Anaheim backs state bill on Middle Eastern and North African data inclusion

The Anaheim City Council lent its full support to a legislative effort to properly categorize Middle Eastern and North African people when government agencies collect demographic data.

Introduced by Democratic Assemblyman John Harabedian, whose 41st Assembly District encompasses Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties, the MENA Inclusion Act would require state and local agencies to include separate categories for major Middle Eastern and North African groups for reports published in 2027 and after.

Anaheim Councilman Carlos Leon, whose district includes the officially designated Little Arabia enclave, requested a discussion and vote on a resolution supporting the bill, also known as Assembly Bill 91, during the March 25 council meeting.

“For too long, Middle Eastern and North African communities have been statistically invisible in demographic data, grouped under categories that fail to reflect their distinct cultural and socio-economic experiences,” Leon said.

The proposed resolution stated that Anaheim is home to more than 20,000 people who identify as Middle Eastern and North African.

Leon pointed to Little Arabia, which was designated in 2022 and now has freeway signs, in stating that Anaheim has set the standard for recognition.

“It is time for California to follow suit,” he added.

According to U.S. Census Bureau estimates in 2020, the state is home to an estimated 740,000 people who identify as Middle Eastern and North African, the largest such population in the nation.

For years, those communities have been grouped as “white” on census and other forms, which has prompted efforts to more accurately collect critical demographic data.

But a push to pass the bill last year died when budgetary concerns led to its suspension.

The greater Los Angeles area chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which is headquartered in Anaheim, applauded the bill’s revival this year.

“For too long, the Middle Eastern North African community in California has been underrepresented and deprived of resources due to a lack of accurate data collection,” Basha Jamil, CAIR-LA’s policy manager, said in a statement. “As the largest civil rights organization representing American Muslims and over 1 million California Muslims, CAIR-CA has firsthand seen the effects of this issue on the community across all spheres of life — be it in schools, social services, or courtrooms.”

CAIR is one of several organizations advocating for the bill’s passage as part of a MENA civil rights coalition that includes locally-based groups like the Arab American Civic Council and Access California Services.

The bill’s passage could have local impacts for Little Arabia.

“It opens doors to small business loans, technical assistance and equitable development planning,” Amin Nash, policy and advocacy coordinator with the Arab American Civic Council, told council members.

Mayor Ashleigh Aitken and Leon sent individual letters of support for the bill.

Council members made one small revision to their own resolution to read that Anaheim will “recognize,” as opposed to “support,” the culture and contributions of its own MENA community.

With that amendment, the council unanimously approved the resolution backing the MENA Inclusion Act, which will be shared with Anaheim’s state representatives, including state Sen. Tom Umberg, who is one of the bill’s co-sponsors.