Speaker
Description
Racism and other forms of bigotry oppress, disenfranchise, and marginalize scientists of color in high-energy physics (HEP). Actions and patterns of behavior by individuals and groups, as well as policies and procedures of institutions are among the vectors of oppression. The evidence includes the underrepresentation of Black scientists and other scientists of color, regular acts of harassment against scientists of color (including women and people of minoritized genders), and systematic disenfranchisement of marginalized and minoritized people throughout pathways and systems of education.
Research communities have traditionally responded to this problem in a variety of ways, which have often fallen short of creating real change --- i.e., when they don’t address the deeply rooted source of the problem, and when strategic planning is not engaged. Moreover, these approaches place the purported beneficiaries in harm’s way. To achieve a new community through real and sustained change, we therefore recommend 1) long-term strategic planning, 2) new modes of community organizing and decision-making, and 3) partnership with experts and professionals in anti-racism and related areas.
Energy, creativity, and well-understood protocols are used for planning and executing long-term scientific programs and experiments to make discoveries. Therefore, we also call on the HEP community to engage in the effort to drive change with similar imagination and discipline.
| Primary frontier topic | Community Engagement Frontier |
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