06/12/2020
Subject: SEDI Special Announcement: Black Lives Matter. Black Scientists Matter.
Dear SEDI Section Members,
We write during the ongoing protests in the US, and across the world, against racism. These protests were ignited by the murder of George Floyd, but followed other incidents of systemic racism against Black people, and during a pandemic which is disproportionally affecting people of color in multiple countries. Members of our communities are hurting, and we hear you.
We know that there are too few people of color in geosciences, especially within SEDI, and that this has been the case for many decades https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-019-0519-z. We wish that our community was one of complete inclusivity and equality, but we know that this is not the case. We support the statement by AGU's leadership, and AGU's signing of the Call to Action for an Anti-Racist Science Community from Geoscientists of Color. As leaders of the SEDI section we commit to working to achieve equity in our community and our institutions.
But how do we do this? Currently, our section's focus has been concentrated on Fall Meeting activities which include session mentoring, student travel grants, and student prizes. Our efforts to push for a more diverse speaker set in recent years have provided some level of diversification, however this is mostly observed in increased gender and career stage representation, rather than racial representation.
The SEDI session mentoring program has been in place since 2016 and is generally well subscribed. This program aims to pair early-career scientists with more senior scientists to, in essence, show them how to submit session proposals, determine session logistics and how to run an actual session.
Our other two programs: student travel grants and student prizes are woefully undersubscribed despite our efforts to advertise them widely. If you are a student, please apply for a travel grant. If you are a mentor, advisor or know someone who might benefit from a travel grant, please suggest they do so. Likewise, if you know a student who would be a good candidate for our SEDI student prize, please nominate them.
We also recognize that simply diversifying our community does not in itself solve the problem of racism which is deeply embedded in the institutions throughout which we move, including professional societies and academia. For example, we must consider how policing at Fall Meeting affects attendees.
The SEDI leadership is actively working to improve our knowledge of systemic racism and carefully considering how to improve our initiatives towards our aims. We welcome your suggestions as well. We are aware that the burden of anti-racist work disproportionately falls on people of color. We will consider mechanisms to compensate for that burden if possible.
While SEDI is a small section, our actions do not need to be small. We need to do better.
Your SEDI leadership,
Scott King, President
Kanani K. M. Lee, President-elect
Jessica Irving, Secretary
Sarah M. Arveson, Early-Career Representative
Allen McNamara, Past President
Sabine Stanley, Past-Past President
