Strike for Black Lives (academic protest)

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Not to be confused with Strike for Black Lives (coalition protest).
Strike for Black Lives
ShutDownSTEM
Part of George Floyd protests, Black Lives Matter
DateJune 10, 2020
Location
Worldwide
MethodsWalkout

The academic Strike for Black Lives and #ShutDownSTEM day were a mass shutdown of academia that took place around the world on June 10, 2020. The main goals of the strike and the shut down were to reflect upon anti-Black racism in academia and STEM and to commit to actions to eradicate it.

History[]

In the wake of the unjust killings and police brutality toward Black people in the United States, Black researchers shared their personal stories and experiences of racism within the scientific community.[1] This inspired group of researchers called for the academic community to reflect upon their role in contributing to racism and discrimination. In particular, the organisers called for the majority white academic community to consider their personal roles in perpetuating systemic racism. The day was organised by Particles for Justice and Vanguard STEM, an intersectional coalition of scientists and STEM professionals. On June 5, 2020, the coalition simultaneously launched separate written calls for a strike and shutdown at strikeforblacklives.com and shutdownstem.com, which provided resources and information about the day and its aims.[2]

As part of the #ShutDownSTEM and #StrikeforBlackLives activities, researchers around the world were encouraged to stop usual academic work for a day: to read and engage with resources that challenge them, take responsibility to be anti-racist, and to create space for people who experience racism to be able to heal.[3][4] In the build up to the event, Particles for Justice released a statement saying,

"We recognize that our academic institutions and research collaborations—despite big talk about diversity, equity, and inclusion—have ultimately failed Black people."[5]

Organisers of #ShutDownSTEM included Brittany Kamai, Lucianne Walkowicz, Jedidah Isler, Renée Hložek, and others.[6] The Particles for Justice organisers of Strike for Black Lives were Brian Nord, Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, Matthew Buckley, Kyle Cranmer, Djuna Croon, Daniel Harlow, Seyda Ipek, Sam McDermott, Matthew Reece, Nausheen R. Shah, Brian Shuve, Tracy Slatyer, Timothy M.P. Tait, Graham White, and Tien-Tien Yu.[5]

Impact[]

As part of the launch of the Strike for Black Lives, the organisers asked people to make a public commitment to participation. When they launched on June 5 over 100 distinguished particle physicists and cosmologists committed to participation. On June 10, thousands of academics, professional bodies, and institutions came together to take part in what was identified on social media and in the press as #ShutDownSTEM, #Strike4BlackLives, or the Strike for Black Lives.[7][8][9]

Participating organisations[]

  • Nature Research[10]
  • University of Chicago[4]
  • Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution[4]
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology[11]
  • ArXiv[7]
  • American Physical Society[7]
  • American Association for the Advancement of Science[12]
  • Arizona State University[13]
  • Institute of Physics[7]
  • Rockefeller University[14]
  • The Optical Society[15]
  • Software Underground[16]
  • University at Buffalo[17]
  • Boston University[18]
  • Society of Women Engineers[19]
  • The Earth Institute[20]
  • Harvard University[21]

See also[]

  • Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
  • Strikes during the COVID-19 pandemic

References[]

  1. ^ Subbaraman, Nidhi (2020-06-08). "Grieving and frustrated: Black scientists call out racism in the wake of police killings". Nature. 582 (7811): 155–156. Bibcode:2020Natur.582..155S. doi:10.1038/d41586-020-01705-x. PMID 32518341.
  2. ^ "Physicists come out in support of today's Strike for Black Lives". Physics World. 2020-06-10. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
  3. ^ "Take Action". #ShutDownAcademia #ShutDownSTEM. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
  4. ^ a b c ChenJun. 9, Sophia; 2020; Pm, 7:40 (2020-06-09). "Researchers around the world prepare to #ShutDownSTEM and 'Strike For Black Lives'". Science | AAAS. Retrieved 2020-12-04.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ a b "Particles for Justice". Particles for Justice. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
  6. ^ "About". #ShutDownAcademia #ShutDownSTEM. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
  7. ^ a b c d Subbaraman, Nidhi (2020-06-09). "Thousands of scientists worldwide to go on strike for Black lives". Nature. doi:10.1038/d41586-020-01721-x. PMID 32523071. S2CID 219586791.
  8. ^ Newburger, Emma (2020-06-10). "Thousands of scientists go on strike to protest systemic racism in STEM". CNBC. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
  9. ^ Overbye, Dennis (2020-06-10). "For a Day, Scientists Pause Science to Confront Racism". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
  10. ^ "Note from the editors: Nature joins #ShutDownSTEM". Nature. 2020-06-10. doi:10.1038/d41586-020-01723-9. PMID 32523069.
  11. ^ "#ShutDownSTEM". MIT School of Science. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
  12. ^ "Scientists strike for black lives, a more inclusive academia". www.insidehighered.com. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
  13. ^ "ASU supports #ShutDownSTEM". ASU Now: Access, Excellence, Impact. 2020-06-10. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
  14. ^ "Why RockEDU is Participating in #ShutDownSTEM". RockEDU. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
  15. ^ "#ShutDownStem". Optical Society.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  16. ^ "#ShutDownSTEM at TRANSFORM". swung. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
  17. ^ "UB scientists confront racism". www.buffalo.edu. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
  18. ^ "Here's How BU Researchers #ShutDownSTEM to Combat Racism in Research and Academia". Boston University. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
  19. ^ "#ShutDownSTEM". All Together. 2020-09-16. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
  20. ^ "Earth Institute Solidarity and Support for #ShutDownSTEM". State of the Planet. 2020-06-09. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
  21. ^ "For a day, Harvard science shuts down to #Strike4BlackLives". Harvard Gazette. 2020-06-11. Retrieved 2020-12-04.

External links[]

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