Working Toward Racial Justice
In early June, 2020, the Center for Community and Citizen Science acknowledged that while some of our ongoing work is explicitly oriented toward equity and social justice, we have also failed to advance equity and justice through the entirety of our work, particularly in the context of academia, which is inextricably linked to historical and ongoing marginalization of BIPOC. We have an obligation to examine our own work, our own everyday actions, and our institutional context, and identify ways that these perpetuate racism. We must examine our various forms of power, and find ways to use them against white supremacy.
We created this space on our website as a way share our work to advance anti-racism. The posts below include:
- List of specific commitments we are making to change our culture, policies, and practices (July 2020)
- Statement about our commitment to working toward racial justice (June, 2020)
We will continue to update this space as our work evolves. We welcome any resources and suggestions on how we can use our Center to advance anti-racism actions in the many areas that overlap with community science and citizen science, including conservation and natural resource management, STEM education in and out of schools, environmental justice, and community-based research and monitoring, agriculture, and sustainability. We also welcome your skepticism, your hard questions, and your critiques. We recognize that this work is critical, and are committed to a long-term process.
