In a case of, “I’m going to ride my famous sibling’s coattails to champion my cause,” Mindy Kaling’s brother, Vijay Chokal-Ingam, revealed he pretended to be black to get into medical school.
Except, he did it 17 years ago—in 1998—and while it doesn’t make it right, he decided to grant an interview to the New York Post to share his and Mindy’s purported insights (she’s thrilled that he’s throwing her name around, as I’m sure you might guess) with the masses, as well as created a website called AlmostBlack.com, where he outlines exactly how he did it, from changing his name to clipping his eyelashes (?), which frankly reeks of desperation. Because why now?
Chokal-Ingam says he’s revealing his race ruse now because he heard that UCLA is considering strengthening its affirmative-action admissions policies. He says it’s a myth that affirmative action benefits the underprivileged.
Yes, all of this crying wolf is to totally benefit the underprivileged, and has nothing to do with the fact that Kaling and Chokal-Ingam hail from a wealthy, privileged family.
Oh, and, the best part? He dropped out, and went to business school instead.
Chokal-Ingam wound up dropping out of St. Louis University Medical School two years after he got in under false pretenses.
“I got into medical school because I said I was black,” Chokal-Ingam writes in his blog, at almostblack.com. “The funny thing is I’m not. My plan actually worked. Lucky for you, I never became a doctor.”
LUCKY FOR US.
He plans to write a memoir about his experiences, to be titled “Almost Black.”
Here’s a gem from his Facebook fan page, in case you’re wondering what being “Almost Black” means to Vijay.
Images via Facebook