With just a few short words, lawmakers passed a bill that, once signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, makes Illinois the first state to add the racial classification of Middle Eastern or North African for state data collection purposes.
State senators, representatives, Arab community activists and the mayor of Worth gathered Thursday in the south suburb to celebrate the change they say will improve the lives for the thousands of people near Palos Heights and around the state.
“We soon learned that we could not provide the demographic or scientific data that funders required to justify giving us program fundings,” said Itedal Shalabi, the co-founder and co-director of the nonprofit Arab American Family Services, who has been working on making this change for years. “Today marks a significant, historic step in changing this scenario — at least in the state of Illinois.”
The legislation passed both the Illinois House and Senate without a single no vote earlier this year.
State agencies will be required to use the Middle Eastern or North African classification for reporting workforce or hiring data by July 1, 2025. This is especially important for Chicago’s south suburbs.
“We have one of the largest Palestinian communities, probably in the United States of America, in our congressional district,” said Worth Mayor Mary Werner. “As a mayor, we’ve had a lot of requests over the years and sometimes you feel like it falls on deaf ears. But this is an amazing accomplishment.”
Census data affects decision making on a multitude of issues including allocation of government funding.
“We need data. We need to do the outreach to better understand what makes up our communities,” said the bill’s chief sponsor, Chicago Democratic Sen. Ram Villivalam.
Berwyn-based Democratic Rep. Abdelnasser Rashid said this law also serves a more symbolic purpose that reiterates to members of the community that they belong.
“I can remember back as soon as I was filling out forms in middle school and high school, looking at the racial classification list and trying to figure out ‘Which box do I check?,'” said Rashid, who is the first Palestinian-American to serve in the Illinois House of Representatives. “‘Is there a box for me? I’m not white, not Black. I’m not Latino, maybe Asian? Palestine is in Asia. Or do I leave it blank?’ And really, this is a dynamic that exists for so many people in our community.”
Pritzker, too, celebrated the change when the bill was signed.
“Here in Illinois, we are committed to instilling the values of inclusion and equity in every Department of State government,” he said in a statement Aug. 4.
Leaders also said Thursday there is still a battle for representation being fought at the national level. President Joe Biden’s administration has proposed adding Middle Eastern or North African to the U.S. data collection figures, an effort that stalled during the previous presidential administration.
“Now, let’s put pressure on a federal level, right?” said Democratic Sen. Javier Cervantes, who represents Lyons and part of central Stickney. “We need to get this on a federal level and other states too that want to piggyback on what we did here.”
