Academics: if you’re staying silent because you’re “not political” or “science + politics are independent” yet you saw the SpaceX launch as a “hopeful moment” for humanity, please do us all a favor and stop pretending to care about “diversity & inclusion” 1/ https://twitter.com/columboahmed/status/1266326444449378306

I especially can’t fathom how any genetics researcher could ignore the events of this week given the vile racist history of this field. Also, eugenics in the US received massive amounts of funding from billionaires at the time, so you can miss me with that “not political” 2/

Geneticists and statisticians love to quote Fisher and lionize his “genius” while completely ignoring the rest of his legacy. Why did I not learn about his racism until grad school? 3/

Seriously, take a min to *really* reflect. What have *you* done to make academia more inclusive? Outspokenly supported URM students even if it would disturb the status quo in the dept? Sacrified comfort to start a difficult conversation with a superior about diversity in STEM? 4/

More broadly, America was literally built off of the enslavement, exploitation, & dehumanization of Black people. Racism is woven into the fabric of our daily lives. That includes scientists. 5/

Stop teaching the white-washed version of the Civil Rights Movement. Stop regurgitating MLK quotes about peaceful protest and ignoring what’s happening right now — he was literally murdered for leading nonviolent resistance. 6/

Twitter is not great for discussing important topics - I obviously can’t fit everything I want to say. But the burden of enacting change (in academia and in general) cannot fall on the marginalized. 7/

#JusticeForGeorgeFloyd #blacklivesmatter #JusticeForBreonnaTaylor #JusticeForAhmaudArbery I have no idea who will even read this far... but it has been an extremely painful week and I want BIPOC students to know I am here for you, even if you just need someone to listen. /fin