3/9/2025
I went to the Stand Up for Science NYC protest. I expected it to be more critical than 2017's March for Science in the small, majority white city I was living in at the time. In 2017, a bunch of us BIPOC wrangled with the local march's white organizers about acknowledging the need for scientists to repair the harm that science has caused in BIPOC communities and to recognize that there are very legitimate reasons why our communities can be suspicious of "science."
This critical view of science helps clarify that the current administration isn't "anti-science" per se. That was a popular sentiment at the protest, and it's also out there in liberal news and social media, etc. It's silly to use messaging like "without science we'd still be living in caves" and not recognize that without science we also wouldn't have the climate crisis.
Elon Musk, obviously, is a huge science nerd. These fascists are not against science in general, but against science and any kind of intellectual inquiry as a public, not-for-profit good that benefits everyone and can be practiced by anyone. We need messaging and action about science and scientific research that reaches beyond common sense like "science = progress" and "science = facts," illuminates the power relations that are at stake in science, and makes vivid a vision of science that is reparative, regenerative, and just.