"I feel that professional societies have had some time to think on this and decide to respond. And that is why in 2016, I am outraged that there has been almost total silence.
Even on the non-violent stuff that is very explicitly related to minority participation in science, they keep quiet. The American Physical Society, the American Astronomical Society, and the larger American Association for the Advancement of Science all failed to submit amicus briefs in the Fisher vs. Texas affirmative action case. Then many of their members and leadership acted all surprised when a SCOTUS judge said some racist shit on the bench. Never mind that the things he said were things I’ve been hearing white physicists and physics students say to me since I was a 16 year old admittee to Harvard.
The American Physical Society responded to the judge’s comments with a statement reminding us that we are all hoping to find the African Einstein. Because really, goals, right? To be more like a dead white dude...
the Black Lives Matter movement has taken off. And even though Facebook keeps banning Black people for talking about white supremacy, they’ve got a Black Lives Matter banner up at headquarters. Twitter has an emoji trio of power fists that goes after #BlackLivesMatter when you tweet about it. Google has held hours-long vigils at its headquarters to honor those murdered and has made clear statements of support for its Black employees. Some of those people are my friends, and I can see that Google’s actions have had meaning for them, made it easier for them to work and to be a part of that workplace...
Science tells us that racism is a problem for getting science done. And yet, our societies fail their Black members by choosing to remain silent. Because they are white majority organizations and they can."
Related: Medicine is doing much, much better.
FB: "as is very evident in the Silicon Valley, a statement in support of Black lives can make a meaningful difference in people’s emotional well-being and that matters, just like their right to breathe and walk down the street and drive a car without being murdered in cold blood."
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