Of all the topics addressed in *Niyū Yūrk*, a small but significant exhibition at the New York Public Library, one should be especially familiar to anyone who identifies as Southwest Asian/North African (SWANA) in the United States: the census. Unlike virtually all other non-European ethnicities, SWANA — or Middle Eastern/North African (MENA), as used in the show — is grouped under “White” on the US census. It’s not just the census, though. It’s medical forms, college applications, just about anything with a check box for ethnicity. Efforts have been made to change this, with some success. More institutions are adding a separate category on forms — and one might appear on the 2030 census. But as of 2020, the census reads under “White”: “print, for example, German, Irish, English, Italian, Lebanese, Egyptian, etc.”

When I searched “MENA census” online, the AI overview read that the possible 2030 update is “a change reflecting that many people in these groups don’t see themselves as White.” Well yes.…