By Samah Assad, Dorothy Tucker, Christopher Hacker
(CBS LOCAL) CHICAGO (CBS) — When Itedal Shalabi and Nareman Taha got their COVID-19 vaccine early last year, it was a sign of hope.
Not just for them, but for the entire Arab community in Illinois. As co-founders of Arab American Family Services (AAFS), Shalabi and Taha work with 15,000 families every year to provide social services and resources. They saw firsthand how the pandemic devastated the communities they serve.
“COVID has impacted us at every level,” Taha said. “We lost so many of our community members. [They] lost their loved ones, fathers, brothers, mothers.”
And when it finally came time to get their vaccines, both were faced with a familiar roadblock as they filled out their forms: when it came to race or ethnicity, what box should they check?
Shalabi and Taha are both Palestinian American. But because there was no category for Arabs or those who identify as Middle Eastern, they checked “white” and “other.”
