The Women in Science and Engineering Residence Program will be participating in the #ShutDownSTEM initiative for Black Lives on June 10, 2020. This initiative was born out of a coalition of multi-identity, intersectional STEM professionals and academics taking a stand for Black Lives. As current and future STEM professionals, it is important that you are aware of the ways in which "STEM research can reinforce anti-Black narratives" and STEM technologies that have been created, shaping many facets of our society, have been "routinely weaponized against Black people".
#ShutDownSTEM is an opportunity in which we can actively work on educating ourselves to be a part of the solution and use our current and future spheres of influence to affect change.
Please check out #ShutDownSTEM resource page to select a track that most aligns with you and start there.
The WISE RP has selected two initiatives that we would like to engage in as a community on #ShutdownSTEM day. We hope that you will join us and engage in an online dialogue on all of our social media platforms about the ways in which these two resources resonated with you and how you see them influencing your work in STEM.
1. LISTEN: Intersectionality Matters! Episode 6 "What Slavery Engendered: An Intersectional look at 1619"; Intersectionality Matters! is a podcast hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw, an American civil rights advocate and a leading scholar of critical race theory.
2. READ: The 1619 Project introduction and first story: The Idea of America by Nikole Hannah-Jones; The 1619 project "is an ongoing initiative from The New York Times Magazine that began in August 2019, the 400th anniversary of the beginning of American slavery. It aims to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of our national narrative."
We hope that you will join the WISE RP as we spend the day engaging in anti-Black racism through self-education, awareness, and action; committing ourselves to be better today than we were yesterday. The WISE RP is grateful for the STEM academics and professionals who created and are shepherding this initiative.
