Vijay Chokalingam, the brother of the actress Mindy Kaling, has written a book about his experiences of posing as a black man in order to get into medical school. The book titled Almost Black describes how the author - an Indian American - posed as a black man to test the theory that African American candidates were most likely to be accepted.

Mindy KalingMindy Kaling's brother posed as a black man to get into medical school

Between 1998 and 1999, Chokalingam said he "shaved my head, trimmed my long Indian eyelashes, and applied to medical school as a black man."

Chokalingam also applied to colleges using his middle name Jojo and emphasised the fact that he had spent time in Nigeria. 

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According to his website, as a black candidate, Chokalingam was considered by medical schools including Harvard, Pennsylvania and Columbia, and was eventually accepted by St Louis University in Missouri. He later dropped out after changing his mind about his career.

"My experiences applying to medical school as a black man impressed on me the injustice created by the system of legalised racism called affirmative action," he writes on his website.

"This system destroys the dreams of millions of Indian-American, Asian American, and white applicants for employment and higher education. It also creates negative stereotypes about the academic abilities and professional skills of African-American and Hispanic professionals, who don't need special assistance in order to compete with other minority groups."

Still, not everyone agreed with the study.

"Your study is as purposeless as your efforts. Stop comparing your racist study to fighting for civil rights. You are disgusting," said one Twitter user.

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