I retweeted a really spicy take yesterday and I saw a lot of fallout from it that obviously read it differently than I saw it. I think its really important to maintain solidarity with one another and understand that systemic injustice usually doesn't care about individuals.

We need to question why according to Profiling the Profession, archaeology is 99% white. What is it about the systems that create that outcome? And this is sincerely about intersectionality and privilidge but its not on one person singled out.

If the heritage sector valued equally people who weren't white, surely we would see a parity in the practitioners. But we don't - this extends to a number of other factors as well. Including disability, in a way the combined abstract systems are saying "you shouldnt be an arch"

I know though that if anyone said that explicitly for the above classes, then everyone would most likely call it out, but because it is implicit and baked in, it feels overlooked, because ultimately you need to fundamentally overhaul the whole system not just reform it.

And this is why we need to be critical of archaeology inherently how it is and the effect it has. The precarity and insecurity built in to the sector is doing actual tangible harm and we not only need to stand against that we need to take action to make changes

The insititutions that heritage relies on, trusts, museums etc are built on colonial models of power. Unless we actively take power and control away from museums, things will never change, and that trickles down all the way. If you more often see yourself behind the glass

rather than in front of it, that causes a problem. I do want to address the spiciness of takes like that, because as much as understand the frustration, no group should be tared with the same brush. As a white male public archaeologist, I get a lot of oppertunities and I have a

large voice. That can be an issue, it can be a problem and I need to know sometimes where my place is, but im willing to learn and unlearn aspects of my experience that can change the way i see the world. I stand in solidarity with so many of my heritage colleagues and I want the

best for them. if that means destroying the very concept of museums, removing all unelected trustees, and coming face to face with society's ingrained views on race, that is something that needs done. Archaeologists digging in dead end jobs are not stealing. The people in

charge of museums and refusing to repatriate are the problem and that power needs to be removed.