Let’s Talk Race and Racism (October)

The St. Louis Section of the American Chemical Society's Committee on Minority Affairs (CMA) has launched a new podcast listening series “Let’s Talk Race and Racism.” The series is designed to engage ACS members and the broader St. Louis community at large around fostering togetherness, developing shared language, and building comfort and courage to better discuss race and racism. The goal is to help people understand how to take personal action to build their own race consciousness and to move toward a more diverse and inclusive local section in response to many national conversations such as #BlackoutSTEM and in response to the cries for justice for the loss of unarmed Black lives.

In October, the group will be listening to an episode of the podcast Unlocking Us by sociologist Brené Brown. Dr. Brené Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston where she holds the Huffington Foundation – Brené Brown Endowed Chair at The Graduate College of Social Work. Brown states, “I’ve spent over 20 years studying the emotions and experiences that bring meaning and purpose to our lives, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s this: We are hardwired for connection and connecting requires courage, vulnerability, and conversation.” This month’s theme will be centered around Kendi X. Ibram, the best-selling author of the book “How to Be an Antiracist,” and his definition of “anti-racist.” All members and the community should come prepared to listen, learn, engage, be uncomfortable, and possibly abandon their own ideas for new ones as they hear vulnerable conversations from primarily people of color.