06/04/2020

The Society for Scholarly Publishing Joins in Making a Statement Against Racism

The organization reaffirmed its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion

On May 25, 2020, a 46-year-old African American man was held down by the knee of a Minneapolis police officer for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, while three other officers stood by. A teenager made the decision to capture the moment with her mobile phone. The man, George Floyd, died and the officers ended their shifts and went home.

The video, however, remained focused on the scene and has come to mean different things to different people. The lack of accountability of the officers’ actions was yet another painful reminder to African Americans that “for young men of color, police use of force is among the leading causes of death.” For so many others, throughout the world, it was the horn that finally blew loud enough to get their attention that something in this country is systemically broken.

As the world erupted in protest, universities, commercial companies and societies have issued statements of support acknowledging that there is work to be done. While there is no way to predict that these unified voices will fix this entrenched historical flaw in the United States, they serve the purpose in letting those suppressed know that they do not stand alone, their cries of injustice and racism have been heard.

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Scholarly Kitchen.