re: Did anyone catch the Jon Stewart and Oreilly debate on white privilege?

quote:

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But my point, or rather my inquiry, is much more subtle: does a young black professional have to be particularly careful and avoid certain things/behaviors to keep his "professional image" in tact in ways different than a young indian or young white professional?

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First off, the good news is your "professional" premise is off.
I was joking earlier about the earring, but not in terms of uniformity of perception.

The expectation of physicians from an appearance stance is conservative, meticulous, trustworthy. Just the way it is. If you think I am going to convey the same confidence at bedside clothed in jeans and a tee shirt as I will in a crisply laundered white coat and tie, you're sorely mistaken. Has nothing to do with race. If an Indian male or any other person shows up bejeweled, dressed, or acting in an odd way, it conveys a different impression.

The concern I have when I hear anecdotes like yours or 'strongsafety's' is how do you filter life's normal setbacks/conflicts, from those with a racial basis. Is everything racial? Is anything racial. My suggestion is to do what it sounds like you've done. Forget color and analyse culpability. Do you have some culpability? If so own it, fix it, and move on. Set presumptions of race aside, and solve the problem for yourself independent of race.

Not an altruistic approach. It's pure personal pragmatism. If race was not the issue, but you assume it was, you're not helping yourself. In fact you've probably hurt yourself. If race was involved, you've got to move thru the challenge anyway.

All that is more generally directed advice, than to you in specific. One doesn't achieve what you have without possessing a strong sense as to how to persevere. Certainly, you've been there; done that.