#ShutDownSTEM asks researchers to work on racism today, instead

Enlarge (credit: shutdownstem)

Social media, as a whole, takes a lot of flak for facilitating the creation of bubbles that intensify divisions. But over the past few weeks, there has been a lot of bubble-bursting on the subject of racial inequality. That includes a torrent of images and stories that have been shocking to some-but painfully unsurprising to others.

This extends far beyond the realm of policing-science is no exception to society's problems. Under the hashtag #BlackInTheIvory, black academics are sharing examples of roadblocks and disrespect they've had to deal with in their careers. In addition, the #BlackInSTEM hashtag has been used to encourage new connections with researchers and students in STEM fields who chime in to introduce themselves.

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  A few examples shared under #BlackInTheIvory. [credit: @cosmojellyfish ]

On Wednesday, it's everyone else's turn. Efforts organized under hashtags like #ShutDownSTEM, #ShutDownAcademia, and #Strike4BlackLives are asking academics to clear their agendas and spend some time working on concrete steps to improve the enterprise of science. The website behind #ShutDownSTEM, for example, lays out specific suggestions for people in different roles, from students to department chairs. So does a letter from a group of geoscientists shared with the hashtag #NoTimeForSilence.

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