June 2, 2020

Dear SSE Community,

I am writing to you from my home just 10 km from the site in Minneapolis where police killed George Floyd, the latest in a long series of atrocities against Black Americans. This and other tragic events are set against a backdrop of anxiety, fear, and grief owing to the global Covid-19 pandemic, which has disproportionately affected Black people, Indigenous people, Latinx people, and others in already marginalized groups. The Society for the Study of Evolution mourns these losses and condemns racism, harassment, and discrimination in any form.

To our members in the Black community, we extend our heartfelt sympathy and abiding support at this especially difficult time. To this community, and to all biologists of color: we hear you, and we see you. We will listen to and amplify your voices. We are striving to learn how to do better, and we will continue to work toward inclusion and equity in all of our activities. 

SSE’s mission is to promote the study of evolutionary biology. The scientific core of evolutionary biology is valuing and appreciating biological diversity. Likewise, we welcome, support, and celebrate the diversity of our members. Like many fields of science, the field of evolutionary biology has lacked diversity, with Black people and people of African descent being particularly underrepresented (Graves 2019). Centuries of inequity and racism, suffered severely by Black communities, have resulted in barriers to participation in STEM that we must all work to break down. We promote equity, inclusion, accessibility, and diversity at all levels, and we encourage participation by individuals of all identities. 

We also acknowledge that concepts central to evolutionary biology, especially heredity and natural selection, have historically been misused to justify egregious manifestations of racism, and that even today, co-options of evolutionary biology are being used to support racist ideologies. As evolutionary biologists, we must confront this disinformation.

We encourage the SSE community to recognize, amplify, and celebrate the contributions that Black scientists have made, and continue to make, to the field of biology despite myriad barriers. This week, we have an excellent opportunity to do this. A group of Black biologists, collected under ;@BlackAFInStem on Twitter, started the Black Birders Week initiative, which is highlighting Black birders and naturalists. We wholeheartedly support these efforts and encourage you to follow the conversations and contributors this week on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at #BlackBirdersWeek and #BlackInNature, and to be on the lookout for similar future initiatives.

In the wake of last week’s painful events, I encourage all of us to examine acutely how privilege manifests in our daily lives and our work, to take steps to mitigate the resulting harm, to examine our own tendencies to stereotype, to call out racist or exclusionary statements, and to consider ways to act and provide support. 

In solidarity,



Ruth Shaw
President, Society for the Study of Evolution