Unbend the spirit of science
New research reveals racial profiling among scientists of Chinese descent and the consequences for the US scientific community
In the US, Anti-Asian hate crimes have risen dramatically over the past two years. From March 2020 to September 2021, a total of 10,370 hate incidents against Asian American and Pacific Islanders were reported by the group Stop AAPI Hate, which tracks cases. And these are only the cases that are reported.
Researchers in the Asian American and Pacific Islander community are continually confronted by racial disparities despite processes and declarations that scientists have put into place to keep their work bias-free, including being transparent and disclosing all conflicts of interest from any sources that would inhibit unbiased results.
Much of the problem is that racial biases are embedded in our institutions. Structural or systemic racism, as referred to by sociologists, is the concept that institutional policies and practices are based on a set of assumptions that inherently disadvantages communities of color. But recent US government policies have created a challenging environment for scientists of Chinese descent.