GSA condemns, in the strongest possible terms, the eight murders in Georgia this past week that claimed six people of Asian descent, along with the rising tide of hate and violence directed against the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. Importantly, all but one of the victims were women; the sexual violence of these crimes highlights the persistence of sexual aggression and harassment against Asian women. GSA condemns all instances of sexual violence and harassment, and we renew our commitment to addressing these issues as a member of the Societies Consortium on Sexual Harassment in STEMM.

The GSA leadership stands united in support of the AAPI community and against xenophobia, racism, sexism, and hate. We are outraged and saddened. We extend our deepest sympathy to the families and friends of the victims. 

What can we do, as individuals, to stop these hate crimes? First, speak out when you witness racist, sexist, and/or anti-AAPI sentiments being shared. Each of us can contribute to making our personal and professional spaces safe and supportive by not allowing these types of rhetoric to go unchallenged. Additionally, this website allows individuals to report acts of hate against Asian American and Pacific Islander communities: https://stopaapihate.org/. Finally, reach out to your AAPI colleagues and trainees to show your support and to recognize the valuable contributions they make to our society. 

The GSA strives to adhere to the highest standards of equity and inclusion in its conferences, journals, and professional development programs. When we fall short we need to know, so please send any comments, reports, and suggestions to society@genetics-gsa.org.

Executive Committee, on behalf of the Board of Directors
Hugo Bellen President
Jane Hubbard, Vice-President
Denise Montell, Immediate Past President
Erika Matunis, Secretary
Mike Buszczak, Treasurer
Steve Munger, At-Large Director

Executive Director, on behalf of the Society
Tracey DePellegrin

Equity and Inclusion Committee
Noah Whiteman, Chair, University of California, Berkeley
Jessica Aguilar, University of California, Berkeley
Anna Allen, Howard University
Derek Applewhite, Reed College
Andrew Arsham, Bemidji State University
Gustavo MacIntosh, Iowa State University
Shan Meltzer, Harvard University
Alana O’Reilly, Fox Chase Cancer Center
Nadia Singh, University of Oregon
Chiyedza Small, City University of New York, Medgar Evers College
Rebecca Tarvin, University of California, Berkeley
Quan Yuan, National Institutes of Health
Sarah Bay, Staff Liaison

The Genetics Society of America outlines its goals for anti-racism actions.

The Genetics Society of America, supported by the Board of Directors and the Equity and Inclusion Committee, is committed to building an equitable future for the Society, journals, conferences, early career scientist programs, and the larger scientific community.

What do we mean by commitment? Dismantling racism in science—and particularly anti-Black racism born of White supremacy—will be the work of years but is as essential as the work we do in scholarly publishing, conference planning, advocacy, and career development. The work will be required of each of us; as our President Denise Montell wrote, “Racism is everyone’s problem.”

We are in a moment of action and must seize it. We recognize that we have failed our community in a number of ways, particularly by not acting sooner. But as we take advantage of the current momentum, we can only make meaningful progress if we are thoughtful and purposeful in building plans to address racism in science. We must ensure that our action is not confined to this point in time—and is not performative—but is instead built to last through the coming years.

With sustained transformation in mind, the Board and Committee are working together to distill a prioritized plan from the many ideas and suggestions that have poured in over the last weeks. Our strategy must address the short-, medium-, and long-terms. It must also encompass personal, organizational, and community levels—we need to encourage action within ourselves, within GSA, and within the genetics and genomics research enterprise. We will need not only external-facing programs but also internal governance and operational initiatives to ensure efforts that are adequately resourced and supported.

Our framework for making progress must:

• Foster a community where Black scientists and scientists from other marginalized and underrepresented backgrounds are visible, respected, valued, heard, supported, empowered, and rewarded for their work
• Engage our leadership, membership, and partner organizations in our efforts with the goal of lasting, systemic change
• Embrace and encourage diversity in our ranks while avoiding tokenism and patronization
• Address microaggressions at our conferences, journals, and other community platforms 
• Use our platforms (conferences, communications, and more) to expose unspoken prejudices woven throughout the research enterprise
• Confront and reckon with the history of White supremacy in our field and the ways eugenics and genetics research have contributed to racism
• Respect and learn from the expertise of academics and practitioners who have dedicated their lives and careers to addressing these problems
• Commit dedicated funds to our efforts
• Include benchmarks for communication, transparency, and accountability

In the short term, this means engaging experts in our planning, dedicating funds to support participation at our conferences by Black scientists and others from underrepresented backgrounds, increasing diversity in our Committees and the nomination pool for Board positions ahead of our 2020 elections, and prioritizing, budgeting, and creating timelines for new programs and initiatives. It means harnessing the energy and ideas of this moment and using them to imagine and implement plans that will outlast the news cycle.

From this starting point, we are working on details of specific actions to undertake in confronting racism in science, including further development of impactful steps we can take. We will report back to the community in three months with an interim progress report, detailing actions taken and actions planned, and again in six months with our 2021 action plan. We welcome your participation and your ideas. To join these efforts or make a suggestion, please contact equityinclusion@genetics-gsa.org. 

Executive Committee, on behalf of the Board of Directors
Denise Montell President
Hugo Bellen Vice-President
Terry Magnuson Immediate Past President
Erika Matunis Secretary
Mike Buszczak Treasurer
Swathi Arur At-Large Director

Executive Director, on behalf of the Society
Tracey DePellegrin

Equity and Inclusion Committee
Noah Whiteman Chair
Derek Applewhite
Andrew Arsham
Gustavo MacIntosh
Shan Meltzer
Alana O’Reilly
Nadia Singh
Sarah Bay Staff Liaison

Note for GSA members: 

We have reopened the nomination site for the 2020 Board of Directors election. We strongly encourage nominations and self-nominations of members of the community who have a demonstrated commitment to advancing equity and inclusion in science. Nominations require only a nominee name, institution, and a brief (optional) explanation for your nomination. You may nominate non-GSA members, but they will have to join GSA if they are chosen to run on the slate for a Board position.

GSA members will be sent their nomination site link on Wednesday, June 17, 2020, and nominations are due by June 30. If you have any questions about nominating, please email society@genetics-gsa.org.

As yet another Black man suffocates under a policeman’s knee, cities burn, and the coronavirus spreads a disproportionate burden of suffering and death to communities of color, we are in a moment that calls for action. It would be heartfelt and true for White scientists like me to say to our colleagues and fellow citizens of color that we hear you, we stand with you, and we want to help make things better. But it would not be enough.

We can and should read the many heartbreaking accounts of innocent Black men like LZ Granderson who have been repeatedly traumatized by encounters with police who regularly mistake them for a fugitive criminal. But it is not enough. It is too easy to conclude that this is someone else’s problem, a problem between Black men and police.

We can and should read the eloquent words of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar putting current events in the context of the ubiquitous and inescapable racism that permeates this country. “Racism in America is like dust in the air,” he says. “It seems invisible — even if you’re choking on it — until you let the sun in. Then you see it’s everywhere. As long as we keep shining that light, we have a chance of cleaning it wherever it lands.”

Acknowledging pervasive racism gets us closer, but it is still not enough. Only when White people understand our own complicity in the system that holds people of color in this country down, can we really begin to change course. I learned this truth by reading the book “White Fragility,” and I urge you to read it too. The author, Robin DiAngelo, opened my mind to an idea that was and still is abhorrent to me: I have come to realize that I, as a White person, was born into privileges that have propelled me upward at someone else’s expense. More cutting still, I have perpetuated racism in this country—albeit unconsciously—by accepting those privileges. Once we truly and deeply understand these facts, it becomes unbearable not to act.

This moment is a call to each one of us to take action against the institutional racism and inequality that are woven into the very fabric of our society. It is not enough to watch and comment from the sidelines as people revolt against the outrageous murder of George Floyd—and so many before him. This is not just a problem caused by racist and overly zealous police officers and their enablers. This is not someone else’s problem. Racism is everyone’s problem.

So what can we do? We can start by listening to our colleagues to uncover the racism in academia that is hiding in plain sight. We can learn what they experience. We can begin every lab meeting with a statement of commitment to a more just and equal lab, society, and world. We can acknowledge painful ongoing events that may be affecting some of us more directly than others. We can educate ourselves about movements for racial justice. I am sure there is much more we can do. I am just a beginning student in this endeavor. But it has become unbearable not to act.

This week the GSA Board of Directors will be discussing what actions the Society should take to confront racism within scientific communities. While acknowledging the historical role genetics and geneticists have played in promoting racist thinking and actions, we hope going forward to provide support for Black scientists and all others affected by racism in science. With the help of the GSA Equity and Inclusion Committee, we will provide an update on our ideas and plans within the next two weeks. In the meantime, we welcome your feedback and suggestions via email: society@genetics-gsa.org.

Read more: GSA’s commitment to dismantling racism in science: building a plan for sustained action