What Do “Arabs, Jews, Germans and Italians” Have in Common?

In 1866, Congress passed a major civil rights law that has large impact today.

Example? In a case we cover tomorrow, an employee named Mamdouh El-Hakem objected to his boss, Greg Young, westernizing his name to “Manny.” He asked repeatedly to be called Mamdouh. Eventually, El-Hakem sued. He was awarded $90,000 for the hostile work environment caused by this simple but significant recurring insult.

The 1866 law said that all people shall enjoy the same rights as “white citizens.” A main legal issue was: Did Congress limit the 1866 law to blacks, or intend it for a much broader group? In other words, how did Congress define "white citizens" and the rest of people in the U.S. who were granted protection under the law?

This was open to interpretation until 1987 when the Supreme Court looked into the legislative history for the 1866 law. The Court identified “targets of race discrimination for purposes of Section 1981 [1866 law] include groups that today are considered merely different ethnic or national groups, such as Arabs, Jews, Germans and Italians.”

It is a testament to our nation’s progress that we do not think today as our nation did in the 1860s (and for decades after). But the question for us remains: Do white people enjoy privileges that nonwhites— Hispanics, many Muslims, Jews, Asians to name some groups— do not fully enjoy (for example, to work using our real names, such as Mamdouh)?

The photo shows Manny Zwerling. He served in a segregated Jewish infantry in WWI. He survived the war and later served in the NYPD. He is featured today in the New York Times. 
Thank you for your service, Manny. 
And to Mamdouh El-Hakem: Thank you for helping us understand that our names are so much of our identity that we shouldn’t allow others to take them from us.