Moroccans

[maimouna 21]

Interesting. My husband now checks the box marked "other" or describes his race as arab.

I dont see why one would check white/black when you are arab, so neither applies.

The sad part is if one was compelled to think those are the only choices, and cant seem to check the "other" box,

I definitely believe the caucasian box will be checked more than the black one.

There are very strong perceptions of skin color in Morocco. The lighter vs the darker arab. And its not some secret

either.. I have heard the jokes of dark moroccans, seen with my own eyes...a family turn down a male who

was interested in marrying their daughter because his skin was dark/black.

But hey, its everywhere...the idea that lighter skin is more attractive is percieved in India, Mexico...you name it.

Skin bleaching cremes are seen in homes with no running water.smh.

Thats a reality, sad is an understatement.

My husband said he was raised with the same perceptions of lighter vs darker skin..until he came to America

Until he witnessed a white man making a racist remark to him...thinking he was a african american with a light complexion.

He said to me " I used to think this country saw me as white until this man called me a #######." But now I see he

hates me just as much as he would hate a moroccan with darker skin.

I said yes dear....dont get confused. You are arab, and racist people see you in categories..and obviously you didnt

meet the white criteria lol. So now he checks the "other" box...because he had a piece of american reality.

Best post in this thread!!

I agree with you. He is neither white nor black, he is arab or Arab African!! The world is not black or white!! I come from Africa and I check the other box and put African. I do not think of my self as African american or anything else on the list so I check Other.

I guess to the OP the real question is what does your husband think he is? What would he check? Isn't it what matters? What box he thinks he fits in!!

[simo34 0]

I haven't logged on to Visa Journey in a while. Hope everyone is doing well.

I live in the United States (Alabama) and am engaged to a man in Morocco. I've been there 5 times. It's a beautiful country and I love the people there. As a lot of you know, people in the United States can be very prejudiced. I am white as well as my family. Some members of my family are prejudiced again black people. One of my sisters has recently said some things that leads me to believe that my family thinks that all people in Morocco are black because Morocco is in Africa. During all my visits to Morocco, I have seen people that are very white, a few that are very black and a lot that have an olive completion. Sounds very much like the people in the United States to me; however, when filling out forms that ask for race, most just have "black", "white". My fiancee has an olive completion, brown eyes, dark brown hair that has soft curls on top. I'm the type person that doesn't really see colors.....I'm not like some of my family members, but I don't think my sister is going to leave this alone. I was wondering if some of you have come across this with family and/or friends and if so how did you handle it?

I'd also appreciate it if someone could tell me if the people in Morocco are considered either black or white? Is there some background that makes them neither one? I've looked at some things on the internet, but it all just confuses me. Could someone please give me a simple answer as to the ethnics of the people in Morocco?

Thank you.

Yep most of the repliers covered the point, I'd go with caucasian I was the same way Kinda alittle dark with an olive completion-like you said- due to sun exposure allllll the time, to find out that I am actually White when I moved to the US . Btw I libe in Birmingham, AL too .

Good luck .

[hassan_debbie 4]

This is why your fiance is considered a Caucasian:

The term Caucasian race (also Caucasoid, Europid, or Europoid[1]) has been used to denote the general physical type of some or all of the populations of Europe, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, West Asia, Central Asia and South Asia.[2] Historically, the term has been used to describe the entire population of these regions, without regard necessarily to skin tone. In common use, specifically in American English, the term is sometimes restricted to Europeans and other lighter-skinned populations within these areas, and may be considered equivalent to the varying definitions of white people.

Debra

[hassan_debbie 4]

I am a white female from Georgia and my husband is from Morocco. He gets extremely dark during the summer. African Americans think he is one of them, Spanish people think he is one of them, and Indians from India think he is one of them. My family never had a problem with him and we never had a problem when we lived in my very small southern town. Don't worry too much once people get to know him they'll like him.

Debra

[tnh9479 1]

We had fun at school two years ago when all of my students of Cuban descent were called down to the office to fill out a new registration form. Apparently they are not Hispanic any more, but Caucasian. They came back asking me what was going on. All the new state forms now have our Central and South American students check Caucasian for race and then Hispanic for ethnicity. Would be nice to be able to add Arabic to ethnicity too.

[venusfire503 54]

When we were in the "getting to know you" phase, I asked him questions about things like race and religion (among MANY other things - but this isn't a discussion about those other things). He told me he is Arab, and that was that.

Then he got the visa, and one day we went to apply for his social security number. Neither of us knew which box to check, so we actually went up and asked the lady at the counter. She said to mark "caucasian", so we did. Some people think that's kind of funny (not in a mean way) that we had to ask - I do, too.

I have a sister I think STILL doesn't agree that my husband is caucasian, even though I sent her the link about it.

When my students see his picture, many of them ask if he's Mexican or Puerto Rican. Even if they are! When I tell them he's Arab, many of them ask what that means. I did some research to print something out, I found out that Arab isn't an easily defined term. That makes sense to me. When I was growing up, I knew about "black", "white", and wasn't so aware of any 'others'. It seemed more clear cut at the time, because it wasn't a very diverse area. Now that I live in the Philadelphia area and meet people from all over the world, I realize more and more that trying to categorize people (and not just by race) is nearly impossible in many cases, and really has no purpose. Some of them still want to know 'what' he is, and since they're children, I just tell him that it's not something that's easy to explain, and that it doesn't matter to us. I also tell him that we jokingly refer to him as "dark white", since he's darker than the rest of us but is considered caucasian. Also, my husband and I have also become aware of the concept of "European white" as opposed to "non-European white". It's weird.

Another thing that's weird is how he always seemed to change color in Morocco. Sometimes, he looked very very light, like me. Other times, he looked really dark. Since he got here, though, he actually seems to be darker most of the time. It could be from the stress. I notice sometimes his lips are kind of pink, and other times they're kind of brown - especially if he's unhappy, sleepy, or feels sick. He occasionally mentions something about wanting to be lighter, and I remind him that many light people go get tans. Humans are odd.

I think our skin colors look beautiful, especially next to each other.

I'm proud of this true little story. One day, my son brought home something from school about Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, and asked me what it was all about. I started to explain it to him, but he got very confused. He wanted to know what the term "black people" meant. I said they have dark skin. He wanted to know if that meant his stepfather was black, and I said no. Then I tried to explain to him that his uncles S and V are considered black. But things just kept getting more confusing - what about his cousins? They're a mix of 'white' and 'black' - and some are part Filipina..... I think the poor kid was more confused than when we had started!

When I realized I was falling in love, I didn't even give a thought to what anyone else would think. When I found out that it wasn't going to be so 'easy', I didn't care - the love was and is strong, and too important to me to give up because of what people thought and said. All I know is that I love him so much, and he loves me too. I knew some people who didn't 'accept' him - until they met him. Attitudes changed once they got to know him. The people who can't accept him are no longer part of my life.

We think of our 'differences' as bonuses.

My heart goes out to anyone who has to deal with pressure from family and 'friends' who can't learn to grow up and just realize we're all HUMANS.

Best of luck to everyone.

venusfire

[venusfire503 54]

I tried to edit, but it won't let me

Here is what I tried to post:

When we were in the "getting to know you" phase, I asked him questions about things like race and religion (among MANY other things - but this isn't a discussion about those other things). He told me he is Arab, and that was that.

Then he got the visa, and one day we went to apply for his social security number. Neither of us knew which box to check, so we actually went up and asked the lady at the counter. She said to mark "caucasian", so we did. Some people think that's kind of funny (not in a mean way) that we had to ask - I do, too.

I have a sister I think STILL doesn't agree that my husband is caucasian, even though I sent her the link about it.

When my students see his picture (I'm a sub, so it's not always the same students), many of them ask if he's Mexican or Puerto Rican. Even if they are! When I tell them he's Arab, many of them ask what that means. When I did some research to print something out, I found out that Arab isn't an easily defined term. That makes sense to me. When I was growing up, I knew about "black", "white", and wasn't so aware of any 'others'. It seemed more clear cut at the time, because it wasn't a very diverse area. Now that I live in the Philadelphia area and meet people from all over the world, and also now that my own extended family has become so diverse, I realize more and more that trying to categorize people (and not just by race) is nearly impossible in many cases, and really has no purpose. Some of my students still want to know 'what' he is, and since they're children, I just tell him that it's not something that's easy to explain, and that it doesn't matter to us. I also tell him that we jokingly refer to him as "dark white", since he's darker than the rest of the family but is considered caucasian. Also, my husband and I have also become aware of the concept of "European white" as opposed to "non-European white". It's weird.

Another thing that's weird is how he always seemed to change color in Morocco. Sometimes, he looked very very light, like me. Other times, he looked really dark. Since he got here, though, he actually seems to be darker most of the time. It could be from the stress. I notice sometimes his lips are kind of pink, and other times they're kind of brown - especially if he's unhappy, sleepy, or feels sick. He occasionally mentions something about wanting to be lighter, and I remind him that many light people go get tans. Humans are odd. Over all, I think he's learning to stop caring what other people think, and doesn't feel stared at like he did when he first got here.

I think our skin colors look beautiful, especially next to each other.

I'm proud of this true little story: One day, my son brought home something from school about Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, and asked me what it was all about. I started to explain it to him, but he got very confused. He wanted to know what the term "black people" meant. I said they have darker skin. He wanted to know if that meant his stepfather was black, and I said no. Then I tried to explain to him that his uncles S and V are considered black. But things just kept getting more confusing - what about his cousins? They're a mix of 'white' and 'black' - and some are part Filipina..... I think the poor kid was more confused than when we had started!

When I realized I was falling in love, I didn't even give a thought to what anyone else would think. When I found out that it wasn't going to be so 'easy', I didn't care - the love was and is strong, and too important to me to care what people thought and said. All I know is that I love him so much, and he loves me too. I knew some people who didn't 'accept' him - until they met him. Attitudes changed once they got to know him. The people who can't accept him are no longer part of my life.

We think of our 'differences' as bonuses.

My heart goes out to anyone who has to deal with pressure from family and 'friends' who can't learn to grow up and just realize we're all HUMANS.

Best of luck to everyone.

venusfire