{"id":55021,"date":"2020-07-28T12:45:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-28T12:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/icrowdnewswire.com\/?p=2677107"},"modified":"2020-07-28T12:45:00","modified_gmt":"2020-07-28T12:45:00","slug":"how-the-worlds-biggest-general-science-society-is-tackling-racism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2020\/07\/28\/how-the-worlds-biggest-general-science-society-is-tackling-racism\/","title":{"rendered":"How the world\u2019s biggest general science society is tackling racism"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/span>Photo credit should read LOIC VENANCE\/AFP via Getty Images<\/small><\/p>\n

The world’s largest multidisciplinary scientific society has decided to take on systemic racism. The move by The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), publisher of the esteemed Science<\/em> journals, comes after Black scientists came forward to protest racism within academia and the sciences, and organized a strike on June 10th, that AAAS joined. In a letter to its 120,000 members this month, AAAS CEO Sudip Parikh announced that the 172-year-old institution has come up with a plan to hold itself accountable for making itself and the sciences more diverse. By September, it will start sharing data on the diversity of its staff, fellows, and authors published in its journals.<\/p>\n

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On Wednesday, June 10, AAAS and Science will be observing #ShutdownStem, listening to members of our community who are sharing resources and discussing ways to eliminate racism and make STEM more inclusive of Black people. https:\/\/t.co\/d1yes5plae. We encourage you to join us.<\/p>\n

— AAAS (@aaas) June 8, 2020<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

The Verge spoke<\/em> with Parikh, who said some of the initial numbers are “encouraging” while others are “embarrassing.” Ultimately, the demographic data will be a jumping-off point for ensuring that the makeup of the organization better reflects the public it serves. Parikh also believes the actions AAAS is taking will create pathways — through its journals, fellowships, and awards — to jumpstart the careers of scientists from underrepresented communities.<\/p>\n

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.<\/em><\/p>\n

Why did AAAS decide to participate in the #ShutDownSTEM strike to address anti-Black racism in June?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A lot of the energy for that came from junior scientists, scientists who aren’t yet in the sort of firmament of the tenured and the senior academics. In that moment when there was really a lot of fallout from the killing of George Floyd, it just felt like the right thing to do as an organization to take a day to reflect. People spent the day thinking about and planning for what the organization should be doing in addressing systemic racism in the sciences.<\/p>\n

We took all of our communications channels dark. On our social media feeds we stopped putting up anything new. And we just retweeted people who were tweeting about #shutdownSTEM day and hearing their thoughts. We turned off our website and we just basically put up a suggestion box and said: look, we want to hear from our community. We know that our community is hurting. Tell us. Tell us what you’re thinking in this moment. Give us your suggestions. I opened up my time for meetings with internal teammates to learn what they were feeling in this moment and what they’ve seen throughout the years. It really felt like a moment to listen.<\/p>\n

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