Allyship & Activism in Science Part 1
This post was written by Rokia, with support and critique from the Science London collective.
Starting at the start: Activism in the UK
Over the last few weeks we have thought about and discussed the ways in which science is/ can be racist and how we as individuals might be complicit in upholding the socially unjust norms embedded in science and science communication. There is lots more to learn but for the next few weeks we want to pivot the conversation towards how we can be better allies, do anti-racist and inclusive work and what activism and justice in science communication might look like. Thinking about the origins of anti-racist movements feels like a good place to start.
In the UK and the US, much of the fight for racial justice, particularly intersectional social justice, was born out of the hearts and minds of Black, queer and/ or trans women. The Heart of the Race: Black Women's Lives in Britain (1985) and The Combahee River Collective statement (1977) are essential reading for understanding the context of the respective movements.
My introduction to the discourses surrounding race, racism and anti-racism were filtered through a North-American lens which erased or overshadowed the UK’s own rich history of social justice activism. This issue, as Reni-Eddo-Lodge confirms in ‘Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race’, was compounded by the fact non-white British history is “often only knowable through a hefty amount of self-directed study”- which speaks to which histories are considered worth preserving and retelling. For me, the work of American Black feminist scholars offered (and continues to offer) vital guidance and inspiration. But as a 2nd generation Black British woman, such limited access to the UK’s racial justice history left me feeling disconnected from organised efforts to further racial or social justice. I was unable to envision myself or anything I could do as even remotely activist-like.
My self directed study, helped in no small part by the 1st hand accounts of my relatives and finding swathes of Black socialist/ marxist/ feminist scholars and activists living and working in the UK, informed me that the London streets I call home have some deeply radical roots. Created by Windrush generation activists, London was home to organisations such as; The British Black Panthers, Brixton Black Women’s Group (BBWG), The Indian Workers’ Association and The Organization of Women of Asian and African Descent (OWAAD). Originating from diverse political cultures they all campaigned against institutional racism and inequalities found within; education, employment, housing, immigration, health and policing. Today, Windrush Square in Brixton houses the Black Cultural Archives where the history of Afro and or Caribbean people from all over the UK lives on in physical form alongside digital libraries and archives. I say all this to say that activism and racial justice movements are not exports from the States, in the same way that issues of racism aren’t. As mine and many other BLM protesters banners proclaimed: The UK Is Not Innocent!
The seminal words and actions of these Windrush generation activists shaped the discourse surrounding race and racism in the UK long before the horrific murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Aubery, the latest victims of police brutality in the US reignited the movement for Black lives. Their analysis gives us a robust and nuanced understanding of the ways racism, sexism, queer and transphobia, classism, ableism and other forms of interlocking oppression intersect and are leveraged as tools of power and control through which white supremacy and the cis-hetero-patriarchy are maintained.
The current momentum behind the UKs racial justice movement is forcing us to consider how these tools are operationalised in every sector of society, including within Science, Technology, Economics, Maths and Medicine (STEMM) and we have spent the last few weeks discussing what racism in science looks like using blog posts and podcasts to guide our thinking.
Hopefully this post has planted some seeds for thinking about the specificity of allyship and activism in the UK. Equitable practice in Public Engagement with Science, involves communicating science by, with and for the communities we are trying to serve. In order to do that we must understand the context of their lives, their relationship to their identities and science.
To get started, have a listen to some of the pioneers of Black feminist movements in the UK and US in conversation here and here and spend some time reflecting on how national or even regional contexts in the UK mean we have to adapt the ways we communicate science and incorporate anti-racist discussions.
Please feel free to share this post and your comments via @sciencelondon on social media ahead of part 2 which looks more specifically at the ways activism and science interact.