Eli5: Why does the US Government classify Arabs/Middle Easterners as white?

Question

So according to the US government, Arabs, Persians, Kurdish, etc people are white. Why is this?

In: Other

Answer 1

Great question. There was a court case in the early 1900s that went all the way to the supreme court. At the time, there were laws discriminating against non -whites. Arabs wanted to be counted as whites and sued. They argued it was the birthplace of Jesus Christ. They won and have been legally white in America ever since.