Scientists Strike Against Racism in STEM

Labs went quiet, field research paused, and data collection halted. Thousands of scientists worldwide stopped working yesterday to protest racism in STEM fields and focus on solutions, according to CNBC.

The Priority: Figure out strategies for addressing racial bias in research and scholarship and remove inequalities in science, technology, engineering and math fields, reports Nature. (The journal itself joined the strike—as did the journal Science and others.)

A Nature editorial went further by acknowledging that “Nature is one of the white institutions that is responsible for bias in research and scholarship. The enterprise of science has been—and remains—complicit in systemic racism, and it must strive harder to correct those injustices and amplify marginalized voices.”

Nature pledged not just words but action. One small example: An all-white team of editors posted a draft editorial on “Black Lives Matter in ecology and evolution” and asked for comments from the community. 

Scientists rallied around #StrikeForBlackLives and #ShutDownSTEM for the event, which follows 2 weeks of protests after the death of George Floyd in police custody.