Speaking of Race

20/04/2023

No shock to anyone who pays attention!
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-01311-7

The proportion of incarcerated people who were Black or Latino increased during the pandemic, mainly because of sentencing differences.

13/04/2023

Better late than never!

Nature’s updated advice is a small step towards ensuring that research does not inadvertently end up harming under-represented groups.

24/02/2023

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — When Miya Iwataki and other Japanese Americans fought in the 1980s for the U.S. government to apologize to the families it imprisoned during World War II, Black politicians and civil rights leaders were integral to the movement.

17/11/2022

Science finally corrects an unscientific racist mistake:
"Make no mistake. Shockley was a racist. Shockley was a eugenicist. That’s all."
Lesley Jo Weaver Erik Peterson

This week’s issue on the 75th anniversary of the transistor describes a triumph of both basic and applied science. What started out as studies on the fundamental physics of silicon led to the device that makes it possible to read this article online. The ...

12/10/2022

👏It's new episode time! 👏 Annnnnnd we're back with more eugenics: the science and practice of promoting “good breeding” among humans. This time we're looking at the lesser-known origins of the movement and its racist implications today. http://speakingofrace.ua.edu/podcast/eugenics-part-2 Jim Bindon Erik Peterson Lesley Jo Weaver

In this episode we describe some of the early roots of eugenics and Erik describes his three-ingredient model for eugenics.

23/08/2022

And this!

A judge cited the First Amendment – the woke-ist part of the Constitution – in blocking Florida's Stop WOKE Act. But Gov. DeSantis is pressing on.

23/08/2022

Something to think about.

An assault on the very notion of truth and all who seek it

26/07/2022

Saw this in today's paper and it reminded me of the episode we did on redlining (http://speakingofrace.ua.edu/podcast/redlining-health-and-voting).

Thelma Mays couldn’t breathe. On a blaz­ing sum­mer day, she began gasp­ing for air inside her Peters­burg, Vir­ginia, apart­ment, and was forced to call 911. If she’d been able to look out her win­dow to see the ambu­lance pull up at Car­riage House,...

07/07/2022

"Opening the doors to science for everyone requires that faculty learn the most effective methods for teaching a diverse student body. Yes, it’s more work on top of the many other faculty duties, so universities must provide resources to make the adjustments, such as revamping classrooms for active learning, providing time for faculty to redo their curricula, and doing the hard work involved in having the faculty and institution make the cultural changes that students need. And everyone should have more optimism about who can become a scientist."
https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.add7259

The cultural wars raging across the United States have sadly found their way into the world of science. Some university science faculty and administrators are resistant to making changes that would allow more students from underrepresented groups to ...

16/06/2022

From this week's Nature (open access): Racism drives environmental inequality — but most Americans don’t realize
Survey finds that most people think poverty is why pollution disproportionately affects Black people, despite evidence that racism is the major cause.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01283-0

15/06/2022

We tend to forget just how significant and long-lasting the racist side of eugenical sterilization was. This article makes it very personal.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/08/magazine/eugenics-movement-america.html

09/06/2022

But as many of our episodes point out, it's always been an uphill battle!

We are leading Nature on a journey to help decolonize research and forge a path towards restorative justice and reconciliation.

02/06/2022

This ~30 page executive summary of the California Reparations Task Force Interim Report is very interesting reading. Lesley Jo Weaver

26/05/2022

🔥New episode!🔥 This week we talk with Erik Peterson about his new book with Margaret Peacock, A Deeper Sickness. What's race got to do with it? Everything! https://soundcloud.com/user-88955638/a-deeper-sickness

Jim Bindon Lesley Jo Weaver

In this episode we interview Erik Peterson about the book he recently released with fellow historian, Margaret Peacock, about the crazy pandemic year of 2020. Race features prominently throughout! Som

05/05/2022

What are the all-time worst uses of science in the name of racism? Here are our top 5: https://soundcloud.com/user-88955638/top-5-scientific-racisms?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

In this episode we respond to a listener question about our top 5 examples of scientific racism. Unfortunately, in the five years of this podcast, we’ve only discussed two of these people/topics, so w

24/04/2022

We're getting ready to drop our top 5 list of scientific racisms! What/who do you think will be on it?

24/02/2022

Maybe scientific anti-racism?

Efforts to chart and reduce bias in scholarly publishing will ask authors, reviewers and editors to disclose their race or ethnicity.

22/02/2022

Looking for a nice, pithy, intro-level (but very nuanced) summary of the evidence against biological race? Check out Jim Bindon's talk for World Anthropology Day! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEheUWDxAFw

The invited lecture was given by Professor Jim Bindon, Emeritus Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Alabama, the US on 17th February 2022

29/01/2022

Interesting piece discussing the Neanderthals first from the biological perspective, then two segments on Neanderthal culture, and finishing with anti-racist science journalist Angela Saini talking about the co-opting of Neanderthals for racist purposes. Erik Peterson, Lesley Jo Weaver

On Neanderthals: how they lived and how we remember them.

18/01/2022

Eugenics: the science and practice of promoting “good breeding” among humans. An early-20th-century movement so steeped in white supremacy that even some white people don’t count, much less people of color. Here we begin a series with more than you ever wanted to know about the sinister history of eugenics, including mass sterilization campaigns in the US and direct connections to the Holocaust. http://speakingofrace.ua.edu/podcast/eugenics-part-1 Jim Bindon Lesley Jo Weaver

Also available on Spotify

18/11/2021

Interesting suggestion to create oversight panels for correcting this issue that might also apply to the subject of our last episode Race and Ancestry in Forensic Anthropology (http://speakingofrace.ua.edu/podcast/race-and-ancestry-in-forensic-anthropology).
"In our view, research and peer-review practices must change across a broad array of disciplines, from forensic genetics to molecular anthropology. Failure to correct past and ongoing mistakes puts more people at risk of harm from the collection of DNA. It also threatens the reputation of human genetics — and of science in general."

Analysis of how papers and databases are handled and interpreted shows that geneticists in Europe must stamp out unethical research practices at home, not just abroad.

15/11/2021

Just got my e-copy of Racism, Not Race: Answers to frequently asked questions by Joseph L. Graves Jr. and Alan H. Goodman. Can't wait to read it and talk to them about the book for our podcast.
https://cup.columbia.edu/book/racism-not-race/9780231200660

The science on race is clear. Common categories like “Black,” “white,” and “Asian” do not represent genetic differences among groups. But if race... | CUP

16/10/2021

Forensic anthropologists try to identify race or ancestry in human skeletal remains. (How) Does that square with the recognition that race isn't biologically real? Listen on to find out!
http://speakingofrace.ua.edu/podcast/race-and-ancestry-in-forensic-anthropology Erik Peterson Jim Bindon Lesley Jo Weaver

Also available on Spotify

17/09/2021

Four years (and a day) ago, we posted our first substantive episode, an interview with Nina Jablonski, talking about skin color and her efforts towards equity. http://speakingofrace.ua.edu/podcast/a-conversation-about-race-and-skin-color-with-nina-jablonski. We finally got around to our own take on skin color, almost four years later with the history of skin color (http://speakingofrace.ua.edu/podcast/history-of-skin-color) and the continuation of that story (http://speakingofrace.ua.edu/podcast/skin-color-part-2).
We still have more to say about all aspects of race from historic, scientific, and social perspectives, so stay tuned.

Also available on Spotify

01/09/2021

Racial equality is a new idea, right? Wrong! Meet Anténor Firmin, renegade Haitian intellectual of the late 19th century. He traveled all over the world, duked it out with elite scientific racists, hung out with Frederick Douglass, even ran for president -- but was exiled. Twice. On this episode, we discuss the Haitian anthropologist whose work is finally gaining the recognition it deserves, and why you've never heard of him. http://speakingofrace.ua.edu/podcast/antenor-firmin
Erik Peterson Jim Bindon Lesley Jo Weaver

26/07/2021

John Oliver explains how government and industry have collaborated to establish and maintain the 8+ times wealth gap between white and black families in the U.S.

John Oliver breaks down the long history of housing discrimination in the U.S., the damage it’s done, and, crucially, what we can do about it. Connect with L...

17/07/2021

While this guy is funnier than we are (mostly), we also covered Frederick Ludwig Hoffman in our Race and Health Part 1 episode (http://speakingofrace.ua.edu/podcast/race-and-health-part-1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNoc3HWHafQ&list=PL8INwXaRpr51lZMf8-gspYPjRB9WRPB5N&index=9

S1E1 of Skipped History

25/06/2021

Here we finish our discussion of skin color with genetic and evolutionary models proposed throughout the 20th and into the 21st century. Spoiler alert: It's complicated! http://speakingofrace.ua.edu/podcast/skin-color-part-2
Jim Bindon Erik Peterson Lesley Jo Weaver

07/06/2021

There is no nice version of racism! Lesley Jo Weaver

John Oliver discusses the large and diverse group of people who fall under the term “Asian American”, the history of the model minority stereotype, and why o...

27/05/2021

If you’ve been listening to us, you’re not surprised by this.

A study of 20 million children shows the fragility of the American Dream.

23/05/2021

Skin color is probably THE thing we think of when we think about race, but it wasn't always that way. In this episode, we ask: where and when did skin color become the trait most associated with race? There's so much to talk about that we don't quite make it up to the present day--stay tuned for a sequel where we discuss contemporary understandings of skin color, genetics, and race!
http://speakingofrace.ua.edu/podcast/history-of-skin-color

Jim Bindon Erik Peterson Lesley Jo Weaver

20/04/2021

Excellent accessible treatment of whiteness.

The long read: Before the 17th century, people did not think of themselves as belonging to something called the white race. But once the idea was invented, it quickly began to reshape the modern world

12/04/2021

What does it mean to “decolonize” teaching and scholarship? Why would we want to do that? And how? We take on these questions and more in a panel discussion with social scientists and established scholars of race Lance Gravlee, John Lester Jackson Jr, Stephanie McClure, and Yolanda Moses.
http://speakingofrace.ua.edu/podcast/decolonizing
Jim Bindon Lesley Jo Weaver

05/03/2021

Seven minutes worth watching.
https://youtu.be/926PqQUOVOg

“People imagine that people have always thought about skin colour in this racialised way, and we really haven’t.” Is there any biological basis for categoris...

04/03/2021

Here's hoping this takes off. Lesley Jo Weaver

I am proud to join my NIH colleagues today in reaffirming our commitment to fostering a diverse biomedical research workforce and ending structural racism at NIH, the institutions we support, and a…

03/03/2021

Great interview with Iris Clever from University of Chicago. Some old ideas never, ever fade.http://speakingofrace.ua.edu/podcast/pearson-and-morant-biometric-racialism Jim Bindon Lesley Jo Weaver

Also available on Spotify

28/01/2021

http://speakingofrace.ua.edu/podcast/the-morton-gould-controversy
In this episode we talk with Paul Wolff Mitchell at the University of Pennsylvania about Samuel George Morton's 19th-c. skull measurements. Morton used his skull measurements to provide scientific support for polygenism (multiple origins of human races), slavery, and the ranking of races. Mitchell's work in Morton's archives sheds new light on longstanding controversy over Morton’s racist biases. Paul Wolff Mitchell Jim Bindon Lesley Jo Weaver

06/12/2020

Students get mad about what they haven't been taught about our history every time we do the race class. This article addresses some of what they've been misinformed about.

Reading school books that ignored or falsified Black history, many Black Alabamians relied on family and friends for history lessons.

25/11/2020

Our miniseries on race and health (https://soundcloud.com/user-88955638/sets/race-and-health) details why this is so necessary--and overdue.

New policy adopted by AMA’s Special Meeting of its House of Delegates (HOD) recognizes racism as a public health threat.

22/11/2020

New release!! Wanna know how we're thinking about race and caste these days? We review the bestselling 2020 book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson with help from podcast guest Alan Goodman. http://speakingofrace.ua.edu/podcast/caste
Jim Bindon Erik Peterson Lesley Jo Weaver