<p>I ask the question because I am sincerely wondering if I were to become a physician or dentist and open my practice would I be limited by my skin color. Now before people give PC responses, we should just acknowledge the fact that most white people see black people as less intelligent and as such do you honestly think that a white person would choose to go to a black doctor or a white doctor? </p>
<p>I know there are black doctors, in fact my friend's father is a primary care doctor who makes more than 250K a year, but he works in a group setting. Do you think that white people would be inclined to go to a solo practice run by a black person?</p>
<p>To me it’s not the color of a black person’s skin that makes them seem less intelligent. I know several black people who are smarter than I am. The hip-hop culture that many black people embrace, however, absolutely makes those adopters of the culture seem less intelligent to me. Bottom line, if you act professionally and don’t get a grill and walk into the room with your pants around your knees, you shouldn’t have a problem with anything like that. At least I hope not.</p>
<p>Maybe not the PC response that you were envisioning, but I like to be honest about this sort of thing.</p>
<p>In all honesty my experience in life has been exactly what you described. I am not a typical hip hop black person and I am pretty smart. In fact I have never been questioned about my intelligence by a person from any ethnicity, but that is largely a reflection of the way I speak. I am a competition speaker so I guess I sound smart. </p>
<p>What does occur more often than not is that I will meet someone and then I start speaking and they change the way they interact with me, so I have never personally been discriminated against. The problem however is the gut reaction. I mean if I were to advertise in the newspaper or magazine people would only see a black man and I am wondering if that would lower the probability of them choosing me as their physician?</p>
<p>Funny story, I went to the doctor yesterday (he is Indian) and I told him in the course of conversation that I was going to Yale. The first thing he asked me: Are you going on a football scholarship? </p>
<p>I wasn’t offended, I thought it was funny and later we had a lengthy conversation about testicular cancer metastasis.</p>
<p>If you think speaking well helps remove prejudice, you should see what an M.D. will do. :)</p>
<p>Of course there will be some residual racism, especially in highly integrated* communities. But I believe (hope?) that it won’t be substantial enough to affect your economic viability.</p>
<p>(*That is not a typo. The sociology I’ve seen indicates that racism tends to be worse, not better, in areas where races have extensive interaction.)</p>
<p>I heard someone say something once that made so much sense – Excellence is the best deterrent to racism or sexism. So true. We’ve always told our girls to not let anyone tell them there was something they couldn’t do because they are female (yes, that prejudice still exists too), just go out there and be excellent. </p>
<p>I recently took my 91 year old mother to a cardiologist for an office consult. When he walked into the room, he was an older, distinguished black gentleman. MY first thought was, “Oh I hope my mother (born in 1918 when the world was a much different place) doesn’t say anything racist!” When he left the room, she turned to me and said, “I like him. He’s very good and he’s older like me!” (Ha! There was probably a 30 year age difference!) She didn’t even notice his skin color. She noticed how he listened to her, she noticed the eloquence of his speaking, and his wisdom. He made suggestions for her health care that were respectful of her debilitated condition (i.e. didn’t want to run her though a bunch of invasive and uncomfortable testing). In short, she noticed nothing but his excellence.</p>
<p>This is funny… the question used to be would you go to a doctor who was a woman…
Mr endocrinologist is black. Smart man, very knowlegable, keeps me alive. What I can’t stand is someone who cannot speak english. Skin color is not a consideration.</p>
<p>If you speak in an educated and articulate way and dress professionally, there should be no problem. Set yourself apart by your demeanor and appearance. When you are in practice, make sure that your waiting room and examining rooms are comfortable and neat and that your staff is polite and respectful. Medical students, residents, and even working physicians are so busy working extremely hard that they forget that they must make a good impression to gain their patients’ trust. Believe me, if you do this, you will have more patients wanting to see you than you can possibly see.</p>
<p>I know for a fact that racism is still relevant in American society but I have also seen a lot of change in the most recent generation. I may be a minority as a white person that has black relatives and grew up in the innercity, but I know quite a few people who did not have that same exposure and have no issue or resentment in working with or socializing with black people. Of course this in no way means that this is a common mentality. Im sure that if you went out to the suburbs or to a rural community you might get a different reaction all together.</p>
<p>Personally, I have absolutely no issue in going to black professionals for help. They have to prove themselves to be as capable as anyone else in the same system. I imagine that the majority of white people feel the same. However there will always be the people that are so inherently uncomfortable around people that are different from them that they will intentionally avoid doing anything that involves black people. I generally chalk this up to a lack of contact and socialization growing up, something that I fortunately had. Until you see the good and the bad of a culture you cannot respect it or its people.</p>
<p>I suppose the easiest and quickest way to answer your question is to say, yes white people would voluntarily see a black doctor but that doesnt mean that a black doctor wont encounter racism. Its simply something that needs to be prepared for.</p>
<p>I don’t mean to be contrarian, but much of the racial-tension research that’s been coming out suggests just the opposite of what Gray Leaf is suggesting: tensions tend to be higher and racism tends to be more prevalent in areas where different races come into contact often.</p>
<p>I am not black, but I am a minority, and that research is consistent with my experiences as one. Discrimination and prejudice is higher where white people see a lot of people of my race; it’s lower where they don’t.</p>
<p>It is because the majority may subconsciously feel threatened? (e.g., in California, too many minorities get accepted into the top few UCs?) I can understand that some FOBs tend to hang out with each other at school’s cafeteria due to the fact that they are not very assimilated into the mainstream culture. But I always think that any minorities who grow up here since birth should at least try their parts to integrate into (and interact with) all other ethnic groups.</p>
<p>I notice that interests/hobbies can help transcend the race barrier.</p>