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18 Responses to “#ShutDownSTEM & #ShutDownAcademia”
Of course black lives matter and of course George Floyd was murdered – the videos make that obvious. As I regard capital punishment as the appropriate penalty for murder, I hope it will be enacted in this case. I’m less sure what this crime has to do with the UK and Ireland, and if I were studying a STEM subject and found my lectures suspended I would be uneasy on the grounds that if every lecturer took time off to protest about every cause they felt strongly about, what work would get done?
As I deplore racism I find offensive the implication at the first weblink that the view expressed in my preceding sentence would make me part of the problem.
Race, of course, has little to do with skin colour, for there is far greater genetic diversity in Africa than in the rest of the world combined (presumably because a subset of the African population left that continent to populate the rest of the world).
Floyd’s murderer has been charged only with Third Degree Murder which carries a maximum sentence of 25 years.
The protests against institutional racism, though initiated by the death of George Floyd in the USA, are international because the problem is international.
Of course lectures weren’t happening today anyway.
Oh yes, you’re right. He was originally charged with third degree murder. I remembered because that’s unusual (most states don’t have it). But I forgot the charge was increased. Still doesn’t attract a death sentence though (max 40 years). Actually in Minnesota there is no death penalty even for first degree murder.
Institutions consist of people. People may or may not be racist. If an institution that one is part of has made a decision that one believes is racist then that decision should be challenged. I think it is important to be specific rather than talk about institutional racism.
The murder charge against Chauvin has been upgraded from third degree to second degree, which in Minnesota carries a maximum sentence of 40 years (can be up to life imprisonment in some states, but no death penalty). If by some chance the Federal government decides to charge Chauvin with civil rights violations (hate crime here) — very questionable in Trump’s administration, IMO — punishment could be worse for him.
Clearly, finding the best set of charges to pursue is a tightrope act in a case like this. If too conservative, the all-important perception is undeserved leniency and there is much anger on the streets. If charged too aggressively, the prosecution has a difficult time convincing the jury to convict and easily fails, probably causing far more anger on the streets. We’ve seen that movie before… I really hope the latter won’t happen in the Floyd case: I can’t guess how vicious the reaction will be if he ends up acquitted of serious crimes.
Agreed; that should be a straightforward conviction, and it is something. But I think the public as a whole is looking for a murder conviction, and many would see manslaughter-only as undeserved exoneration. Hopefully proper justice will prevail.
I think this speech by Frederick Douglass, a slave who escaped to America’s northern states and freedom in 1838, made at the end of a tour of Britain and Ireland a decade later, is worth reading.
Which gives the lie to Johnson’s comments that Britain is a much less racist country than it used to be. Sure you can go back in history and find times when it was worse, the height of the slave trade for example, or the 1980s and the era of the monkey chants on the football terraces, but for most of history Britain has been a far more tolerant country than it is now.
It is true that trade unions have not necessarily been the most tolerant and inclusive of institutions. Some unions and in particular dockers went on strike in support of Powell, there is an article by Fred Lindop of the University of Greenwich about this, but most of it is behind a paywall. I think that these were a minority though. Currently the BNP have their own trade union, called Solidarity. It seems to have 204 members. Mostly the trade unions have been a progressive force for tolerance and integration.
Racism and intolerance are much more ingrained in the “upper” echelons of society.
Peter that leaflet is quite well known, but it was disavowed by the tory candidates in constituencies where it circulated (in 1970). More likely the work of some far right fringe group. The misspellings don’t point to a mainstream political party.
I agree with your last sentence, but I’m not sure about the novelty value argument. It is more likely to be the other way round; in retrospect I probably had a poor attitude to race until at age 12 I met a few people of other races at school and realised that they were just the same. How one grows up is very important.
The hot topic in all this is not multiracialism but multiculturalism, and it is hot for two reasons: it correlates (non-causatively) with multiracialism; and I believe that all cultures are not equal. Economic migrants certainly agree with me.
In the Dark 
June 10, 2020 at 2:57 pm
Of course black lives matter and of course George Floyd was murdered – the videos make that obvious. As I regard capital punishment as the appropriate penalty for murder, I hope it will be enacted in this case. I’m less sure what this crime has to do with the UK and Ireland, and if I were studying a STEM subject and found my lectures suspended I would be uneasy on the grounds that if every lecturer took time off to protest about every cause they felt strongly about, what work would get done?
As I deplore racism I find offensive the implication at the first weblink that the view expressed in my preceding sentence would make me part of the problem.
June 10, 2020 at 8:02 pm
Race, of course, has little to do with skin colour, for there is far greater genetic diversity in Africa than in the rest of the world combined (presumably because a subset of the African population left that continent to populate the rest of the world).
June 10, 2020 at 8:55 pm
Floyd’s murderer has been charged only with Third Degree Murder which carries a maximum sentence of 25 years.
The protests against institutional racism, though initiated by the death of George Floyd in the USA, are international because the problem is international.
Of course lectures weren’t happening today anyway.
June 10, 2020 at 9:37 pm
He has been charged with second degree murder.
June 10, 2020 at 9:44 pm
Oh yes, you’re right. He was originally charged with third degree murder. I remembered because that’s unusual (most states don’t have it). But I forgot the charge was increased. Still doesn’t attract a death sentence though (max 40 years). Actually in Minnesota there is no death penalty even for first degree murder.
June 10, 2020 at 9:56 pm
Institutions consist of people. People may or may not be racist. If an institution that one is part of has made a decision that one believes is racist then that decision should be challenged. I think it is important to be specific rather than talk about institutional racism.
June 10, 2020 at 9:56 pm
The murder charge against Chauvin has been upgraded from third degree to second degree, which in Minnesota carries a maximum sentence of 40 years (can be up to life imprisonment in some states, but no death penalty). If by some chance the Federal government decides to charge Chauvin with civil rights violations (hate crime here) — very questionable in Trump’s administration, IMO — punishment could be worse for him.
Clearly, finding the best set of charges to pursue is a tightrope act in a case like this. If too conservative, the all-important perception is undeserved leniency and there is much anger on the streets. If charged too aggressively, the prosecution has a difficult time convincing the jury to convict and easily fails, probably causing far more anger on the streets. We’ve seen that movie before… I really hope the latter won’t happen in the Floyd case: I can’t guess how vicious the reaction will be if he ends up acquitted of serious crimes.
June 10, 2020 at 9:58 pm
I believe there is also a manslaughter charge in case the jury won’t convict on murder.
June 10, 2020 at 10:12 pm
Agreed; that should be a straightforward conviction, and it is something. But I think the public as a whole is looking for a murder conviction, and many would see manslaughter-only as undeserved exoneration. Hopefully proper justice will prevail.
June 11, 2020 at 10:10 pm
I think this speech by Frederick Douglass, a slave who escaped to America’s northern states and freedom in 1838, made at the end of a tour of Britain and Ireland a decade later, is worth reading.
https://rbscp.lib.rochester.edu/4395
Douglass recounts the absence of racism he encountered in these islands. If it is so much worse today, why might that be?
June 12, 2020 at 9:13 am
Which gives the lie to Johnson’s comments that Britain is a much less racist country than it used to be. Sure you can go back in history and find times when it was worse, the height of the slave trade for example, or the 1980s and the era of the monkey chants on the football terraces, but for most of history Britain has been a far more tolerant country than it is now.
June 12, 2020 at 10:28 am
Perhaps the Trade Unions played the race card in warning that the Windrush migrants would take away jobs from the existing population?
June 12, 2020 at 11:33 am
It is true that trade unions have not necessarily been the most tolerant and inclusive of institutions. Some unions and in particular dockers went on strike in support of Powell, there is an article by Fred Lindop of the University of Greenwich about this, but most of it is behind a paywall. I think that these were a minority though. Currently the BNP have their own trade union, called Solidarity. It seems to have 204 members. Mostly the trade unions have been a progressive force for tolerance and integration.
Racism and intolerance are much more ingrained in the “upper” echelons of society.
June 12, 2020 at 2:08 pm
Peter that leaflet is quite well known, but it was disavowed by the tory candidates in constituencies where it circulated (in 1970). More likely the work of some far right fringe group. The misspellings don’t point to a mainstream political party.
June 12, 2020 at 2:09 pm
OK. I stand corrected. I deleted it.
June 14, 2020 at 3:43 pm
I agree with your last sentence, but I’m not sure about the novelty value argument. It is more likely to be the other way round; in retrospect I probably had a poor attitude to race until at age 12 I met a few people of other races at school and realised that they were just the same. How one grows up is very important.
The hot topic in all this is not multiracialism but multiculturalism, and it is hot for two reasons: it correlates (non-causatively) with multiracialism; and I believe that all cultures are not equal. Economic migrants certainly agree with me.
June 15, 2020 at 6:58 pm
That paragraph of mine was written more with the UK than the USA in mind.; we probably agree. (But not about the merits of Pirsig’s writing!)
June 15, 2020 at 8:02 pm
It’s crap.