Unlearning Racism in Geoscience
Gabriel Duran
Research Assistant, Woodwell Climate Research Centre
Dr. Phoebe Cohen
Associate Professor of Geosciences, Williams College
The death of George Floyd brought a series of protests calling on the use of anti-racist measures to improve accessibility, justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (AJEDI) in local communities, workplaces, governments, universities, and professional societies. To aid in these efforts, Unlearning Racism in Geoscience (URGE) was developed to shift the culture in geosciences from one that is, at best, passively not racist to one that is actively anti-racist. URGE is a national journal-reading and anti-racist policy-design program that helps Geoscientists unlearn racism and improve AJEDI in the discipline. URGE's primary objectives are to (1) deepen the community’s knowledge of the effects of racism on the participation and retention of Black, Indigenous and people of color in Geoscience, (2) draw on existing literature, expert opinions, and personal experiences to develop anti-racist policies and strategies, and (3) share, discuss, and modify anti-racist policies and strategies within a dynamic community network and on a national stage. Since its launch date in mid-January, URGE has brought together over 3800 geoscientists across almost 280 pods in the US and abroad to join in the efforts to implement anti-racist strategies and policies in their communities, labs, departments, and institutions.
Gabriel Duran received a BS in Geography and Environmental Systems and a BA in Biology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in 2020. He is now a Biology MSc student with a focus in biogeochemistry at the Université du Québec à Montréal. He is also a Research Assistant at the Woodwell Climate Research Center where he is supporting the arctic research team in the mapping of gas emission craters and retrogressive thaw slumps across Northern Siberia. He previously supported the soil carbon team in the analysis of thousands of soil samples from across the Midwest United States using diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. He is co-leader of Unlearning Racism in Geoscience (URGE) where he created the URGE curriculum alongside Dr. Vashan Wright and continues to support and facilitate URGE initiatives, including live events, BIPOC Listening sessions, URGE deliverables, conference planning, etc.
Dr. Phoebe Cohen is an Associate Professor in Geosciences at Williams College. Phoebe is a paleontologist who utilizes a wide variety of microscopic and microchemical techniques, combined with data from field-based stratigraphy and sedimentology, to reconstruct ancient organisms and ecosystems, mostly through the lens of microfossils. Much of her work focuses on the evolution of life in the Proterozoic, before the rise of animals. Phoebe received her undergraduate degree in Earth Systems Science at Cornell University and her PhD in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences school at Harvard University in 2010. Phoebe is very involved in justice, equity, diversity and inclusion work in the geosciences and is also actively involved in the Paleontological Society. In 2012, Phoebe was awarded the Geological Society of America Subaru Outstanding Woman in Science Award. Her research is funded by the NASA Astrobiology program, The American Chemical Society, and The National Science Foundation.
Event Title: Uprooting and Seeding: Intergenerational Experiences of Living as Asians and Asian-Americans
Join us for a discussion of Minari and Asian American representation!
Dear AAAFSC Members, Allies, and Students:
Please join us on May 3 from 4-5pm, for our final AAAFSC event of the semester; while we will be closing out the semester, we’ll also be celebrating the beginning of AAPI heritage month.
At this event, we’ll be discussing representations of Asian Americans in popular culture, with a particular focus on the recent, award-winning film, Minari. Minari is currently streaming on a variety of platforms. However, if you are unable to watch the film before the event, please consider joining us anyway.
We are hoping to close out this semester by creating a space for an open, free-flowing discussion. We want this meeting to be a space that will allow us to reflect on our ethnic heritage and racial identity as a way to reclaim our strength and resilience and to resist systems of oppression and hate. We also hope to share with each other the complexities of Asian American lives and our day-to-day experiences.
While allies are warmly welcomed to this event, we ask that if you choose to attend, you are mindful of taking a step back and making space for our Asian and Asian American members to discuss and share their experiences first.
We hope to see you there!
Many thanks,
The AAAFSC board: Tamara Bhalla (chair), Aditya Desai (member at large), Soonhee Lee (member at large), Shuyan Sun, (member at large),Christopher Tong (member at large), Fan Yang (secretary)
p.s. There is no required reading or even viewing for the event, but here are a few articles that might be helpful to situating our discussion:
‘Minari’ wins best foreign-language film, but not without controversy. The New York Times, Feb 28, 2021 by Maya Salam and Robert Ito
‘Minari’ is about immigrants who speak Korean. That doesn’t make it ‘foreign.’ Viet Thanh Nguyen, Dec 24, 2020
My “Minari”: On Asian American Immigrant Cinema, LA Review of Books, February 10, 2021 by Hanna Amaris Roh
ONLINE MEETING INFO:
Join us for a discussion of Minari and Asian American representation! Hosted by Tamara Bhalla https://umbc.webex.com/umbc/j.php?MTID=m388f28dae1487b4b8ce67632b9cffbae Monday, May 3, 2021 4:00 pm | 1 hour | (UTC-04:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada) Meeting number: 120 311 5132 Password: MpK6jZMgq22 Join by video system Dial 1203115132@umbc.webex.com You can also dial 173.243.2.68 and enter your meeting number. Join by phone +1-202-860-2110 United States Toll (Washington D.C.) Access code: 120 311 5132
The Initiatives for Identity, Inclusion and Belonging is hosting two separate ceremonies for Spring 2021 and Fall 2021 seniors this May! There are two different deadlines mentioned below:
Both ceremonies are specific in centering graduating students who hold marginalized identities. These ceremonies provide an intimate space to celebrate these students' collective accomplishments with their loved ones and supporters.
Annual Lavender Celebration (co-sponsored by Women’s Center and LGBTQ Faculty and Staff Assosciation) and Black and Latine/x Graduation (in partnership with the Chapter of Black and Latino Alumni, CBLA). With the spring semester soon coming to a close, that means these annual celebrations are coming up soon!
Black and Latine/x Celebration will be held on Tuesday, May 4th from 4:00PM-5:30PM EST via Webex. The Black and Latine/x Graduation is a new collaboration from a preexisting program that was founded by CBLA. This event will highlight the successes of current UMBC Black and Latine/x students and alumni.
The 8th Annual Lavender Celebration will be held on Tuesday, May 11th from 5:00PM-6:30PM EST via Webex. One of the key components of the Lavender celebration is to recognize LGBTQ+ and ally community members at UMBC that have had a significant impact on our campus. This year, we are also opening nominations for student keynote(s) so we can hear from graduates about their LGBTQ+ student experience at UMBC and what it has meant to them. Nominations can be submitted via Qualtrics until Friday, April 23rd at 11:59pm EST.
If you do not identify within these groups or as a graduate, we encourage you to still attend to be in community, as well as share it with your colleagues, peers, and friends. Family members and loved ones are welcome!
myUMBC Black and Latine/x Celebration Link with all the info and RSVPS:
myUMBC Lavender Celebration Link with all the info and RSVPS:
Lavender Awards & Student Keynote Nomination Form:bit.ly/lavendernominations2021
Graduation Package Mailing (FREE) & Instagram Highlight:bit.ly/i3bcblagradpackage
**This form can be used to receive cord(s) and other goodies by mail for graduates. Same form for both graduation events!** This is NOT an RSVP form!
Sexual Assault Awareness Month brings people together to create and generate discussion and skill-building on how to prevent sexual violence in our schools, workplaces, and communities. While providing support and care to survivors of sexual violence is an everyday action, this awareness month also carves out intentional moments to honor and believe survivors’ stories and experiences.
We are saddened that for another year in a row that the pandemic has impacted our ability to physically come together this April to do this critical work. The Women’s Center and all of our campus partners including the Office of Equity and Inclusion, University Health Services, the Counseling Center, Green Dot, We Believe You, and Retriever Courage, and more will nonetheless continue to promote awareness and prevention this month. We are inviting our UMBC community to join our efforts.
TBTN is one of the largest events the Women's Center hosts every year. To honor this special event that centers survivors stories and healing and invites our community to dismantle rape culture, we created an interactive website that will be launched later this month. We invite our community to visit the website and engage in the visual and audio content. Spend time alone or with others sitting with the reflection questions and action items. Share your thoughts on social media using #UMBCtbtn.
Stay tuned for the website launch event!
The events, activism, discussions, support, and stories that stem from Sexual Assault Awareness Month are some of the Women’s Center’s most significant and special. It's challenging to lose these events and the community they create for a second year in a row. It's okay to grieve Take Back the Night and our other annual traditions. We are alongside you in that grieving process, and we hope that in these extraordinary times, we can continue to act with extraordinary compassion and conscientiousness to prevent sexual violence at UMBC and beyond.
And, remember, no matter where you are, dear survivors, we see you. We believe you. You matter. Always.
Additionally, throughout this time of continued distance learning, campus staff are still here and available for support. Do not hesitate to reach out for questions, concerns, or care.
On-Campus Resources Available for Virtual Support:
Visit Retriever Courage for a full list of campus resources and support to include resources for USG students, faculty, and staff
To report a complaint of sexual misconduct or discrimination, please submit this online form.
Off-Campus Resources:
TurnAround, Inc. Helpline (Available 24/7): 443-279-0379; Office: 410-377-8111
MCASA is still open and supporting survivors.
The National Sexual Assault Hotline is 24/7, confidential and free: 800-656-HOPE (4673) and through chat.
The National Domestic Violence Hotline is 24/7, confidential and free: 1-800-799-7233 and through chat.
Visit Retriever Courage for a more extensive list of off-campus resources and support
This year, however, TDOV comes at a time of deeply harmful political movements to suppress the trans community’s access to health care and sports. As of today, three state governors have signed off on anti-trans legislation that bans trans women and girls from competing in sports and, coming down the pipeline, are more laws like those being voted on in Arkansas that would prevent gender affirming health care for trans people under age 18 (ironically, this bill is called the “Save Adolescents from Experimentation” (SAFE) Act). South Dakota bill to ban transgender girls and women from sports was vetoed by Governor Kristi Noem (R), but Governor Noem quickly passed two executive orders that effectively replicating the law.
Chase Strangio, deputy director of transgender justice at the ACLU, recently told CNN, "There have been many existential threats to trans existence, but there's something uniquely dangerous about what's going on right at this moment with the combination of the sports bills and the health care bills… I think the impulse underlying both is to try to establish governmental policy that it's harmful to be trans."
This TDOV, we hope you consider taking action and actively fighting against these measures. Some suggestions for next steps include:
writing the governors of the various states that are considering and passing these bills,
donating to trans organizations working to fight against this bigotry,
and/or calling your own state and federal representatives to demand they stand up for trans people’s right to both healthcare and participation in sports.
For all of these actions, you can find/send pre-formed emails here and even more easy action items here.
In addition to doing this important work, consider simply learning more about the transgender community by centering trans creators, authors, activists, artists, scientists, policy makers, etc. Below, we have gathered resources to read/listen to/watch and folks to follow on social media. These are just a very few of the people and groups that you should look into--so please do explore further!
Visibility is a small step toward progress, but it’s only the first of many. There is still so much work to be done, as we can see by today’s news, but we can continue to build the futures we imagine. We can keep dreaming up utopia, uplifting transgender voices, and constructing bridges between difference.
Chase Strangio, deputy director of transgender justice for the ACLU
Alok Vaid-Menon, author, performer, and artist
Katelyn Burns, journalist with VOX
Chase Mosier, professional athlete and founder of transathlete (see below)
Raquel Willis, activist, writer, and organizer
Schuyler Bailar, first trans D1 athlete, speaker, and advocate
Wednesday Holmes, illustrator and writer
Ericka Hart, sex educator and writer
Intransitive was founded by two Trans people in response to the gap of intersectional Trans spaces in Northwest Arkansas. From its inception, Intransitive took on shutting down TERF recruitment events by organizing local and regional Trans people in the state.
FORGE reduces the impact of trauma on trans/non-binary survivors and communities by empowering service providers, advocating for systems reform, and connecting survivors to healing possibilities. FORGE strives to create a world where ALL voices, people and bodies are valued, respected, honored, and celebrated; where every individual feels safe, supported, respected, and empowered.
TransAthlete is a resource for students, athletes, coaches, and administrators to find information about trans inclusion in athletics at various levels of play. This site pulls together existing information in one central location, and breaks down information into easy-to-reference areas to help you find what you need.
ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." The ACLU works at the national level and has affiliate locations throughout the U.S.
Trans Women in Women’s Spaces: A Reflection of the Transition of Privilege and Belonging
By Autumn Cook, March 26, 2020
Genderqueer & Trans Fashion Zine
By Scout Hertl, Spring 2019
By Dan Willey and Amelia Meman, 2017
How Many Trans Kids Will Die While We Await This Mythic Trans Sports Takeover? by Chase Strangio
Transgender Week of Visibility and Action (Google Doc with information and resources for activism)
Trans Athletes Bills Explained by Katelyn Burns
Myths About Trans Athletes Debunked by Chase Strangio and Gabriel Arkles
Trans History You Never Learned in School by Thomas Page McBee
Visibility Alone Will Not Keep Transgender Youth Safe by Chase Strangio and Raquel Willis
Youth Activists Lead the Fight Against Anti-Trans Bills by Jo Yurcaba
As we gain more information and folks share resources, we are updating a Google Doc with this information. You can check that out here.
Dear Asian and Asian American Faculty and Staff Members and Community Allies:
The AAAFSC board would like to extend our gratitude for your support at the March 22, 2021 event “An Open Dialogue on Anti-Asian Racism.” We appreciated the candid and heartfelt comments shared by community members that allowed us to process our collective grief and the allyship that so many of you expressed.
We are heartbroken over the murders of 8 people in Atlanta over the past week, 6 of whom were women of Asian and Asian American descent: Xiaojie Tan, Daoyou Feng, Delaina Ashley Yaun, Paul Andre Michels, Soon Chung Park, Hyun Jung Grant, Suncha Kim, and Yong Ae Yue.
We see this violence as the latest in a surge in similar acts towards Asian and Asian American communities over the past year, and also part of a longer history of violence and discrimination against Asian and Asian American communities. Furthermore, we recognize these acts are the result of systemic white supremacy, and we stand in solidarity with other minoritized communities in our campus and beyond to condemn white supremacy, hateful violence, and discrimination in all of its forms.
Taking a cue from our discussion on March 22 and the Association of Asian American Studies statement in response to the Atlanta murders, we have collated some resources below to gather the “collective knowledge and feeling” of the many Asian American scholars, activists, journalists, mental health professionals, writers, and individuals who have released statements and written opinion pieces to provide historical, political and emotional context for the effects of these murders.
In addition to the list of resources that we sent out last week and a list of resources compiled by the Women’s Center, below we have gathered additional readings and responses that address some of what came up in our discussion yesterday: themes of building cross-racial solidarity, Asian American invisibility/hypervisibility, the model minority paradigm, intersections of racism and misogyny, increased education on Asian American history, and intergenerational trauma and relationships.
We hope that these sources will help you process the events of this past week and year.
In solidarity and support,
The AAAFSC board: Tamara Bhalla (chair), Aditya Desai (member at large), Soonhee Lee (member at large), Shuyan Sun, (member at large), Fan Yang (secretary)
READ:
Pawan Dhingra, The Most Effective Way to Fight Back Against Anti-Asian Hate, CNN, 3.21.2021
“In order to effect lasting and meaningful change, we need an educational campaign starting in K-12 schools that reveals the strength and complexity of Asian Americans.”
Jennifer Ho, To Be an Asian Woman in America, CNN, 3.17.2021
“To be an Asian woman in America means you can't just be what you are: a fully enfranchised human being. It means you are a blank screen on which others project their stories, especially, too often, their sexualized fantasies -- because US culture has long presented Asian women as sexualized objects for White male enjoyment.”
Milliann Kang, Why Are Perpetrators’ Motives Given More Importance Than the Lives They Take?, Ms.Magazine, 3.22.2021
“This racialized sexualization of Asian women has deep roots in U.S. society and culture, making them vulnerable targets for harassment and violence, motivated simultaneously by misogyny, xenophobia and anti-Asian racism. But these points seem to be lost on those who refuse to recognize this as a hate crime, simply because the perpetrator said it wasn’t.”
Viet Thanh Nguyen and Janelle Wong, Bipartisan political rhetoric about Asia leads to anti-Asian violence here, The Washington Post, 3.19,2021
“The experience of racial discrimination does not happen for any group in isolation; white supremacy depends on pitting people of color against one another so they do not see their shared cause. Racial profiling does not stem from the same stereotypes for Asian Americans, Black people, Muslims and other groups, but it serves a common purpose — to define who is essential and who belongs to the nation.”
Jerusalem Demsas and Rachel Ramirez, The history of tensions — and solidarity — between Black and Asian American communities, explained.Vox, 3.16.2021
“Ultimately, there is a failure to remember what got America to this place of racial hierarchies and lingering Black-Asian tensions: white supremacy....And for Black and Asian American communities to move forward, it is important to remember the root cause and fight together against it.”
A List of Asian American Books and Memoirs compiled by the LA Times
WATCH:
PBS’s Asian Americans (2020)
Slaying the Dragon: Reloaded (2011, Deborah Gee)
Who Killed Vincent Chin? (1987, Renee Tajima-Peña, Christine Choy, Nancy Tong)
ACT:
Support community efforts in Atlanta, Georgia: AAPI Community Resources Offerings Form (mutual aid intake form), sign on to a community-centered response against anti-Asian violence, & donate to support families of the victims, Atlanta Action Card
Call your elected officials to support community centered policies for addressing hate violence
Protect AAPI workers at your workplace or union with these APALA Guidelines.
Join a vigil, read statements by Atlanta-based AAPI organizations & sign-on letters
DONATE: