- Participants say “justice will not be achieved until Black people not only have the right to survive but also thrive”.
This movement applies to “those of us who are white," for they “play a key role in perpetuating systemic racism."
Founders of the movement write that STEM is problematic because research papers often “reinforce anti-Black narratives."
Professors, researchers, and students in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics field from around the country are taking part Wednesday in the #ShutDownSTEM movement to combat what they say is systemic racism in academia. They argue that the STEM field itself creates technology that is “weaponized against black people.”
One scholar and self-proclaimed “leading expert on wokeness,” James Lindsay, who is best known for his participation in a project that exposed the faulty review process of academic journals by submitting hoax papers that were ultimately published by such publications, tweeted, that "one point of #ShutDownSTEM is to find out who doesn't do it (maybe they're working on a Covid-19 vaccine?) and to use that against them later, just like happened at Evergreen State College with its Day of Absence."
Members of the science academic community are “call[ing]on people who are not Black to spend a day undertaking discussion and action that furthers this work, while providing Black scientists with a day of rest."
It will be a day where they “#ShutDownAcademia, #ShutDownSTEM, and #Strike4BlackLives."
Scientists and researchers subscribing to the movement will not do any work for the entire day, and any class or research group meetings “should be cancelled [sic] or replaced with discussions with colleagues about anti-Black bias in the world and in academia.” Researchers, professors, and other academics participating are encouraged to use the hashtags #STRIKE4BLACKLIVES, #STRIKEFORBLACKLIVES, and #SHUTDOWNSTEM.
Related:
Evergreen State College: 2018-09-13 Evergreen State sees 'catastrophic' drop in enrollment after social justice meltdown
Evergreen State College: 2018-05-23 Rough Social Justice at Evergreen State
Evergreen State College: 2018-05-16 No-whites-allowed ‘Day of Absence' lives on despite last year's uproar at Evergreen State College
Evergreen State College: 2018-09-13 Evergreen State sees 'catastrophic' drop in enrollment after social justice meltdown
Evergreen State College: 2018-05-23 Rough Social Justice at Evergreen State
Evergreen State College: 2018-05-16 No-whites-allowed ‘Day of Absence' lives on despite last year's uproar at Evergreen State College