US Congresswoman Tlaib, as a Palestinian-American/Arab-American woman, is not classified as a “woman of color”, as widely reported, but as “white”. Arab Americans fought long and hard to be classified as “white”, when that was a good thing for them. Now some wish to have a special MENA (Middle East/North Africa) status. However, others realize that having a special category may be dangerous and facilitate persecution and/or government surveillance. If ever they get a special minority status, you can expect a large uptick in immigration from the MENA countries, as has been the case for India, since immigrants from India were given minority set-asides and special privileges meant for African Americans who are descendants of slaves, and American women.
The most absurd protected minority is “hispanic”, however. What this classification means is that if your ancestors immigrated from Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain, the Middle East, etc, to Latin America, then…