ISE Actions to Address Systemic Racism

The faculty, staff, and students at the Boston University Institute for Sustainable Energy are devastated by the most recent murders of Black Americans. They shine a searing spotlight on the deep changes needed to address systemic racism and to promote healing and change in our communities. The ISE will support these changes in every aspect of our work, and we stand in solidarity with all those acting nonviolently for change, including Black Lives Matter and today’s ShutDownSTEM/Academia actions.

In the Social Equity Report for Carbon Free Boston we described ways that the City can reach its climate action goals while improving the lives of all Bostonians. But that is not enough. We will redouble our efforts to ensure that the plan for Boston University’s sustainability research does more to advance opportunity for Black Americans and for all socially vulnerable populations. That will be our work today, and after the protesting crowds have dissipated and the media turns its attention elsewhere. We look forward to working with our new colleague Ibram X. Kendi in Boston University’s Center for Antiracist Research, and with others across the University who commit to the promotion of the equality of opportunity, and to the elevation of the interests of the least advantaged members of society.