Dear CSIU Members.

On behalf of the CSIU Steering Committee, we are writing to share with you a message from the Union of Concerned Scientists—our ‘adopted parent’ organization—written in response to the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the protests that are sweeping the nation. We write in solidarity with those who are fighting for a safer, more just and humane society—and to declare our shared commitment to battle against racism in all its forms.

The UCS statement also acknowledges that science, while potentially an powerful source of good in our world, has been—and sometimes continues to be—complicit in the inhumane and unjust treatment of our citizens, often in the name of advancing knowledge. We commit ourselves—as individuals and as an organization—to work together to ensure that the opportunities and benefits of science are shared equitably for the betterment of all in society, and that dignity, equity, diversity, and opportunity become fundamental cornerstones of our work as scientists and as advocates for science.

We can no longer afford to live and work in an academic bubble separated from the challenges of the society in which we are embedded. We affirm our commitment to strengthen the role of science in understanding and mitigating the inequities left by a history of oppression and our intent to fight against racial bias and systemic racism wherever it appears in our personal and professional lives. We invite all who are willing to join us in this struggle.

In the email below and in our Weekly News Bulletin to follow, we share some excellent resources on issues of race, bias, and science. An excellent starting point is this compilation from the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/06/05/climate/racism-climate-change-reading-list.html.

In the weeks to follow, we will be exploring how CSIU—as individuals and as an organization—can work together to ensure that the opportunities and benefits of science are shared equitably for the betterment of all in society, and how we can improve our work as scientists and as advocates for science to address the challenges of racism and bias in our community. We solicit your ideas and contributions to help us make this aspirational goal a reality. Share your ideas with us at csatiub@gmail.com.

We look forward to hearing from you and working with you on this grand challenge.

Yours,

CSIU Steering Committee

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Letter from Union of Concerned Scientists

Dear Member,

The protests that are sweeping the country are a direct response to the fact that racism is an inescapable reality in the United States. That these protests are happening right now, in the midst of a pandemic that places the protesters at risk from congregating, speaks to how deep the injustice is, and how urgent the need for change. The legacy of white supremacy continues to harm those of us who are Black, Indigenous, Latinx, or members of other racially marginalized groups.

And despite having a veneer of objectivity and impartiality, science is not immune.

Science is a powerful tool for solving problems and making people’s lives better. But it has been used to do harm and obstruct progress as well.

Most people have heard of the infamous example of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. In this 40-year study, Black men with syphilis were left untreated, without their informed consent and despite the availability of effective therapies, so that researchers could study the progress of the disease. This is but one example of howscience has been used to justify white, European conquest for centuries and continues to this day.

Today’s protests aren’t just about the nine minutes that ex-Officer Chauvin had his knee on George Floyd’s neck ultimately leading to his death. They are about the thousands of other unarmed Black men, women, and children who have been needlessly killed by police or others with impunity. They're about the 40 years of treating hundreds of Black men as guinea pigs in the name of science. And they're about the 400-year old legacy of slavery and inequality in this country, which manifests itself in institutional and systemic racism in all aspects of modern life from access to housing, health care, food, economic opportunity, and beyond.

As an organization that works for a healthy planet and a safer world, we must address the reality that health and safety are enjoyed unequally across racial lines in our country. Ending these inequities must be an integral part of our mission and our daily work. And a commitment to facing facts means we must be willing to talk about racism explicitly, listen to those who've been hurt by it, take counsel from and show up as allies for those who are leading the fight against it, and confront it both in the world we seek to change and in our own institution, assumptions, and actions.

We stand in solidarity with the protesters and urge our supporters to do the same. We also recognize the additional risks protesters are incurring in the midst of a pandemic, and we strongly encourage all to protect their own health and the health of their loved ones at home by maintaining a safe distance from one another and wearing masks and gloves at all times, so that this important act of protest does not result in more sickness and death from the virus.

If you haven’t already, seek out and support local organizers and organizations in your community who are doing critical work on racial equity, environmental justice, voting access, and more. Not sure where to start? Here are some groups that can be a launching point:

As an organization, we are also continuously working to advance our own internal racial equity as an integral part of working to achieve our mission. We acknowledge that our progress is slow and that we have more work to do, even within our own organization. Below are some resources that some of our staff have found useful.

You can also explore how bias plays out in your own life, as it does with all of us, bytaking this test on implicit bias designed by a cross-disciplinary group of researchers.

If you identify as white and haven’t yet explored issues of privilege, we suggest the podcast series Seeing White from the Center on Documentary Studies at Duke University, or watch this video series on systemic racism from our colleagues at Race Forward.
Sincerely,

Katy Love
Online Engagement Manager
Union of Concerned Scientists

Science for a healthy planet and safer world

UCS is a 501(c)(3) organization. All gifts are tax deductible. You can be confident your donations to UCS are spent wisely.