigrants, Israel, Middle East, Opinion, Palestine & Jordan, religion, US Arab Politics Tags:Arab World, Census, France, Israel, Lebanon, manipulation, politics, suppression, United States

Post navigation

Previous Post: UN and rights groups denounce Egypt’s abuse of Morsi
Next Post: UN Human Rights agency releases report on Khashoggi murder

Related Posts

  • The Arab Street The Arab Daily News radio show and audio podcast at www.TheArabStreet.com
    Arab Radio: Aftermath of November 6 election on Arab Americans Activism
  • ‘Sultan’ Erdoğan the Magnificent Abdennour Toumi
  • Shoeless Joe Jackson and Arab American Major League Baseball Players American Arabs
  • Israeli elections committee bars surveillance cameras at polling stations, preventing intimidation of Arab voters Arab World
  • Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts
    Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts Arab World
  • Christian Procession at Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Palestine. Photo courtesy of Maria Khoury
    Jordan King says he is committed to protecting Christian Arabs Arab World

More Related Articles

Iranian city, Photo courtesy of WIkipedia Confronting Iran cornerstone to confronting extremism Arab World
ISIL captures Lebanese soldiers: gives them 3 days to live Ali Younes
Marine Le Pen, French presidential candidate Fillon Believes in God’s Providence, Marine Believes in White People’s Dominance Abdennour Toumi
The Wife of Jesus: Ancient biblical fragment a historical truth or clever forgery? Ali Younes
From One Palestinian: Dear Bretha Von Suttner, Wake Up! Bloggers
The Ambassador of Morocco (2nd from left) greets Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley (2nd from right) at his City Hall office to receive a commemoration honoring the special relationship between America and Morocco. Picture center is Baker Lemseffer who was the director of the CHicago office of the Morocco Cultural Center. On the right is Col. Jack Reilly and on the left is a Moroccan aid who accompanied the Ambassador. The story was the main story in a 1976 issue of The Middle Eastern Voice Newspaper published by Ray Hanania in Chicagoland. Photo (C) Copyright 1976-2017 Ray Hanania. All Rights Reserved Morocco celebrates longest relationship with America American Arabs

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

  • OPINION COLUMNS
  • Tiktok.com/@RayHanania
    Israeli-push behind effort to ban Tiktok in the United States
    January 19, 2023
  • Ghassan Rubeiz
    To what extent is Hezbollah responsible for the current crisis in Lebanon?
    January 17, 2023
  • Image from Rashid-al-Din Hamadani's "A Compendium of Chronicles. Image courtesy of Wikipedia
    Why allow religious extremists to re-define Islam in the West?
    January 10, 2023
  • CAIR Executive Director and co-founder Nihad Awad
    This Thanksgiving, let’s use our Blessings for good
    November 23, 2022
  • NEWS
  • Arab Democratic Club Feb 12, 2023 Forum & Brunch flier
    Arab Democrats host forum for Chicago and suburban candidates Feb. 12
    January 18, 2023
  • The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) announced Dr. Manal Fakhoury has been elected to the position of Chair of the National Board of Directors, and that attorneys Spojmie Nasiri of California and John Floyd of Texas have joined the organization’s National Board.
    CAIR Announces Dr. Manal Fakhoury as New Board Chair, New Board Members Spojmie Nasiri and John Floyd
    January 12, 2023
  • AHRC Executive Director Imad Hamad
    AHRC: Honor Dr. King Day with Civility, Unity, and Action
    January 11, 2023
  • Citgo Gas Station and Quik Mart at 3759 W. Chicago Ave in Chicago ordered closed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot because a street gang member with an AK-47 killed someone in front of the store. Only Arab and Muslim stores are being closed by the Mayor
    When Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot targeted Arab businesses in 2021 and 2022
    January 4, 2023
  • NEWSWIRE
  • Arab Democratic Club Feb 12, 2023 Forum & Brunch flier
    Arab Democrats host forum for Chicago and suburban candidates Feb. 12
    January 18, 2023
  • The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) announced Dr. Manal Fakhoury has been elected to the position of Chair of the National Board of Directors, and that attorneys Spojmie Nasiri of California and John Floyd of Texas have joined the organization’s National Board.
    CAIR Announces Dr. Manal Fakhoury as New Board Chair, New Board Members Spojmie Nasiri and John Floyd
    January 12, 2023
  • AHRC Executive Director Imad Hamad
    AHRC: Honor Dr. King Day with Civility, Unity, and Action
    January 11, 2023
  • Stand up For Human Rights website, United Nations
    UN experts condemn Israel’s ‘sadistic’ punitive measures against French-Palestinian rights defender Salah Hammouri
    October 19, 2022

Creative Commons License
All work on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Do not edit original work. Give credit to the original source.

  • 08-09-21-Ziyad-Sices-Ad.jpg
  • ZiyadBrandLogo-2016BlackRedBackgrnd.jpg
  • 08-09-21-Ziyad-Ad-Pantry-essentials.jpg
  • BOOK REVIEWS
  • Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts
    Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts
    October 24, 2022
  • Stories My Father Told Me by author and artist Helen Zughaib, book cover. Photo courtesy of Cune Press
    Stories My Father Told Me by author and artist Helen Zughaib
    November 1, 2021
  • ENTERTAINMENT
  • Hussam al-Mayman, The Mayman Show, podcast Arab News
    Arab News launches third season of The Mayman Show podcast
    December 15, 2022
  • Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts
    Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts
    October 24, 2022
  • Comedian Ramy Youssef courtesy of his Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ramysfaceboo/
    “Ramy” cable series melds Arab world reality with every day American life
    October 22, 2022
  • The Ray Hanania Radio Show Live Wed 5 PM EST in Detroit, Washington DC, Ontario and on Thursday in Chicago. Watch the program live at Facebook.com/ArabNews
    Second Season of “The Ray Hanania Show” Arab American radio launches April 6
    April 4, 2022
  • American Arab CHamber President HassanNijem accepts the Proclamation from Chicago Ald. Roderick Sawyer at the Chamber dinner March 30, 2022
    Chicagoland celebrates Arab American Heritage Month
    March 31, 2022
  • New-iTunes-1400-x-1400-The-Ray-Hanania-Show-Podcast-Icon-300-x-300.jpg
  • Podcast-iTunes-Logo-Chi-City-Hall-1985.jpg
  • terroristbookcover-300-x-300.jpg
  • powerpr300x300ad.jpg
  • The-Kings-Pawn-Book-300-x-300.png
Arab News Newspaper Logo
Read the Arab News, the leading English language newspaper in the MIddle East

Follow Ray Hanania at Gab.com, MeWe.com and IDobbinate.com, the alternatives to Facebook and Twitter Censorship.

Click here to get information on The Ray Hanania Radio Show and its podcasts

Copyright © 2023 The Arab Daily News.

Powered by PressBook Premium theme