How racist are you?

I finally went to the eye doctor the other day, after a three year lapse. (Yeah, yeah, my mom has already yelled at me, don't worry). Not knowing where to start for eye doctors, nor knowing the market price for an eye doctor appointment, I just went with the nearest Lenscrafters. While I was waiting to be called in, I started browsing the office's brochure and found a picture of the primary doctor whose name I couldn't pronounce - he was a regular white guy with a pleasant looking demeanor. Nice. But when my name was finally called, it was a pleasant-looking Asian doctor who ushered me in.

I shook his hand ... and found myself feeling relieved that the doctor examining my eyes was Asian.

When I realized what I was feeling, I was shocked. I mean, sure, I'm Asian but rarely (to my knowledge) have I felt more at ease with other Asians than other ethnic/race groups. I just generally don't feel anything, although I'm usually acutely aware of the racial makeup of my surroundings.

So when Dr. Han left the room to examine my glasses, I sat there, blind as a bat without contacts or glasses, and pondered my feelings. I was fairly sure that if the white doctor had called me, I wouldn't have felt anything out of the ordinary. So, why this feeling of relief with the Asian doctor? Was it because I buy into the stereotype that Asians are smarter? Was it because I really am more comfortable dealing with people of my own racial background? Or was it simply because my favorite eye doctor of all time is also Asian?

Maybe the answer is a combination of all of the above. In an effort to explore this issue in my life even further, I found a Harvard online test that uses word and picture association to determine how discriminatory you tend to be, running the gamut from racial to gender to political preferences. It's a rather interesting exercise. Turns out, that I have little to no preference between black and white Americans, but do exhibit a slight bias towards seeing Asians as American and whites as foreign. Who knew? Granted, the test has its imperfections and I would hardly use it as scientific proof of my subconscience tendencies but it was intriguing nevertheless.

Then again, maybe it just all comes down to family life. When I told my mother that my new eye doctor is Dr. Han, her first question was: "Is he Korean or Chinese? Because, you know, 'Han' can go either way."

(Cartoon credit: The talented Tak Toyoshima, creator of Secret Asian Man)



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