Humans; Not data points
As we fight orders removing DEIA from the government & Federally funded programs, and trans folks from bathrooms they have been using without issues, we need to check our selves
These past two weeks have included a whiplash-inducing suite of memos, executive orders, legal cases, revocation of all of the above, and more. While we all struggle with our emotions and our conflicting desires to fight and to hide, many are remarkably funding the will to act and to help others find ways to act. I have never been more proud of so many of my colleagues, both at the Planetary Science Institute and across the sciences in general.
But in the midst of all the folks saying, “Let’s defend our profession,” there are still so many at-risk individuals who are feeling they have to lay everything on the table so that we will fight for more than our funding. We need to fight for DEIA to be returned so biases will be considered in workplace hiring and promotion decisions. We need to fight for trans rights so people can keep using the bathrooms they’ve been using without issue for months to decades. We need to fight for the right to work from home for folks like me who are immune compromised or disabled or just can’t afford to commute every day. We need to make it so we can all stay in this field we earned our right to work within.
As a scientist speaking to my colleagues, I just want to say that through peer review and shared governance, we can and have accepted that our colleagues' skills have earned them the right to be our colleagues. That should be enough to say, "We're going to make sure you stay in science as the person you are."
One of my staff, Ally Pelphrey, said something I'm going to share with permission:
"I'm tired of begging people to stop talking about me like I'm merely a data point or a diversity box to be checked when I'm a human in very real material danger from this administration. That's the real issue with all this back and forth, right? Marginalized people begging privileged people to please please please see our humanity and leverage their privilege to keep us safe."
We must not let any of our colleagues feel like data points. Instead, we need to help them get scientific data to focus on while we, who have it, use our privilege to figure out how best to do good.
At the end of the day, one of the most powerful things we as scientists can do is allow the folks worried about their marriages being dissolved, their passports being revoked, and so much more to have the space they need to just focus on somehow surviving these threats on their personhood. They need the space to grieve, and they still have to find the time to do their work. We can make their lives hurt less as the government tries to make their lives impossible.
We are in a position to say, "I see you. I hear your needs. I will fight with you. Go focus as you can on doing science."
To my struggling colleagues across the sciences: I see you. I hear your needs. I will center you in this fight, and I will fight for you when you need it. I may need to set the alarm so I stop trying to call my congress critters after the work day is over. But I will set that alarm. I want you to be safe to go do science and take care of yourself.