<p>^^In general I agree but it’s not entirely that simple in the case of north African Arabs because not all Arabs are white. I lived next door to Egypt in Libya for over 4 years when I was a kid, and there white Arabs and black Arabs there in the same sense as there are white and black Americans - and for the same reason, the black Arabs being the descendants of slaves brought up from the south. There are also a lot that are of mixed blood. </p>
<p>So in this case the legitimacy of claiming to be an “African American,” in the sense that most Americans understand the term, may depend on whether the OP’s dad is a black or white Arab.</p>