Today, I stand with #StrikeforBlackLives #ShutDownSTEM. I hope you join me in taking concrete actions for Black lives in our labs, our departments, our universities, and our communities beyond academia.
Things on my agenda today:
- research Black scientists to diversify my syllabi and invite for seminars
- solicit book donations from faculty to start an equity library
- ask uni and scientific societies to release demographic data as a first step in accountability
I’m also going to work with colleagues to start putting together resources about how to diversify our faculty in ways that don’t just end up perpetuating anti-Black racism. (What are the barriers, what would it take to get an opportunity hire approved, etc.).
These are projects that will take more than one day. That’s deliberate. We can’t just show up for Black lives one day of the year. If you’re devoting today to education and action, build in some long-term goals, too.
(Blocking and reporting the white supremacists replying to this thread.)
For my own accountability: one way that I have screwed up badly is seeing public education as a tool for equality, and not a tool of white supremacy. I failed to see past my own positive experiences as a white woman.
That’s why I’m focusing my actions at the university level.
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