ANTI-RACISM RESOURCES
This document is meant as a resource to brainstorm ways that individuals and the Physics/Astronomy Departments of The Ohio State University can help create immediate and lasting change to support anti-racism efforts, especially for the Black community. Please be respectful of others in this space. If you wish to anonymously point out problems in either department or if you have other general feedback, we will have continued surveys in the near future as the APS-IDEA team plans additional town halls or other events related to equity and inclusion. Thank you to those who submitted feedback in the initial survey! A list of recommendations for the department based on feedback from this document, anonymous survey respondents, discussions from the call-to-action event, and other sources will be distributed in the near future.
To ensure that all current resources are preserved please contact one of the faculty on this page to have your additions added to the document.
Some things to keep in mind when coming up with action items (from Brian Nord in the DES collaboration):
- Questions of compassion such as “Does this uplift and respect Black lives?”
- What are the multiple stages of outcomes for a given tactic?
- How does it contribute towards Black Liberation?
- Are we using the unique skills of this group?
- Let’s develop further methods and add more questions here.
Action items for individuals:
- Make a personal action plan using this document. (pdf)
- Register to vote: Learn more under the Civic Engagement section.
- Before stocking up on something on Amazon, check if there are Black-owned businesses that sell that same item and buy from them instead.
- Join https://blackoutbuddyread.com/ if you don’t know or can’t decide what to read first. There will be live discussions of the books as well. Kind of like a book club. More reading suggestions can be found under the “How to Educate Yourself” section.
- Sign this petition regarding Columbus police. For more petitions, see the Petition Section.
- Related: https://defund12.org/ is a centralized database of efforts to reallocate money away from violent policing and towards programs which support community and have been shown to reduce inequality
- Our very own Kirwan Institute has a bystander training for you to take.
- Consider becoming a mentor for Polaris at OSU Physics
Action items for the Physics/Astro Department:
- Create a Vice Chair position specifically for diversity and inclusion
- Do away with standardized testing for admission, or better work to develop tests free of racial, gender, and economic bias (grades, recommendations, and school information are not free of bias, and unbiased tests could help to mitigate this).
- Recognize that diverse individuals may traverse diverse pathways. We tend to reward students who pick up physics quickly; often these students are privileged. Challenges may cause diverse students to be behind our ’normal’ progress in the profession. Physics as a culture has a tendency to reward precociousness. Focus on skills, and not the age at which they were acquired.
- Perhaps a strategic plan for diversity with concrete goals/actions for 2 yrs, 5 yrs, 10 yrs, similar to overall department strategic plan
- Include history of physics explicitly in all our syllabi (from intro classes to graduate seminars)
- To give work appropriate credit we need to give value and time to those doing the work in our daily fora. It needs to hold weight not just in letters. Including compensation--pay people for their labor.
- Let underrepresented students focus on physics. Don’t expect them to carry the diversity agenda.
- We can make a public rubric for letters of recommendation (like they do for med school) to help get us information we want.
- Do more recruiting to improve the diversity
- Make sure the demographics of the admitted group match those of the application pool.
- Equity and inclusion training for GTAs. Think more about staffing intro courses.
- Promote conferences that center women and people of color. Pay for students to attend these conferences.
- Promote women and people of color at all conferences.
- Do more to support the Bridge program students after they arrive here, including activities or targeted mentoring, etc.
- Address the pipeline for women and people of color from K-12 forward. Great people are discouraged and leave at an early stage.
- Undergraduate Research Article: McCoy, D. L., Luedke, C. L., Winkle-Wagner, R. (2017). Encouraged or weeded out: Perspectives of students of color in the STEM disciplines on faculty interactions. Journal of College Student Development, 58, 657-673. 10.1353/csd.2017.0052
- Action items for Keeping Women of Color encouraged and supported in graduate astronomy studies at the end of this article: https://www.nap.edu/read/18556/chapter/18
- Designing for institutional transformation: Six principles for department-level interventions
- LIST OF DEMANDS of departments/colleges at other universities:
- University of Chicago Astronomy & Astrophysics: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hqw9wmQbywztM1Up54Wce9647DlIaOLhsABIL3vnFf0/edit
- UCLA (college-level): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1E4ehuyEa_b9gEbohm3BDeW5Ma752JNfY-zGYMGVEqnw/mobilebasic
- JHU Earth & Planetary Sciences: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1n_yUmipoRQhNgyyKS-Yj8JgDGGc4nKkRcBW8gPHXZhc/edit
- UC Berkeley Physics Juneteeth letter: https://ucbphysicsjuneteenthletter.com/?fbclid=IwAR2gIsl1im4mklYJ8KVlmzbBL0Y2TowXOl20bfkVf2wC7XLckZivC82bpl4
- UC Berkeley Astronomy demands: https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1k9IYDLuXUTbOSOfzKOrXqLhAL3QyI-QJzzV-20WbB9c/mobilebasic?fbclid=IwAR2lKtPS0pOIRx1Mb2rDNVuyJIy9bYzxzqaYAV_6DEDXucEr3wwcvSM-v0w
Problems you’ve seen in Physics/Astro that need to be addressed going forward:
- Hire black professors - and work to convince them to stay. This will go a long way to address the lack of black physics students in our departments. Note the plural in both professors and students.
- Address the pipeline at all levels to make the item above possible. Even if we recruit every black student who still is interested in physics in high school we will not reach our goal.
- Widely and openly discuss department-wide goals and values regarding graduate admission and recruitment. More generally, obtain collaborative input from graduate students in all important administrative matters, especially faculty hiring; this should include formal membership on key committees.
Where should I donate?
Local Columbus Anti-Racism Initiatives:
Black Queer & Intersectional Collective (Instagram, facebook)
Columbus Freedom Coalition (Instagram, facebook)
Central Ohio Street Medic Collective
Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ Columbus)
Fundraiser for NAACP Columbus and Columbus Urban League
National Initiatives:
Support Black Trans people by donating here.
Split a donation between 70+ National Freedom Funds.
Individual Victims and Family Donations:
Official George Floyd Memorial Fund.
Official Justice for Breonna Taylor Memorial Fund.
Memorial Fund for Tony McDade.
Justice for David McAtee.
Justice For Regis Korchinski-Paquet Fund.
James Scurlock Memorial Fund.
Dion Johnson Memorial Fund.
Black Trans Protestors Emergency Fund.
Lyanna Dior Fund on Cashapp: $IyannaDIO
Bond, Legal, Medical For Sha’Teina El Grady.
Resources to Share with Black Students:
- Google doc on #blackinSTEM listing people offering professional mentoring for Black scientists. This list includes over 200 people who are volunteering to serve as mentors:
- The African American Women in Physics Group.
Resources for Taking Action
Guidance on Protesting
If you are a white person considering joining a protest this week, here is a list of rules put together for you. Friends of color, if they have forgotten anything, please add.
- FOLLOW CALLS ONLY. Do not initiate or lead calls. Your job is to follow and add your voice when it is called for.
- DO NOT TAKE SELFIES. Ask to take pictures or videos of individuals. You are there to witness only. Film the police as much as possible. Your goal is documentation to ensure that the true narrative is told.
- BE HELPFUL. Hand out water and snacks. Make sure protest leaders are hydrated and fed. This is exhausting work, help keep their energy up.
- FOLLOW DIRECTIONS. If a black person tells you to do something, you do it immediately without question. You respect the authority and the decisions of the black protestors at all times.
- STAY IN THE BACK UNTIL YOU ARE CALLED FORWARD. If you hear “White people to the front” or “Allies to the front” step forward and link arms with other white people to form a human shield.
- WHEN YOU ARE AT THE FRONT, YOU ARE SILENT. Your job is to be a body. You are there to support only. The only voices on the police line should be black voices.
- REMAIN CALM AT ALL TIMES. This is difficult. You will be emotional and your system will be flooded with adrenaline. Remember this is life and death for the protestors. Save your emotions for home. DO NOT AGITATE.
This is not a game. Joining a protest is a serious decision. Make sure you are there for the right reason. Support the safety of black protestors at all times.
What you need to know about protesting during a pandemic:
- https://theconversation.com/how-to-protest-during-a-pandemic-and-still-keep-everyone-safe-from-coronavirus-6-questions-answered-139978
- https://www.teenvogue.com/story/protest-safety-how-to-protest-during-covid-19-pandemic
Ways you can be an activist without going to a protest:
- 26 Ways to be in the Struggle Beyond the Streets.
- “Ways you can help” article.
- DONATE: see above section for guidance.
- A Working Resource for Mobilizing: -includes many resources!
- Watch this video to generate Youtube ad revenue for the BLM(*turn off adblock). *Note: As of June 10, there seems to be an issue with accessing the video. Leaving this up in hopes the issue is resolved!
- Educate yourself! See below section for guidance.
How to Educate Yourself
Learn from Black Creators
Statements and resources from scholarly societies
Articles
- The History of Racism in America | History
- White Academia: Do Better. - The Faculty by OSU Communications Lecturer Jasmine Roberts
- The Socialist Case for Reparations
- Letter from a Region in My Mind - 1962 essay by James Baldwin
- I’m a Black and Jewish Woman; My Identity Matters
- One type of racism that I have come across and seen in Denmark called “Hygge racism” that can also apply to many other countries: 'Hygge racism': ”noget som man nok bruger mere end man tænker over”
- Silence Is Never Neutral; Neither Is Science
- Decolonizing OSU for Livable Futures — Livable Futures
- 'The Years That Matter Most: How College Makes or Breaks Us
- Letter to a Young Black Philosopher
- White Fragility
- The hidden history of unrecognized Black labor in raising the prominence of Princeton’s physics department: Princeton & Slavery | Joseph Henry and Sam Parker
- Articles for Allyship: Performative Allyship is Deadly
- For Our White Friends Desiring to Be Allies
- How to argue against saying “All Lives Matter”:
- How to respond to “Riots never solve anything”:
- Save your tears
- 10 Habits of someone who doesn’t know they are anti-black [dead link]
- Dear White People, this is what we want you to do [dead link]
- Rednecks for Black Lives - Southern Crossroads
- White People: what are we willing to do to end our legacy of violence:
- Let’s Talk about Anti-Blackness
- Racist Anti-Racism Responses that Good White Women Give [dead link]
- Unsettling America, Decolonization in Theory and Practice:
- Non-Black People of Color Perpetuate Anti-Blackness Too:
- Anti-Blackness and Indigenous Communities:
- How Latinx People can Fight Anti-Black Racism in our Own Culture:
- Iyanna Dior’s beating proves Black lives still don’t matter if you’re trans
- When POC is not enough: Anti-Blackness in the LGBTQ+ Community
- This Pride Month, the LGBTQ Community Must Confront Its Racism
- 30+ Ways Asians Perpetuate Anti-Black Racism Everyday
- ‘Model Minority’ Myth Again Used as a Racial Wedge Between Asians and Black
- Feminism and Racism: White Women, Race, and Work
- Feminist Rage: 4 ways white women continue to silence Women of Color’s Anger at Racism [dead link]
- Be Accomplices, not allies
- Dismantling Anti-Black Bias in Democratic Workplaces: A Toolkit
Books
Don’t know where to begin? Join https://blackoutbuddyread.com/ if you don’t know or can’t decide what to read first. There will be live discussions of the books as well. Kind of like a book club.
Books by Black Authors
- The Broken Earth Trilogy - NK Jemisin
- How Long Til Black Future Month - NK Jemisin (short stories)
- NK Jemisin’s entire back catalog is amazing, and she’s great to follow on social media
- Binti Trilogy - Nnedi Okorofor
- Akata Witch duology - Nnedi Okorofor
- Black Leopard, Red Wolf - Marlon James (trigger warning - check reviews)
- A Brief History of Seven Killings - Marlon James
- The Undefeated - Alexander Kwame (black history picture book)
- The Hate U Give - Angie Thomas
- March - John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, Nate Powell (graphic novel autobiography of US Congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis)
- The Parable of the Sower - Octavia Butler
- The Gilded Ones - Namina Forna
- Americanah - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (this deals directly with race so is also a great resource for understanding issues of race and immigration in the States)
- You Should See Me in a Crown - Leah Johnson
- Abolition Democracy - Angela Davis
Books for Anti-Racism Education
- List of 10 Anti-Racism Books
- A Detailed List of Anti-Racism Books, Articles, and Resources
- An Essential Reading Guide For Fighting Racism
- George Yancy: “Backlash. What happens when we talk honestly about racism in America”.
- White Fragility by Robin Diangelo (OSU Library Ebook)
- A People’s History of the United States -- very intersectional book about the history of our country that we are generally not taught in school
- The New Jim Crow - Michelle Alexander
- Who Do You Serve, Who Do You Protect? - On Police Violence in America
- Whistling Vivaldi by Claude Steele
- How to be Antiracist (OSU Library Ebook)
- Another book but related to indigenous Australians: https://www.amazon.com/Growing-Aboriginal-Australia-Anita-Heiss/dp/1863959815 (OSU Library Ebook)
- Me and White Supremacy
- From Equity Talk to Equity Walk (OSU Library Ebook) (Wiley Ebook)
- Stamped from the Beginning (Ibram X. Kendi) (OSU Library Ebook) and its remix Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You (Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds) for young adults
- NOTE: You can now listen to Stamped from the Beginning for free on spotify: https://bookriot.com/2020/06/04/stamped-from-the-beginning-by-ibram-x-kendi-free-on-spotify/
- When I first moved to the US, this was one book I read by Imani Perry: More Beautiful and More Terrible: The Embrace and Transcendence of Racial Inequality in the United States
- So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
- The Years that Matter Most: How College Makes or Breaks Us by Paul Tough
- Black Women Scientists in the United States by Wini Warren
Twitter/Social Media
- Diversity your Instagram Feed: http://www.themilitantbaker.com/2017/04/diversify-your-instagram-feed.html
- Twitter: #BlackInTheIvory and #BlackinSTEM are must-reads: https://twitter.com/search?q=%23BlackintheIvory
- Antiracism Center: Twittergf
- Audre Lorde Project: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
- Black Women’s Blueprint: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
- Color Of Change: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
- Colorlines: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
- The Conscious Kid: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
- Equal Justice Initiative (EJI): Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
- Families Belong Together: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
- Justice League NYC: Twitter | Instagram + Gathering For Justice: Twitter | Instagram
- The Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
- MPowerChange: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
- Muslim Girl: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
- NAACP: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
- National Domestic Workers Alliance: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
- RAICES: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
- Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ): Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
- SisterSong: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
- United We Dream: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
- White Nonsense Roundup: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Videos/Documentaries/etc
- 11 Documentaries to Celebrate Black LBGTQ+ History
- OSU Communications Lecturer Jasmine Roberts gave a TED talk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii4W9Y9pExk) on white fragility
- Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities
- “13th” Documentary on Netflix by Ava DuVernay on systemic oppression
- "I am not your negro" -James Baldwin
- James Baldwin Debates William F. Buckley (1965) - A very important debate that is, unfortunately, still relevant today. Especially important for understanding why some people want to preserve social hierarchies that benefit them.
- There was a brief mention of the effect of mass incarceration on the Black culture. I encourage people to listen the following TEDx talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQ6H-Mz6hgw
- WHOSE STREETS? (a doc about Ferguson) Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upiJnjJSerw
- DO NOT RESIST (about the militarization of the police): http://www.donotresistfilm.com/
- CINCINNATI GODDAMN (about police violence in Cincinnati and currently streaming for free at wexarts.org) https://wexarts.org/film-video/cincinnati-goddamn
- John Oliver on police brutality and white supremacy: https://youtu.be/Wf4cea5oObY
TV/Film by Black Creators
- 11 Movies that Confront American Racism
- 14 films and documentaries to educate yourself on racism and Black oppression
- 6 Movies About the Real Black Panthers to Watch After Black Panther
- Dear White People -- tv show on Netflix adapted from a film
- She’s Gotta Have It -- tv show on Netflix (also adapted from a film)
- Just Mercy -- currently free to stream on Amazon
Podcasts:
- 9 podcasts that don’t whitewash race
- 10 Anti-racist podcasts
- Code Switch
- In the Dark, season 2 (about the Curtis Flowers trials)
- Uncivil (stories we aren’t told about the Civil War)
- 1619 (New York Times)
- About Race
- Intersectionality Matters! hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw
- Momentum: A Race Forward Podcast
- Pod For The Cause (from The Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights)
- Pod Save the People (Crooked Media)
- Seeing White
- Irresistible
-
BOLD: Conversations About Race, is a podcast about white people showing up and showing out for racial justice.
Images
- Great image for Equity vs. Equality: https://publichealthonline.gwu.edu/blog/equity-vs-equality/
Other/Miscellaneous
https://osu.libguides.com/arr - libguide
- How to Talk to Kids About Racism
- National Museum of African American History and Culture Released a Talking About Race Web Portal: https://nmaahc.si.edu/about/news/national-museum-african-american-history-and-culture-releases-talking-about-race-web?fbclid=IwAR34bkVWjg4BMeIcUDtSDBtztvd7byb9d6Jb7qrGwkqYoDYbNYsjjQf
- Information on demographics for grad degree awards and admissions across many departments and colleges: https://nglscoalition.org/
- OSU Coalition for Next Generation Life Science: https://gradsch.osu.edu/research/coalition-next-generation-life-science
- APS National Mentoring Community materials here: https://www.aps.org/programs/minorities/nmc/webinars.cfm
- While it’s focused on mentoring undergraduates, some of this addresses equity and inclusion, as well as standard mentor training such as designing a contract and setting expectations
- Mentorship training: https://uitl.osu.edu/endorsement/research-mentoring-training
- Langston Hughes Poem: Let America be America Again: https://poets.org/poem/let-america-be-america-again
Civic Engagement
- If you're not familiar with ResistBot, it's an easy and automated way for you to reach you elected officials. You can text or DM it, and it does all the hard work for you. It's free! https://resist.bot/ and https://resist.bot/news/2020/06/02/black-lives-matter
- Ohio Online Voter Registration: https://olvr.ohiosos.gov/
- US House Bill 40: Reparations: https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/housebill/40
- Ohio House Bill 381: Stand Your Ground:
- Campaign Zero: https://www.joincampaignzero.org/#action
- #8cantwait: https://8cantwait.org/
- Contact you Politicians: https://www.commoncause.org/find-your-representative/
- Reclaim the Block Minneapolis: https://www.reclaimtheblock.org/
List of Petitions to Sign
Columbus PD:
Justice for George Floyd:
- https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/justice-george-floyd-0
- https://www.change.org/p/mayor-jacob-frey-justice-for-george-floyd?recruiter=895898514&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=twitter&utm_ca
- https://www.change.org/p/mayor-jacob-frey-justice-for-george-floyd-2?recruiter=946041940&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campa
- https://act.colorofchange.org/sign/justiceforfloyd_george_floyd_minneapolis/?source=dm_sms_optin_5-26-20
- Raise The Degree - Remove bail for Derek Chauvin, murderer of George Floyd
- Arrest All Four
- Get the Officers Charged
Defund MPD:
Justice for Breonna Taylor:
- https://sign.moveon.org/petitions/justiceforbre-police-officers-who-killed-breonna-taylor-must-be-fired?bucket=&source=twitter-share-
- https://act.colorofchange.org/sign/justiceforbre-breonna-taylor-officers-fired?source=coc_main_website
Justice for Ahmaud Arbery:
- https://www.change.org/p/federal-bureau-of-investigation-disbarment-of-george-e-barnhill
- https://www.change.org/p/human-rights-campaign-justice-for-ahmuad-aubrey-2
- Pass The Georgia Hate Crime Bill: https://www.change.org/p/governor-brian-kemp-justice-for-ahmaud-arbery
Life Sentence For Police Brutality:
Justice for Regis Korchinski:
Justice for Tony McDade:
Justice for Joāo Pedro:
Justice for Belly Mujinga:
Justice for Alejandro Vargas Martinez:
The above petitions are all seeking justice for Black individuals who were murdered by police, with the exceptions of Belly and Alejandro, whose deaths are not related to police violence. The below three petitions are seeking justice for Black individuals who are currently in the criminal “justice” system:
Justice for Julius Jones:
Justice for Willie Simmons:
Justice for Kyjuanzi Harris:
Hands Up Act:
National Action Against Police Brutality:
Move On Call for Resignation for CPD Chief of Police:
Letter to Columbus City Council:
OSU Classes that Deal with Racism
- AFAMAST 2367.04 – Black Women Writers
- Writing and analysis of black women's literary representations of issues in United States social history.Cross-listed in WGSSt.
- WGSST 2230 – Gender, Sexuality, and Race in Popular Culture
- Explores how popular culture generates our understandings of genders and sexuality at the intersections with race, class, nationality, and ability.