Talk:Lebanese Americans

Article added, participation needed

Just opened the article. People who are of Lebanese American ancestry are more than invited to further expand this stub, and write down the history of their community. --Aleverde 22:11, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

Percentage of U.S. population

They are 2% of the American population?? That's 6 Millions! Much more than the whole population of Lebanon today! I do believe they are many, but that's far too many!!

It says .2%, not 2%. This should be sourced, however.--Cúchullain ^t/c 19:38, 21 May 2007 (UTC)

Religion

Some one keeps editing this page to say most Lebanese Americans are Muslims. INCORRECT. There are several sources posted that say Christians are the vast majority. The Census and Arab American Institute also claim Christians to be the vast majority. —Preceding unsigned comment added by AngryApology22 (talk • contribs) 02:39, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

Very True, the overwhelming majority is Christian. According to the Arab Amercian Institute 70% of Arab Americans are Christians and 25% are muslims. Knowing that Lebanon has the bigest share of these Christians, the proportion of Christians can only be higher than 75%, saying the opposite is non sense, at least referring to the Arab American Institute figures. Mr Hannouche. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.200.98.230 (talk) 05:45, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

Arab or White?

most Americans consider Arabs and Persians as Cocassians, which can be noticed if you look into any application form, you will not find an option of being "Middle Eastern". However, some Arabs refuse to identify themselves as Cocassians, while others do. There is no Arab country that takes records of race or color, Perhaps this has to deal with the historic sensitivity, or the language or the culture of the region. It also has to be noticed that unlike in the countries of the new world where you can walk in the streets and see people of different races and colors, in the countries of the "old world" usually one region of the country is dominated by people of one ethnic group, and in other regions the majority would be of another group, such as the Kurdish minority in Iraq who are a majority in Northern Iraq, or the majority of the Arab minority in southern Iran, or even the majority of the Catholic minority in North Ireland in the UK.

I know Lebanese are a great deal European mixed as opposed to the concept of arab, but how come Lebanese-Americans tend to 'blend into' and live as whites and even downplay and arabness? I ask while almost knowing the answer and because many Lebanese-Americans do their best to blend into the US as white Americans and put anything Arabic under the rug. Kind of like the Maloof family or prcatically any Lebanese-American. For them to do such a thing would impy to me that they do not see htemselves as arabs, but as whites. They would also have a point.

Even the Arab-American League (James Zogby) refused to address this, but on their site you can get an idea of where they stand - whihc is with a concept of their being white. They only seem to deal with Arab-Americans who are closer to the European in appearance. It is almost like a white supremacy group within a non-white group. Unreal.--71.235.81.32 23:54, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

There are a myriad of reasons. Lebanese (and most people from the Middle Eastern) are usually classified as Caucausian or White in the United States. Very few polls or forms that ask about race will even have Arab or Middle Eastern as options. This isn't some attempt to discriminate, there are just many small minority groups that get combined together. Likewise, you won't see any differentiation between French and Germans, Persians (Iranians) and Greeks, Japanese and Chinese, or Africans and blacks from the Americas or the Caribbean. Most forms that ask for a race will have White, Black, Asian, and Hispanic as options, as those are by far the largest demographic groups in America.

Also, just like all other foreigners, Lebanese intermarry with other racial and ethnic groups when they arrive in the United States. There isn't some hidden conspiracy to hide their Arab heritage, they often just get mixed in with the local population, resulting in many more partially Lebanese people than completely Lebanese.

Lastly, the term Arab has various definitions and connotations. Just as there are Islamic people in the world who are not Arabs, there are people from the Middle East who do not classify themselves as Arabs. For instance, Greeks and Israelis are unlikely to classify themselves as Arab. Likewise, some of Lebanon's Christians do not view themselves as Arab, as they don't feel that they are culturally similar enough to themselves to warrant the classification. Some Christian Lebanese also may not classify themselves as Arab to avoid others confusing them for Muslims. — George ^[talk] 00:50, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

I don't know. They seem to marry only white Americans and I don't even see them with "Asiatic-styled" or African-styled Arabic speaking peoples. I have noticed this in the Lebanese primarily and with whiter looking Arabic peoples in general. Again, these whiter looking so-called arabs look that way becase they are (in general) white. It's is just that I see these types who hide their names, try to hide their race(!) and they certainly hide any 'arabness.' They will say "I am Lebanese" or "my family if Lebanese." They never say arab. It is like Jews calling themselves Jews and not Germans.--71.235.81.32 05:47, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

I'm not sure where in the U.S. you live, but that isn't at all the experience I've had. The majority of people in the US are white, so naturally they are more likely to marry whites. I think this is more true of Christians than Muslims, as there are far more white Christians than white Muslims. That is to say, a Christian Arab (like some Lebanese), has less problems marrying a Caucausian because most Caucausians are also Christians, while a Muslim Arab is less likely to find a Muslim Caucausian. Obviously, that only applies to those who care about the religion of the person they marry.

I think what you're seeing is in no way related to people being Lebanese. It has far more to do with being an immigrant in America. Immigrants in America don't want to stick out. They change their names to more-easily readable English versions of their names. They're less likely to live around other people who celebrate the same holidays and traditions they do, or like the same sports, so they're likely to pick up on the local holidays and customs to fill in, celebrating the Fourth of July and going to Baseball games. This has nothing to do with being racist or Lebanese, and everything to do with the melting pot concept of becomng American.

Now, there surely is some element of people who want to forget their culture. I know plenty of Lebanese who are sick of the wars and the politics, and have no intention to ever return to Lebanon. They view their new lives as superior in every way, and don't look back. Likewise, however, there are plenty who still celebrate their culture, holding festivals at their churches or mosques, cooking the same food that they are used to, continuing to speak Arabic, or playing tarneeb. People come in all flavors. — George ^[talk] 06:47, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

I can agree with you on the religion part, but there are also a great many Spanish-speaking and African-American Christians, but I cannot ever recall a Lebanese marrying one of them, unless they were in Latin America of course. Also, there are also non-Lebanese Arabic peoples who are not of a white appearance, but I still don't see them associating with these groups either. James Zogby's site explains it all. Just look at the list of 'famous arab-Americans.' How come they are either mainly white looking or white's who do not identify, recognize or view themselves as Lebanese or Arabic? It is more than clear what type of arab Zogby represents. Now if his organization were called the "White Arab-American Institute," then I could go along with hime sense he would be truthful, but all arabs are clearly not represented. It almost seems as if he wants America to view arabs as white and therefore only acknowledges white or whiter looking arabs. Maybe that is his hidden agenda. This guy is a phony none the less.--71.235.81.32 18:51, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

Anecdotal evidence is not very compelling. I doubt there is any real evidence to support the suggestion that Lebanese Americans typically marry whites, or "look whiter" than, say, Syrian Americans. I doubt even further that there is some concerted effort to assimilate more than other ethnic groups.--Cúchullain ^t/c 20:52, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

Just out of curiosity, who are the "non-white" famous Arab Americans who didn't make the list that you feel should have? — George ^[talk] 21:59, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

Alright, time to add some comments. Arabs from Lebanon to Yemen to Egypt are White. White has nothing to do with skin color. It has to do with geographic origins. If you originate from Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa, you're White, even if you have black skin. Kabeesh? —Preceding unsigned comment added by PassTheYouth (talk • contribs) 03:27, 22 February 2008 (UTC)

You sound like an idiot. How can white be geography when ANCIENT Egypt was clearly black as well as Libya? Turks are whites but not many whites are quick to claim them for some odd reason. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.8.197.169 (talk) 16:02, 3 November 2013 (UTC)

Lol Ancient Egyptians were black. You are a funny one, and you even say Ancient Libyans are black ! Seriously though, North Africa ties into the Middle East and Southern European zone, ie: They are mediterranean peoples. If anything, modern day Egyptians, North Africans and Middle easterners are DARKER today than they were in the past...1500 years of bringing black slaves to those lands via the trans-Saharan slave trade certainly left a genetic mark on those populations. Perhaps Lebanaon was not a prime area for black slaves to be taken to ? Maybe THAT is why they are almost European looking in appearance [low admixture with African slaves]. 107.222.205.242 (talk) — Preceding undated comment added 03:13, 19 July 2014 (UTC)

What does this have to do with this article? Make an article called “Racial background of Lebanese Americans” or “Arab culture in modern day Lebanese Americans” to discuss this racist stuff, not this article. Please, stop. At least where I am, Lebanese Americans don’t bury their culture under the rug, and even if they did it has nothing to do with this article. Janlopi (talk) 15:29, 11 September 2023 (UTC)

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BetacommandBot (talk) 05:44, 24 January 2008 (UTC)

Is this a proper member of category "American people of Arab descent"?

Recent discussions on the articles for Rima Fakih and Julie Hayek would seem to call into question the inclusion of this article in the Category:American people of Arab descent. While some of the comments in those discussions may have represented synthesis or original research as far as the individual articles concerned, an underlying issue seems relevant to this article. The CIA Factbook page on Lebanon, while itself classifying the population as 95% Arab, notes that "many Christian Lebanese do not identify themselves as Arab but rather as descendants of the ancient Canaanites and prefer to be called Phoenicians". Another source cited in those discussions and this article say that a substantial majority of Lebanese Americans are Christian; following the CIA wording, "many" of these would not identify as being Arab. Based on this, it seems the automatic categorization of Lebanese Americans as Arab Americans would be an improper violation of the principle of allowing self-identification. Shouldn't this article – and related Lebanese-specific categories – be removed from the "Arab descent" category as being an unjustifiably broad assumption? Fat&Happy (talk) 20:01, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

Casey Kasem

Both of Casey Kasem's parents are Lebanese Druze, making him one of the most famous Lebanese-Americans. He should be in the infobox. DavidSSabb (talk) 11:36, 14 July 2014 (UTC)

Arab Origin

The designation Arab American is not shared by all Lebanese, it is more neutral to say originate from Arab-speaking countries. For instance Copts in Egypt speak Arabic but completely reject the designation Arab, so do most Lebanese Christians. See sources in PhoenicianismAbuArz (talk) 14:14, 30 April 2015 (UTC)

Why is that a big deal to you, Lebanon is a founding member of the Arab League and was controlled by Baathists for a couple decades. Why do you not want to be considered Arab outside of the idea that it is somehow worse to be considered Arab, in which case you need to take a hard look in the mirror and wonder what have you done so poorly in your life that you are clinging on to the slight chance that you will be considered "white" in your own mind. I pity you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 47.148.46.208 (talk) 19:04, 20 February 2017 (UTC)

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washington state?

Why is washington state included in the Regions with significant populations section of this article when there's not a single mention of it in any other part of the article, all the other states have a mentioned metropolitan or city which Lebanese americans reside but not a single mention of washington state. 142.127.145.254 (talk) 03:24, 13 July 2023 (UTC)