I found this an interesting read, an Op-Ed by Kavin Senapathy.
At a moment when racist pseudoscience is making a disturbing comeback, skeptics shouldn’t shy away from talking about race — and we can’t afford to overlook the white privilege among our own ranks.
Meanwhile, scientific racism — the idea that there are biological differences between so-called races, often paired with a notion that the white race possesses superior intellect — has made a disturbing comeback, in tandem with the resurgence of white nationalist groups. This revival of racist pseudoscience has prompted widespread alarm in the scientific community, including a 2018 statement from the American Society of Human Genetics that denounced attempts to use genetics to “bolster bogus claims of white supremacy.”
Two years ago, in an inept attempt to address the issue, CFI published a special issue of Skeptical Inquirer: “A Skeptic’s Guide to Racism.” The issue, penned exclusively by white men, demonstrated CFI leadership’s woefully shallow grasp of how racism works.
Add to that, Kavin mentioned Steven Pinkard didn’t mention the lack of diversity at CFI. There’s two mistakes there. White men really shouldn’t be writing articles on racism, at least not without a minority as part of the writing of the article and with alleged lack of diversity that would make writing such an article even worse, IMO. I do think CFI is getting better in that the face of humanism, skepticism, and free inquiry isn’t just a bunch of old white hair men anymore. CFI is including women more, like Julia Sweeney, but minorities are another thing.
The Board’s response revealed a stunted view of the issues it purports to hold dear. CFI’s core mission is “the challenging of pseudoscience both in general and in its role in the making of public policy,” the Board wrote. “Where issues are the direct product of religious or pseudoscientific prejudice, such as LGBTQ rights, reproductive health, and climate change denial, CFI has a public role to play,” it added, omitting any mention of racial injustices fed by racist pseudoscience.
This brings up an interesting question, especially in light of Black History Month… Why not racial injustices too?
Despite my differences with CFI, I still believe that the skeptics movement can be a force against white supremacy. Done well, skepticism is “nothing very esoteric” yet a “burden” — as Sagan put it — of arming ourselves with the “elementary intellectual tools to ask searching questions of those nominally in charge.” Questions pertaining to race shouldn’t be an exception to that rule. If we skeptics refuse to contextualize issues in terms of race and other demographics, it will only hinder our efforts to address other forms of pseudoscience. For instance, underlying some groups’ distrust of the medical establishment is a fraught history of racial, gender, and class disparities. Acknowledging that history is essential to changing attitudes toward vaccines — a cause that CFI and the broader skeptics community have championed for years. Indeed, the exploitation of racial minorities’ anxieties by anti-vaccine groups has become a matter of growing concern.Racism is among the most pressing pseudoscientific threats of our time. But it can be deceptive, masquerading as mere inquisitiveness and even helplessness. The most insidious white supremacy doesn’t carry tiki torches of festering hatred. It comes from well-meaning people who nevertheless uphold power structures with whiteness at the top. It’s woven into the very fabric of America and its institutions.
I don’t think any institution is immune from questioning issues concerning race and if they are discriminating or are diverse.