Wednesday, June 10, 2020: A Strike For Black Lives

#strike4blacklives     #strikeforblacklives     #shutdownstem

STRIKE DETAILS

What does the strike encompass?

We will stop all usual academic work for the day, including teaching, research, and service responsibilities. All ordinary meetings of classes, research groups, and seminars should be cancelled or replaced with discussions with colleagues about anti-Black bias in the world and in academia.

We will also stop activities that advance our own scholarship, including performing research, reading and submitting papers, or sending e-mails about research.

The strike is not a “day off” for non-Black scientists, but a day to engage in academia’s core mission to build a better society for everyone; see below for suggested actions that participants can take on strike day to educate themselves and advocate for change in their communities. Those of us who are Black academics should take the day to do whatever nourishes their hearts, whether that’s protesting, organizing, or watching “Astronomy Club.”

When does the strike happen?

It will take place all day, Wednesday, June 10, 2020.

What does it mean to take action to further the cause of ending global anti-Blackness?

Our usual academic responsibilities will be replaced by actions that center Black lives and agitate for change in our communities. Example actions include, but are not limited to:

  • Participate in a protest. If there are none local to you, organize one. Any number of people can form a protest together.
  • Educate ourselves about the history of anti-Black violence, police brutality, and racism. Pay particular attention to how intersecting identities such as gender and gender identity, religion, nationality and immigration status, sexual orientation, amplify the injustices faced by Black individuals.
  • Repurpose scheduled meetings and seminar times to discuss specific actions you will take to have an impact locally. Focus on concrete actions you can take now. Consider impact beyond academic spaces.
  • If you spend part of your day engaging with entertainment, immerse yourself in the work of Black artists: literature, poetry, visual art, film, music.
  • Contact your local elected representatives and other public officials (for example, police chiefs) about issues affecting Black lives. If you live in the US, you can find your local member of the House of Representatives at this link. For a more comprehensive list of federal, state, and local officials, you can use directories like that provided by Common Cause.
  • Make an action plan for how you will respond to anti-Black police brutality and other racism that you see on the streets, at work, and in your social circles. This could include thinking through whether and how you will intervene, what you will say, etc.
  • Contact your institution’s leadership to advocate for policies that support and protect Black students, staff and faculty. This includes reforming campus security procedures that target Black students and their friends & families, and institutional barriers to the hiring and promotion of Black scholars.
  • Examine and take responsibility for the relationships that universities have entered into with local law enforcement, with the explicit intention of building trusting relationships with the campus communities and neighboring, non-campus communities most affected by these relationships. Learn how to support groups opposing the relationships between universities and police forces.
  • Donate --at least a day’s worth of salary if you are in a position to do so-- to the advancement of justice for Black people. We have included a list of organizations at the end of our resources page.
  • If you are in a position of power, acknowledge the situation the US is in right now and extend deadlines for your Black students, employees, grantees, trainees, etc. and anyone doing time-consuming support work for the movement for Black lives.

Who should strike?

While our call is from our position as particle physicists and cosmologists, we welcome everyone in academia to join us! We encourage institutions to publicize and support their students, faculty, and staff in joining the strike. If you have a labor contract that precludes engaging in strike activities, we encourage you to donate one of your vacation days to this important day.

As researchers, teachers, students, and staff we devote an immense amount of our time and mental energy to learning more about the world and ourselves within the framework of our own discipline. The strike day gives us the space and time to center Black lives, show solidarity with academics with marginalized ascribed identities, to educate ourselves about the ways in which we and our institutions are complicit in anti-Black racism, and to take concrete action for change.