Opinion: The Politics of Science and Racism

In an opinion piece for The Scientist, Sadye Paez, Ph.D., P.T., M.S.P.T., M.P.H., and Erich Jarvis, Ph.D., write,

"The murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Riah Milton, and many other Black people have once again created an awareness of the systemic racism that is endemic in the United States of America and in many other parts of the world. In the US, this virus has been receiving long-term treatment via the emancipation of slaves in the 1800s and the ongoing civil rights movement since the 1900s. But it has not been cured. For example, over the course of a lifetime, 1 in every 1,000 Black men are at risk of fatal police violence compared with 1 in every 2,500 white men. Most recently, George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis has increased support for the Black Lives Matter movement across political party affiliations, age, education, and race. This has spurred people around the world to march in protest, to display messages of racial solidarity on social media, and to send government leaders’ emails and voicemails with calls for change. This civil unrest has extended to nearly every facet of American life, including to university campuses in the form of #ShutDownSTEM, #ShutDownAcademia, #Strike4BlackLives, and other awareness and action campaigns."

To read the entire article, please visit https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/opinion-the-politics-of-science-and-racism--67835