The point I've been trying to make is that no one is automatically qualified
for a professional museum or academic position solely, or even as the last
qualifier, on the basis of his or her supposed cultural background.  Yes,
there is discrimination against those who don't seem to have this background,
but that's wrong.  Those students in the black studies class you took 30
years ago were wrong to push you out, and they would probably have a hard
time getting away with that today.
Another thread on this list has been the great difficulty of starting up a
museum career.  IMHO, the great shortage of even halfway decent jobs in the
humanities and the arts has led to an increase in favoritism and other types
of bizarre hiring decisions, and I think that a lot of people feel this way.
There may not be a lot that one can do--except keep applying, which has been
suggested--but this defeatist semi-racism does nothing to correct the
situation.
BTW, which African-American experience in the "Anglo" world are you talking
about?  That of the corporate lawyer who lives in Portola Valley, that of the
schoolteacher in Montebello, that of the single parent in Watts?  And which
"Anglo" world are you talking about?

A. DeAngelis
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