Until recently, many Americans of Middle Eastern or North African descent were categorized as "white" in government surveys, making it challenging to accurately quantify this population and assess its unique needs. But that is changing.
According to the Office of Management and Budget, the new category of "Middle Eastern and North African" or MENA aims to improve the quality of federal data on race and ethnicity.
Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud said it will be crucial for better understanding the diverse impacts on individuals, programs and services for people of the Arab community.
"We have been an integral part of the state since migration to the U.S. in the early 1800s in search for a destination that would better provide political, economic and religious freedom," he said. "And this month presents an opportunity to further build bridges between communities, and to shatter misconceived notions and stereotypes."
President Joe Biden highlighted the changes during his Arab American Heritage Month announcement, which is observed in April. He noted the addition of the new category for the 2030 Census and other forms, and emphasized its importance for better representation and policymaking.
These updates come amid criticism over Biden's handling of the Gaza conflict and efforts to appeal to Arab American voters.
Dearborn native Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab American Institute, said it's important that people of Middle Eastern and North African descent have an opportunity to be counted.
"One of the most deeply impactful ways that it's been negative," Berry said, "is that it views our communities as this existential 'other' - continuously foreign or 'otherized' in a way that's just not consistent with the history of our country, given we're all immigrants to this wonderful nation."
Until now, Berry said, Arab Americans were categorized the same as individuals of European descent -- a policy that could be seen as erasing their identity and overlooking the discrimination they have encountered.
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The racial reckoning spurred by George Floyd's murder got the public's attention about possible progress in ending wealth disparities. A Black-led Minnesota foundation says hope may have faded for some, but community partners are undeterred.
The fifth anniversary of Floyd's murder is this Sunday, and fresh 'think pieces' point out that corporate pledges of financial support are more muted these days, especially with political backlash against Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts.
Lulete Mola, co-founder and president of the Black Collective Foundation of Minnesota, said when they started up after 2020, they were warned by advocates tied to other historic events that this would happen.
"We're in a long movement arc of racial justice," Mola said. "It did not start in 2020. It started from the day Black people touched the soil of this land."
Because of those generational experiences, she said, Black communities have a daily commitment that goes beyond statistics about disparities. For example, grantees through her foundation emphasize a sense of identity for neighborhoods and minority-owned businesses in creating a prosperous future.
Mola suggested that can be more powerful than feeling beholden to a corporate-backed vision. Still, she said long-term corporate support is welcome, should CEOs decide to re-engage. She acknowledged the recent political shift is disruptive to the racial justice movement and that groups on the ground have to pivot as they try to improve outcomes.
"We may not see those numbers change five years after 2020," she said. "It may take 10 years, it may take 15 years. But I do have faith that what we've started and how we're moving here in the Twin Cities will garner results - that creates a very different community than the ones we experienced in 2020."
Mola pointed to a large body of research showing that improving the lives of Black people benefits all of society. That includes increased workforce participation, higher levels of consumer spending and less pressure on the criminal-justice system.
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Just days before the fifth anniversary of George Floyd's murder, the Trump administration announced it will try to end federal reform efforts involving Minneapolis police. City leaders and activists say it won't stop their work.
The Justice Department on Wednesday said it's moving to get lawsuits dismissed that led to a proposed consent decree for the Minneapolis Police Department.
Under the Biden administration, an investigation of MPD found widespread civil rights violations, including discrimination against Black people and Native Americans.
Michelle Gross, president of Communities United Against Police Brutality, criticized the DOJ's latest move, and its timing.
"I think a lot of it is really just pour[ing] salt in the wound of the community that is still healing from that. And so, I think it's very outrageous," Gross said.
Justice Department officials insist it was court deadlines, not the anniversary, that drove the announcement. They said the investigation relied on flawed methodologies and incomplete data. But Gross said problems remain, and they'll challenge the petition in court.
City officials say they'll carry on with guidelines from the consent decree, citing progress from a new independent analysis.
That report is tied to a separate agreement reached with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights following Floyd's murder. Gross said complying with those mandates is valuable, but added that the federal oversight is still needed.
"There are some things in the DOJ consent decree that we wanted, particularly addressing things like overtime, addressing things like Minneapolis police interactions with youth," she continued.
On overtime, reform advocates say leaning on it too much leads to officer burnout, worsening the culture within the police force. Elsewhere, the Justice Department also is trying to undo reforms for the Louisville Police Department.
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This Sunday, racial-justice advocates will observe the fifth anniversary of George Floyd's murder. A Minnesota professor who has written about activism surrounding Floyd's case says the movement still has legs to it, despite recent rhetoric.
When a handful of Minneapolis police offers were convicted on charges related to Floyd's murder, it capped off a global wave of heightened activism about confronting systemic racism.
Michelle Phelps, a University of Minnesota sociologist, released a book last year on the local push to challenge police violence. She said it's a complex topic, acknowledging the broader mood today has changed somewhat. But Phelps points to lasting impacts.
"The expansion of unarmed mental and behavioral health crisis-response units, which have actually developed in cities across the country [is seen] as one of the ways that jurisdictions are trying to respond to figure out who's best suited to respond to 911 calls," Phelps explained.
She said that stands tall amid a shift in policies related to policing.
A flurry of accountability laws surfaced around the U.S. after Floyd's murder, but some are being scaled back. Minneapolis officials say they're still committed to long-term changes, but beyond law-enforcement, new data show continued disparities in Minnesota. That includes a widening homeownership gap for the state's Black population.
The worldwide response to Floyd's murder saw statements of solidarity extended to the Black Lives Matter movement, from corporations and other key entities. Phelps said based on historical trends, it's not surprising to see some backlash since then. But she says the toned-down enthusiasm in 2025 doesn't erase what happened in 2020.
"It means that there was a moment of questioning, and I think that's exactly what we saw in Minneapolis and nationally, is there was this moment of awareness and conversation about structural racism that was really profound, even if it was short-lived," she continued.
Phelps added the seeds that were planted several years ago are likely to stay in the minds of young adults who have come of age during this era. She suggested it will be one of the many complicated events that influence their political engagement in the years to come.
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