Over the last few weeks, the Board of Biology Fortified has been listening and learning as peaceful protests have gathered to protest police brutality against black people across the United States and the world.
We’d like to express solidarity with Black Lives Matter and echo the call for justice and public policy to address systemic problems, especially within our non-profit’s mission areas of agricultural science and science communication.
We condemn racism, in particular from members of the agricultural and scientific communities that we’re a part of. We especially condemn calls for violence against protesters and false calls for “civility” that try to continue the status quo.
We continue to be concerned about the ongoing pandemic and urge everyone to take measures to protect each other, including physical distancing and wearing masks when appropriate.
Last but definitely not least, we’d like to call specific attention to #ShutDownSTEM and #ShutDownAcademia. We all, particularly white people, must recognize systemic and institutional racism and actively work to stop it.
Tomorrow, June 10, we encourage you to stop business as usual to focus on what you can do to dismantle racism, including learning about issues that impact black scientists, joining the ongoing protests, and making a plan to fight racism within your own organizations and fields. #ShutDownSTEM has resources and specific actions that we can take in our professional lives. They’ve started the work for us, we must see it through.
