Editor’s Note: The following letter was sent to ASA members June 10, 2020, on the day of #ShutdownSTEM and #ShutdownAcademia
Dear Colleagues,
We, the three elected presidents of the American Statistical Association (ASA), are deeply moved by the tragedies and social upheaval that have unfolded in the past few weeks. As felt by many of you, we too are angered, anguished, and wearied as new names are added to the dreadful roll call of black individuals slain, harmed, or threatened by law enforcement or by vigilantes. As allies, we stand with African Americans and other communities of color as we to work to overcome systemic racism in America. And we acknowledge that all institutions are imperfect and need reforms that eradicate racism in operations, policies, and structure. These reforms should start at home, here within the ASA and the broader statistics and data science communities. For that reason, we especially are grateful for the many discussions and recommendations shared via social media, email, and ASA discussion boards. We are compiling recommendations. However, we immediately make the following pledge:
- We will critically reappraise and work to improve the effectiveness of our efforts to be a more diverse and inclusive community.
- We will identify resources to help the persons and organizations within our professional community learn and grow their level of cultural competence.
- We will work with the ASA Board of Directors to develop a plan to help members of our professional community become better statisticians and citizens of our communities through a deeper understanding of our own inherent biases.
- We will be transparent in sharing the diversity and inclusion issues identified within our organization, as well as the solutions implemented.
- We will create and maintain communications channels to facilitate public commentary to help us identify the opportunities for improvement with respect to diversity and inclusion within the ASA and the broader statistics and data science communities.
To help fulfill these pledges, we are creating an anti-racism task force that will be co-chaired by the chair of the ASA Committee on Minorities in Statistics and include some of its members plus other people we will appoint. Please help us learn from you:
- Tell us how the ASA can improve itself and our community by better addressing systemic racism and hindering biases of any kind. Provide confidential or public suggestions.
- Share with us your experiences. Our email addresses are listed by our signatures at the bottom of this message. We also plan to host a virtual town hall meeting for individuals to share their experiences and recommendations.
- Volunteer to be involved.
Today, Wednesday, June 10, 2020, we join with the global community by observing #ShutDownSTEM and #ShutDownAcademia.We are taking time for reflection on how systemic racism and unconscious bias damages our personal and professional lives and, more broadly, the statistics and data science communities. With your help, we hope to strengthen our professional community by making it more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive.
Sincerely,
Wendy Martinez, President
Rob Santos, President-Elect
Karen Kafadar, Past President
Leave a Reply