Enlarge (credit: shutdownstem)
Social media, as a whole, takes a lot of flak for facilitating the creation of bubbles that intensify divisions. But over the past few weeks, there has been a lot of bubble-bursting on the subject of racial inequality. That includes a torrent of images and stories that have been shocking to some—but painfully unsurprising to others.
This extends far beyond the realm of policing—science is no exception to society’s problems. Under the hashtag #BlackInTheIvory, black academics are sharing examples of roadblocks and disrespect they’ve had to deal with in their careers. In addition, the #BlackInSTEM hashtag has been used to encourage new connections with researchers and students in STEM fields who chime in to introduce themselves.
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A few examples shared under #BlackInTheIvory. [credit:
@cosmojellyfish
]
On Wednesday, it’s everyone else’s turn. Efforts organized under hashtags like #ShutDownSTEM, #ShutDownAcademia, and #Strike4BlackLives are asking academics to clear their agendas and spend some time working on concrete steps to improve the enterprise of science. The website behind #ShutDownSTEM, for example, lays out specific suggestions for people in different roles, from students to department chairs. So does a letter from a group of geoscientists shared with the hashtag #NoTimeForSilence.
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Source: Ars Technica – #ShutDownSTEM asks researchers to work on racism today, instead