For the first time in U.S. history, Americans who trace their roots to the Middle East and North Africa will have a category that represents them to tick on federal forms. "Now we’re able to say more officially, 'No, we are here. We exist.'" nbcnews.com/news/middle-east…

After dodging a Taliban crackdown, these young musicians are playing Carnegie Hall @mirna_alsharif @mhadleysmith nbcnews.com/news/world/afgha… via @nbcnews

Protests around the world commemorate 76th anniversary of the Nakba and call for a cease-fire in Gaza - by ⁦@mirna_alsharif⁩ nbcnews.com/news/world/prote…

I worked on this piece with @mirna_alsharif for NBC News about protests and rallies commemorating the 76th Anniversary of the Nakba whilst also calling for a ceasefire in Gaza: nbcnews.com/news/world/prote…

BREAKING: Columbia cancels university-wide grad ceremony, in wake of pro-Palestinian protests. nbcnews.com/news/us-news/col… via @ahylton26 @marlenelenthang @mirna_alsharif

Follow along as we continue to give you updates on this story @NBCNews

Excellent report by @mirna_alsharif for @NBCNews showcasing Arab-American voices like @jasminjoestar @zainaujayli and others. #ArabAmericanHeritageMonth nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna146…

This year, Arab American Heritage Month comes amid a rise in anti-Arab hate as community members are watching Palestinians deal with loss, trauma and a looming famine in Gaza. My latest for @NBCNews nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ara…

we wrote a guide to photographing the eclipse with your smartphone 🌒🤳 thanks @mirna_alsharif for turning this into prose!! nbcnews.com/news/us-news/bes…

@mirna_alsharif for @NBCNews nbcnews.com/news/middle-east…

@spiderswarz says it beats having to identify as white. “I think that it allows us to assert our identities in a society which has by and large wanted to shun us, to ban us from coming here,” Salih said. “But now we’re able to say more officially, ‘No, we are here. We exist.’”

Thank you so much @mirna_alsharif for interviewing me for @NBCNews on the importance of now having a "MENA" category in the census. Finally, all of us SWANA peoples can be recognized in the US. nbcnews.com/news/middle-east…

Not 'white,' not 'other': Middle Eastern and North African communities finally get counted @mirna_alsharif nbcnews.com/news/middle-east… via @nbcnews

“And just like before, we didn’t want to be exclusively white. Moving forward, we can’t have a category that excludes Afro-Arabs from being part of MENA if that’s how they want to identify,” said @iMayaBerry, the executive director of the Arab American Institute.

Experts warn that the category is not the exact solution they were advocating for, and could lead to another undercount of the diverse community in the U.S. For example, the OMB’s new category does not include a way for Afro-Arabs to identify themselves, they say.

The new identifier will have six subcategories beneath it that include Lebanese, Iranian, Egyptian, Syrian, Iraqi and Israeli, an OMB spokesperson said. The identifier will also include a blank space where people can write in how they identify.

“We were forced to identify as something we were not, and in a way that erased the community and erased any data on the community,” said @aayoub, the national executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

The addition of this category to the OMB’s standards for race and ethnicity for the first time in U.S. history means that an estimated 8 million Americans who trace their origins to the Middle East and North Africa will no longer have to choose “white” or “other” on the Census.

MENA friends, please reach out! I want to know how you feel about this!

Yep. Read @mirna_alsharif's latest: nbcnews.com/news/women-repor…