Aug 17, 2021 01:59 AM
(This post was last modified: Aug 17, 2021 02:40 AM by C C.)
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opini...-ignorance
EXCERPT: . . . Last summer, Change–Now presented a 17-page list of demands to the Fermilab Directorate. It claimed that "anti-Black racism and other elements of white supremacy ... are embedded within structures at Fermilab." They envision a new Fermilab "that prioritizes humanity over productivity."
Herman White, a tenured black physicist who worked at Fermilab from 1971 to 2019, questions this perception: “If they’re saying African Americans aren’t welcome [at Fermilab], then I disagree. I grew up in the 1950s and 1960s in Tuskegee, Alabama, and people shot at our houses to stop us from integrating.” White’s account of his experience at Fermilab bears no resemblance to the white supremacist dystopia Change–Now describes.
Among their demands, they ask that black scientists be paid for voluntary social justice work. They want the activism of Fermilab employees to be funded by the government. They demand the absurd: "We call for hiring Black people into scientific and leadership positions in the laboratory to produce full representation (15%) within three years ... [but] they cannot all be cis-hetero Black men."
Fermilab employs 298 scientists. The most granular data says that 3.8% are either black or Latino, so probably around 1% are black. To attain a 15-fold increase, Fermilab would have to hire dozens of black scientists. Even if diversity was the sole goal in hiring, 15% representation within three years would be impossible: On average, black people receive only nine Ph.D.s in physics each year. The number of new noncis-hetero black male physicists doubtless averages fewer than one a year. Because black people earn 1% of physics Ph.D.s, the demographics of Fermilab scientists reflect the demographics of those qualified for the job.
Their ideology distorts reality to find racism everywhere. During the riots last summer, Fermilab urged its employees to "reject racism and lack of inclusion.' It also wrote that there is a "spectrum of views on these events represented at the lab, and all thoughtful and constructive views should be respected."
Predictably, Change–Now condemned the statement as "racist, insensitive, and harmful." It is racist, they write, to suggest that hiring black scientists would benefit the lab, as it contributes to the 'commodification of Blackness."
[...] Nigel Lockyer, director of Fermilab, took this personal insult in stride. He said he was "disappointed" in the response of Change–Now. Unfazed by the willful misrepresentation of his words and the incoherence of the response, Lockyer succumbed without a fight... (MORE - details)
EXCERPT: . . . Last summer, Change–Now presented a 17-page list of demands to the Fermilab Directorate. It claimed that "anti-Black racism and other elements of white supremacy ... are embedded within structures at Fermilab." They envision a new Fermilab "that prioritizes humanity over productivity."
Herman White, a tenured black physicist who worked at Fermilab from 1971 to 2019, questions this perception: “If they’re saying African Americans aren’t welcome [at Fermilab], then I disagree. I grew up in the 1950s and 1960s in Tuskegee, Alabama, and people shot at our houses to stop us from integrating.” White’s account of his experience at Fermilab bears no resemblance to the white supremacist dystopia Change–Now describes.
Among their demands, they ask that black scientists be paid for voluntary social justice work. They want the activism of Fermilab employees to be funded by the government. They demand the absurd: "We call for hiring Black people into scientific and leadership positions in the laboratory to produce full representation (15%) within three years ... [but] they cannot all be cis-hetero Black men."
Fermilab employs 298 scientists. The most granular data says that 3.8% are either black or Latino, so probably around 1% are black. To attain a 15-fold increase, Fermilab would have to hire dozens of black scientists. Even if diversity was the sole goal in hiring, 15% representation within three years would be impossible: On average, black people receive only nine Ph.D.s in physics each year. The number of new noncis-hetero black male physicists doubtless averages fewer than one a year. Because black people earn 1% of physics Ph.D.s, the demographics of Fermilab scientists reflect the demographics of those qualified for the job.
Their ideology distorts reality to find racism everywhere. During the riots last summer, Fermilab urged its employees to "reject racism and lack of inclusion.' It also wrote that there is a "spectrum of views on these events represented at the lab, and all thoughtful and constructive views should be respected."
Predictably, Change–Now condemned the statement as "racist, insensitive, and harmful." It is racist, they write, to suggest that hiring black scientists would benefit the lab, as it contributes to the 'commodification of Blackness."
[...] Nigel Lockyer, director of Fermilab, took this personal insult in stride. He said he was "disappointed" in the response of Change–Now. Unfazed by the willful misrepresentation of his words and the incoherence of the response, Lockyer succumbed without a fight... (MORE - details)