This week, in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, Graycen and Alison share some ways to donate money, recommend some podcasts by Black creators, recommend some books and poetry from Black writers, and finally share a science story about how proactive policing does not decrease crime. Stay safe & do good!
Donate if you can:
- Bail funds collections – city specific (make sure they’re legit) or National Bail Fund
- NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
- Black Lives Matter Global Network
Science podcasts by and/or for Black scientists:
- Dope Labs, hosted by Dr. Titi Shodiya & Dr. Zakiya Whatley (Self-described as being a podcast about the intersection between science and trash on the internet. Webby-nominated for their fifth episode!)
- Her Royal Science, hosted by Dr. Asma Bashir (Interviews about diverse experiences in STEM)
- STEMpowered Women, hosted by Brittany A.J. Mariki (Interviews with Black women and other women of color about their experiences in STEM)
Science connecting reading and empathy plus some book & poetry recs:
- Does reading fiction make us better people? BBC
- The relationship between fiction and empathy Stansfield et al
- Or this review from Dan R. Johnson
- Classics: Toni Morrison, Ralph Ellison, Maya Angelou, Octavia Butler
- Modern: Danez Smith (poetry), NK Jemisin, Kiley Reid, Colson Whitehead, Bernadine Evaristo, Brandon Taylor, Marlon James, Zadie Smith
- DO NOT BUY FROM AMAZON – buy from bookshop.org and support a local or Black-owned bookstore
A study about how aggressive policing doesn’t lower the occurrence of major crimes and may in fact increase it:
- Research paper, Christopher M. Sullivan and Zachary P. O’Keeffe, Nature Human Behaviour. 2017.
- Bonus reading: the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment by Philip Zimbardo, which shows that average people make for abusive cops. To have power over someone else’s right to live is to abuse it. Defund the police.
Buffs Talk Science 