MAA Blog: Taking Responsibility for Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

By: David Bressoud @dbressoud

David Bressoud is DeWitt Wallace Professor Emeritus at Macalester College and Director of the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences

I live just a few miles from 38th and Chicago—where George Floyd was murdered—and from the Hennepin County Courthouse—where the jury rendered its verdict that Black Lives Matter. I have been aware that Minnesota is among the states with the greatest discrepancies between the economic lives and educational outcomes of its White and Black citizens, yet I have lived in the comfortable delusion that this is a progressive state that is working to equalize opportunities. The events of the past year have exposed the depths of personal and institutional racism here in my home state.

An opinion piece by Samuel Myers that appeared in the New York Times on April 16, “Minnesota is One of the Best Places to Live in America. Unless You’re Black,” accurately identifies the issues, and it holds important implications for the mathematical community that carries much of the same historical blindness as my home state.

As Dr. Myers wrote,

“Many policymakers and most community members in Minnesota see racism as individual bigotry and racial animosity. The good public servants who administer the child welfare programs and disproportionately place Black and Native American children into foster care, for instance, are doing them a favor by providing them with publicly financed child protective services. The hardworking law enforcement officers who routinely stop suspicious drivers with expired tags and an air freshener dangling from the rearview mirror are merely trying to reduce crime and catch criminals. For many Americans, this does not amount to racism because the individual decisions are not motivated by racial animus.”

But it is not enough to believe that one’s actions are not motivated by racial animus. As Dr. Myers explains, Minnesota is living with a history of racial discrimination that has baked racism into our system.

What does this have to do with the mathematical community? Just as I have been oblivious to the true situation here in Minnesota, so I have been blind to the depths of the problem within our mathematical community. Certainly, I was aware that Black mathematicians are underrepresented in recognition and leadership, but I assumed that we were all working in good faith and that we were moving toward equity.

The fact is that racism also lives within our professional community, as revealed in the recent report from the American Mathematical Society (AMS), Towards a Fully Inclusive Mathematics Profession. The report begins with a Preface that recounts the tragic experience of William Claytor (1908–1967), an African-American who received his Ph.D. under the direction of J.R. Kline at the University of Pennsylvania. His first paper appeared in the Annals of Mathematics, but his promising career was aborted by the explicit racism he encountered.

There is a temptation to believe that this is all in the past, but the AMS Task Force report disabuses us of that. We still live with systemic problems in our profession that are reflected in the fact that only 25 of some 2,000 invited speakers at AMS conferences have been Black, only 10 of roughly 1500 AMS Fellows, and only 10 of about 1000 AMS Council members. Beyond just numbers, this report documents racist attitudes, lack of professional respect, and the many microaggressions that impede the success of Black mathematicians.

The AMS report is an important step toward recognizing these problems and beginning to address them. Their definition of the focus of the report is informative,

“For the purposes of our report, we focused on racial discrimination that has occurred due to policies, practices, and actions by the AMS within the mathematical sciences community. In referring to racism or racial discrimination, we were concerned with impact, rather than intent. Note that policies, practices, and actions can be racist—even if unintended—when they create or sustain racial inequity between groups and result in barriers that impact the full participation of all mathematicians. The term systemic racism is often used to refer to embedded policies and practices that produce racial discrimination. Part of the work of the Task Force was to reflect on the possible racist impact of the AMS policies and practices.” (page 6)

The Task Force summarized their Findings in seven bullet points:

Racism is a concern of many mathematicians and leaders of the Society, and the AMS has a role in addressing racism in the profession.
The effects of blatant discrimination in the mathematics community (and in the AMS) since its inception continue to have repercussions today in the development of Black mathematicians, the visibility and perceptions of their work, and the lack of recognition that further hinders their professional advancement.
The AMS has missed several opportunities to improve the professional climate for mathematicians of color.
Black mathematicians suffer from a lack of professional respect and endure microaggressions, even today.
There is a profound lack of trust from Black mathematicians that the AMS represents them, speaks to them, hears them, and includes them in its decision making.
Historically Black Colleges and Universities have an outsized influence on the production and the support of Black mathematicians, and provide outstanding models of successful mentoring.
The history of the AMS has shown that sustained attention to problems has resulted in positive outcomes. Implementing sustainable change is challenging and requires intentionality and continual vigilance.

The Findings are followed by Recommendations. These include designating of one of the AMS Vice-Presidents as having a particular focus on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion and establishing a high-level staff position on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion with an Office/Division of Minority Affairs under its purview. The recommendations call for reforming election and appointment procedures; developing and implementing an engagement plan to welcome the participation of Black mathematicians; creating and supporting programs that further the professional development of mathematicians of color; offering professional development in equity, diversity, and inclusion to AMS elected officials, committee chairs, and departmental leaders; and publicizing the expertise of mathematicians of color. The recommendations conclude with a request for annual updates on the status of these recommendations and an explicit acceptance of “responsibility for not fulfilling the AMS’s own commitment to increasing the participation of mathematicians of color in the profession, including Black mathematicians.”

That George Floyd was murdered by a policeman just a few miles from where I live was a shock. The manner of his death was something I would not have imagined was possible in Minnesota. The good news is that his martyrdom has galvanized an awareness of the systemic racism that permeates our society. I am heartened to see AMS advocate these concrete steps toward addressing it within our own community.

Acknowledgment: I am grateful to Edray Goins for his critique of the initial draft of this column.

References

Innis, T.R., Lewis, W.J., Mitrea, I., Okoudjou, K.A., Salerno, A., Su, F., and Thurston, D. (2021). Towards a Fully Inclusive Mathematics Profession: Report of the Task Force on Understanding and Documenting the Historical Role of the AMS in Racial Discrimination. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society. https://www.ams.org/about-us/Towards-a-Fully-Inclusive-Mathematics-Profession.pdf

Myers, S.L. (2021). Minnesota is one of the best places to live in America. Unless you’re Black: The state’s reputation belies some of the country’s largest racial disparities. The New York Times. April 16, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/16/opinion/sunday/minnesota-racism-daunte-wright.html

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