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Thank you for writing this @itsafronomics, though you shouldn't have had to. I keep seeing some wringing of hands of non-black economists on what they can do, as if we don't get paid to ask questions for a living (and comment on things whether they're in our lane or not). Thread. https://twitter.com/itsafronomics/status/1266714711913107456
The first thing is the most obvious. How many of you glibly write whole papers without citing a single black economist or other economist of color? Some of the most stellar work in the discipline (not just on race) has been written by black economists. Oh and #citeblackwomen.
Should you need one stop shopping, start with the Journal of Black Political Economy. Not only will you find great work, you can easily start to identify black economists working in your field of interest.
Make a committment to mentoring black graduate students in the field. Publish with them, teach them the rules of the game, make phone calls for them, and most, important, shield them from the racism in your departments that makes their lives miserable. https://www.aeaweb.org/about-aea/committees/csmgep/mentoring
Hiring practices: Make sure that your job announcement gets disseminated to black graduate students going on the market. Push back on folks that question if people 'fit into the culture' when someone is interviewing. One of the most powerful weapons against bigots is asking them:
"What do you mean by that?" *innocent face* That's like kryptonite.
Pre-tenure: Support DITE (Diversity Initiative for Tenure in Economics) @SandyDarity 's successful initiative to increase the pipeline of tenured faculty in the profession. The program pairs up junior scholars with senior folks to teach them the hidden curriculum of the academy.
I have binders full (perhaps not the best choice of words!) of sample tenure statements and advice on what to do and not to do. My DITE mentors are just an email or phone call away and have written me letters. DITE has changed many lives.
Bottom line: Support DITE. Related: Unlike mentoring programs sponsored by CSWEP, Sandy doesn't exclude people working outside of economics departments. That's because (back to the original point), he gets that economists need to extend our influence everywhere.
Moving on, many of you are public-facing scholars who write op-Eds, awrite for special jouranal issues and appear on television/radio. Make a point of citing the work of black economists by name. Seek them out before you go on television or participate on panels.
Encourage editors and producers to reach out to them, especially if they have more expertise than you do and/or you are swamped with requests. Pay it forward.
One great resource is @wiserpolicy (Women's Institute for Science, Equity and Race), founded by a black woman economist, @rhondavsharpe. Rhonda and her shop are doing great work around the disparate impacts of COVID-19 on Black America.
But none of this is a shortcut. Just like it took many of us at least 6 years to get our degrees, you'll have to accept that you need to learn and unlearn a lot about race. Economics has given me some amazing tools, but as a profession, it isn't necessarily our strength.
Black economists labor in the shadows doing this work and you'll need to take the time to sit down and study a body of work that you've largely ignored, because your reviewers allowed you to get away with it and still publish in top econ journals.
(The paucity of black representation in econ journals is a story for another time.)
And of course, we believe in specialization in labor. So let's act like it. Invite black economists that bring the insight you lack to publish with you. Let the 2+2=5.
These are just a few ideas of the top of my head. But I never got to the most important part: how can you support your colleagues and students? I think some of you are desperately afraid because the culture of our profession can be toxic.
I love rigor. I love our tools. But it's a badge of honor to go hard in seminar and make sure that the everyone in the audience knows that YOU know that the presenter's model isn't causal. It's how we were raised, right?
And we go through years at journals, sometimes through 3-4 extensive rounds of revisions answering estoeric poitns from reviewers only to be rejected. Because everything has to be perfect right? But the other side of the coin is that when it comes to something that makes us
uncomfortable, we freeze. There's no regressions to hide behind when it comes to racial violence or the fact that, unlike your black colleagues, you've not had to live with having your work or existence devalued just because of your place in the racial hierarchy.
All of this is to say: white colleagues get ready to be uncomfortable. Many of us are traumatized and still trying to cope with the expectation that we still teach, be productive and more. Just do your research.
There are umpteen articles written by black scholars giving you ideas on how to support us, and support students. We're human, not life forms from another planet. Empathy goes a long way (and checking yourself and your colleagues for racist macroaggressions).
Summary: Use your privilege (unearned comparative advantage if you will) to support and advocate for black scholars and change the practices and policies at your institutions that make them hostile to us. That's better for our science and the rest of the world.
Amplify the work of black scholars both within and outside of the academy. Integrate our work into your own and collaborate. And finally, check in with us. We're not okay and won't be for a long time. And you shouldn't be either. End thread.
