2020 brought more than just a global pandemic. It brought social unrest across the United States and beyond, as more and more racial policing disparities came to light. As John Sall said in several 2020 divisionwide meetings, we are in a time of racial reckoning. He joined other corporate leaders who stood up for equality in policing, in the workplace, in the world, when he affirmed that Black lives matter.
Racial disparities persist across the globe...in our own communities, in own industry, in our own company and in our customers’ companies. In a LinkedIn post, a LinkedIn post. Jim Goodnight said a 2020 Harnham survey of people working in data and analytics found that only 3 percent self-identify as Black. “We must break down barriers and build bridges between underrepresented populations and these opportunities,” he said.
Among the policies and practices put into place to further diversify SAS’ employee base is an effort to recruit from Historically Black Colleges and Universities, which account for more than one-third of all Black STEM degree earners and produce 42% of Black engineers, including more than 47% of Black women engineers.
For 2020’s Black History Month, we aim to share additional policies and practices put into place, while also celebrating some historical achievements of Black scientists, engineers and data explorers. You’ll find those stories here on InsideJMP and on JMP’s external social media channels when we have permission.
We’ll also celebrate history in the making, as SAS staffers and others in the Black community share their stories with us.
Come back to InsideJMP every day this month, and we’ll do our best to give you something to read, something to think about, and something to explore. By becoming more aware of the inequities around us, we have much to gain. And we have much more to gain by eliminating those inequities. As Dr. Goodnight said, “Increased diversity will make our industry better than we are today.”
RTP NSBE has immediate needs for these roles ... Can You Please Help?!
https://www.yammer.com/sas.com/#/threads/show?threadId=1062292558340096
Great opportunity to get involved and help the National Society of Black Engineers
I second Diana's encouragement to join the BIG (Black Initiatives Group) Friday calls. I've been attending for a while now, and they are excellent.
I also suggest checking out what IBM is doing for Black History Month.
Awesome video shared by the Town of Cary of famous Black inventors- https://youtu.be/JcsD3Bzux4o
Great article Diana!
Here are a few additional links to share in celebration of Black History Month :
JMP Blog : Jon Schwabish
https://community.jmp.com/t5/JMP-Blog/Jon-Schwabish-on-applying-racial-equity-awareness-in-data/ba-p/309048
Museums and Exhibits :
https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/exhibitions
https://lewismuseum.pastperfectonline.com/
IBM :
https://newsroom.ibm.com/black-history-month
Black History Month | PBS
https://www.pbs.org/education/blog/ten-black-scientists-that-science-teachers-should-know-about-and-free-resources
#BlackHistoryMonth#JMP
Thank you,
Excellent article and comments--thank you!
