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Montreal just hired its first visible minority police chief, a Lebanese immigrant. Was Celine Dion’s husband Rene Angelil considered a visible minority? Or Paul Anka?
Many Lebanese that emigrated during and after the civil war were Christian Lebanese who were already quite assimilated to European and Western influences before they emigrated. I suppose you can try to determine their identity based on their names but even that is not always easy. I had a Lebanese classmate throughout high school and we all thought he was Italian because he had the Mediterranean look despite him constantly reminding us he was Lebanese. Similarly, during my second visit to St. Joseph's Oratory in Montreal, the guide who helped us navigate the edifice spoke fluent English but when my father asked what she was (he tends to be nosy about this but in a friendly way ), she replied "Lebanese". We would not have known had she not told us, we would have guessed Mediterranean French or Italian.
Levantines are typically lighter skinned than their Arab neighbors, often resembling Italians or Greeks. It's important to note that "visible minority" basically is a more PC way of saying 'Non-White European". But this gets more complicated as all Europeans do not look similar either, your average Southern Italian may feel more kinship with a fellow east mediterranean Lebanese than with a noridc swede, for example.
It just proves that the whole idea of clustering humans into groups like "visible minoirty", "white", "black", "brown" , 'non-white' is all nonsense. We should use actual science to determine human subgroups, not some arbitrary feelings or labels. We know from forensic science for example, that you can tell who is from Africa or who is from Asia, so these two human groups are distinguishable. Lebanese/Syrians being considered a "visible minority" in a country where the majority are from the same continent as they are? Seems rather odd and not based on any science.
Levantines are typically lighter skinned than their Arab neighbors, often resembling Italians or Greeks. It's important to note that "visible minority" basically is a more PC way of saying 'Non-White European". But this gets more complicated as all Europeans do not look similar either, your average Southern Italian may feel more kinship with a fellow east mediterranean Lebanese than with a noridc swede, for example.
It just proves that the whole idea of clustering humans into groups like "visible minoirty", "white", "black", "brown" , 'non-white' is all nonsense. We should use actual science to determine human subgroups, not some arbitrary feelings or labels. We know from forensic science for example, that you can tell who is from Africa or who is from Asia, so these two human groups are distinguishable. Lebanese/Syrians being considered a "visible minority" in a country where the majority are from the same continent as they are? Seems rather odd and not based on any science.
Great points all around! cultural, linguistic and ethnic diversity to me is more useful than racial diversity which tells us not too much other than general skin colour tones.
I am told the Maronite Christians of Lebanon are descendants of French Crusaders and those that settled the Outremer during that era, and have more or less tried to maintain as much contact possible with Christendom during the centuries between then and now.
I am told the Maronite Christians of Lebanon are descendants of French Crusaders and those that settled the Outremer during that era, and have more or less tried to maintain as much contact possible with Christendom during the centuries between then and now.
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), she replied "Lebanese". We would not have known had she not told us, we would have guessed Mediterranean French or Italian.
