From: wung@eecom.gatech.edu (Peter Wung)
Subject: Re: Racial Discrimination Re: Perceptions,
Reply-To: wung@eecom.gatech.edu
Organization: School of EE, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA
Date: Sat, 29 Aug 1992 19:07:27 GMT

In article GCF@rice.edu, kerryg@stat.rice.edu (Kerry Go) writes:
>|In article <7827@public.BTR.COM> timlee@btr.com (Timothy J. Lee) writes:
>|>fester@island.COM (Mike Fester) writes:
>|>|shaw@whopper.lcs.mit.edu (Andy Shaw) writes:
>|>|>Would it be a betrayal of "people of color"?  Well, I suppose it would be a
>|>|>betrayal to the extent that a second-generation Eastern or Southern
>|>|>European kid is betraying the "people of color" by taking advantage of his
>|>|>ability to look, sound, and act enough like the guys in power to get jobs,
>|>|>promotions, and elected where a "person of color" would not be able to.
>|>|
>|>|Out of curiosity, how many jobs and promotions have you actually been denied?
>|>
>|>You mean on the basis of race?  Obviously, he can't tell, regardless
>|>of what the answer is, since no one these days is going to give that
>|>reason, if it is that reason, for denying a job or promotion.
>|
>|Perhaps most people won't tell you that directly, but I have gotten the
>|advice to put my birthplace on my resume, applications, etc. so that a
>|potential employer won't question my English proficiency.  At job fairs,
>|I often get asked the question, "Do you have a J-1 visa?" (or whatever it
>|is you need to work in this country) or "I saw you applied to our company.
>|I didn't realize your English would be so good."  So, even though people
>|may not disqualify you on the basis of race alone, they might look at your
>|name and assume lack of English proficiency, and throw your application in
>|the trash as a result.
>|
>|BTW, Mike, before you say it's not true, *I* was there and was *told* this.
>|*You* probably were not there.  [Trying to stop an argument before it
>|starts. :-)]

A couple of experiences along the same lines.....

Experience 1

While I was a mere freshman in college, I took `Rhetoric for Engineers'.  A
disgruntled English major was teaching the course, on my first impromptu
assignment, I got an `F'.  He told us to come see him and wrote on my paper that " I don't know how you got into this school, but we expect you to have a basic understanding of the english language."  I went to see the bastard, and after 
five minutes of conversation, his attitude softened and paid me all kinds of compliments on how well I spoke english etc.  Bottomline is that I got a C 
for the course, a grade that most of my class ended up receiving.  My grades 
improved dramatically although my writing never did. Hmmmmm.

Experience 2

I was applying to graduate schools and I wrote letters to all the schools I was considering to ask for information.  In this letter I told them the following:
I went to a public high school in the US, I attended a prestigious american public 
university for all four years of my undergraduate education, and my status as
a naturalized US citizen.  None of that seemed to have mattered much since most 
university took one look at my last name and sent me TOEFL informations and applications for foreign students.  It was not until after I had spoken to 
the people in charge of admissions with my midwestern twang that I was able 
to get the proper information I needed.

---
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*Peter Wung				Email:wung@ee.gatech.edu	   * 
*Electric Power Laboratory		Snail mail: 33787 Ga. Tech Station * 
*School of Electrical Engineering		    Atlanta, GA 30332      *
*Georgia Institute of Technology				    	   *        *Atlanta, Georgia							   *
*   	"Pass, Set, CRUSH!"...						   * 
*  	Well, 2 out of 3 ain't bad for a short, fat guy.  		   *
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