Forward Together Breakout Session: Race and Racial Justice

Panelists discussed current research on race and racial justice, and explored how elements of various faith traditions, combined with cutting edge science, can provide resources and tools for communities. DoSER's 25th Anniversary, June 2021.

This session was hosted as part of the 2021 virtual 25th Anniversary event, “Forward Together: Where Science, Ethics, and Religion Intersect in a Changing World.

Race is a social construct, yet has real impacts on our biology as individuals and on communities. Just as science has been responsible for creating and perpetuating harmful conceptions of race, the processes of science can help us understand the complexities of human diversity and address the structures of history, politics, culture, economics, and health that underlie racial divisions. This session explored race from a scientific perspective, as well as the the role that religion and faith communities have played in both perpetuating racism and in fostering racial justice.

 

How has this dialogue changed our understanding on race and racial justice, and what does the future hold?

Forward Together, June 2021

Speakers and Moderator

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Elonda Clay, Director of the Library, Methodist Theological School of Ohio (MTSO)

Elonda Clay is the Director of the Library at the Methodist Theological School in Ohio. She is principal administrator and co-lead of a 2021-2022 AAAS/DoSer Science for Seminaries grant, “Questioning Science with Good Faith”. Clay is a scholar of religion and PhD candidate in Theology and Religious Studies at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands. Her work has been supported by the American Society for Human Genetics, the Forum for Theological Education, the John Templeton Foundation, the Andrew Mellon Foundation, the United Methodist Women of Color, GreenFaith Coalition for the Environment, and Forschungsinstitut für Philosophie Hannover (Research Institute for Philosophy Hannover, Germany).

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Terence Keel, Associate Professor, Department of African American Studies and the UCLA Institute for Society & Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles

Dr. Terence Keel is an Associate Professor with a split appointment in the Department of African American Studies and the UCLA Institute for Society and Genetics. He has written widely about American biomedical science, religion, law, and modern thought. Keel previously taught at UC Santa Barbara, where he served as Vice Chair to the Department of History and was the first Black Studies Professor to receive the Harold J. Plous Award—the highest honor given to a junior faculty member in recognition for exceptional scholarship and teaching. He is an affiliate of the newly formed Center for the Study of Racism, Social Justice & Health under the directorship of Dr. Chandra Ford of the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. Keel is also a senior advisor to the Goldin Institute, a Chicago based non-profit organization that advocates globally for grassroots leadership, conflict resolution, poverty alleviation and environmental sustainability.

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Shirley Malcom, Senior Advisor and Director, SEA Change, AAAS

Dr. Shirley Malcom is senior advisor at AAAS and director of the AAAS SEA Change program. In her more than 40-year tenure at the Association, she has worked to improve the quality and increase access to education and careers in STEM as well as to enhance public science literacy. Malcom is a former member of the National Science Board, the policymaking body of the U.S. National Science Foundation, and served on President Clinton’s Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology. She received her PhD in ecology from the Pennsylvania State University, masters in zoology from UCLA, and bachelor’s with distinction in zoology from the University of Washington. Malcom is a former high school science teacher and university faculty member. She serves on the boards of the Heinz Endowments, Public Agenda, National Math-Science Initiative and Digital Promise Global. In 2003, Malcom received the Public Welfare Medal of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the highest award given by the Academy.

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