Whitewashed : America's invisible Middle Eastern minority / John Tehranian.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 185-226) and index.

Introduction. The price of the ticket -- 1. Constructing Caucasians : a brief history of whiteness -- 2. Performing whiteness : law, dramaturgy, and the paradox of Middle Eastern racial classification -- 3. From friendly foreigner to enemy race : selective racialization, covering, and the negotiation of Middle Eastern American identity -- 4. The last minstrel show? : Middle Easterners in media -- 5. Threat level orange : the war on terrorism and the assault on Middle Eastern civil rights -- 6. Lifting the veil : thinking about reform.

"Middle Eastern Americans are not considered a minority in official government data. Instead, they are deemed white by law." "In Whitewashed, John Tehranian combines his own personal experiences as a Middle Eastern American with an expert's analysis of current events, legal trends, and critical theory to analyze this bizarre Catch-22 of Middle Eastern racial classification. He explains how American constructions of Middle Eastern racial identity have changed over the last two centuries, paying particular attention to the shift in perceptions of the Middle Easterner from friendly foreigner to enemy alien, a trend accelerated by the tragic events of 9/11. Focusing on the contemporary immigration debate, the war on terrorism, media portrayals of Middle Easterners, and the processes of creating racial stereotypes, Tehranian argues that, despite its many successes, the modern civil rights movement has not done enough to protect the liberties of Middle Eastern Americans."--BOOK JACKET.