Today marks the end of Black History Month. This year's theme, Black Health and Wellness, was especially timely as we enter the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, which we know disproportionately affects people from the global majority. As we close out Black History Month, we want to highlight some of the posts that we shared on our social media accounts this month.
We will continue to celebrate Black history every day because Black history is American history.
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Supporting Our Research & Policy Teams
Congratulations to Dr. Paul Shafer and colleagues for their recent JAMA Network Open publication: ‘Association of the Implementation of Child Tax Credit Advance Payments With Food Insufficiency in US Households’.
As their new cross-sectional study demonstrates, using repeated surveys of a nationally representative sample of U.S. households, the introduction of advance payments for the Child Tax Credit was associated with a significant reduction in household food insufficiency of approximately 26%.
The paper is the first peer-reviewed study to establish how the advance Child Tax Credit payments acted as a buffer against food insufficiency among households with children. This buffer was especially important for Black and Hispanic families, as the study authors found that, “non-Hispanic Asian and White individuals consistently reported the lowest rates of household food insufficiency, while non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic, and all other individuals reported rates higher than the national mean.”
The federal pandemic benefit, which provided the majority of American households with an extra $250-$300 per month, expired on December 31, and now experts worry low-income families will struggle to afford adequate food and other necessities.
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The outreach and advocacy work for this research was supported by the BU Center for Research through our Research & Policy Teams and our Racial Data Lab. Applications for the 2022 Research & Policy Teams will be accepted beginning March 1, 2022.
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Collecting & Featuring COVID Stories
The COVID Racial Data Tracker has shown that people of color are disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, but the data alone doesn’t tell the whole story. To drive change, we’re collecting and featuring videos, photos, and essays from people of color about how COVID-19 has affected their lives and loved ones.
Our most recent story is from Lorilei. As an immigration attorney during COVID-19, Lorilei's goal was to "get people out of detention centers before COVID-19 hit and they began dying. It was not a question of if. It was only a matter of when."
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Photo credit: Nathan Dumlau
Highlighting Antiracist Initiatives at BU
The BU School of Social Work launched a 3-part online course, “Understanding Structural & Institutional Racism” on Tuesday, February 8th. In this course, you can learn about how social workers (and everyone else) can dismantle structural and institutional racism in the U.S. and help build an antiracist world. The course is free and available to the public.
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Using Your Scholarship to Influence Social Change
Join BU Diversity & Inclusion and the Center for Antiracist Research on Tuesday, March 22, 1-2 pm for a conversation with Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, who will share insights into using research and scholarship to catalyze social change, spark new conversations, and promote innovation. Dr. Kendi will be joined by Dean of BU Law School, Dr. Angela Onwuachi-Willig.
This program is open to all BU faculty, staff, and graduate students and was designed especially for BU faculty who seek to influence social change through their scholarship.
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The Panola Project Screens at Sundance Festival
The Panola Project, a short documentary film created by Rachael DeCruz, Associate Director of Advocacy, and her partner, Jeremy S. Levine, screened at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.
The Panola Project illuminates how an often-overlooked rural Black community came together in creative ways to survive – highlighting the heroic efforts of Dorothy Oliver to keep her small town of Panola, Alabama, safe from COVID-19. Dorothy runs a makeshift vaccine coordination center from the convenience store she runs out of a mobile home. Today, nearly 99% of adults in her town have received the shot in a state with one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country.
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Dr. Monica Wang Featured in Research on Tap
In the midst of the current COVID-19 pandemic, dealing with health misinformation has become a part of our daily lives and has highlighted the importance of conducting research in this area. At this Research on Tap, attendees heard from BU faculty across a broad range of disciplines, including computer science, communication, and public health, discuss their research on better understanding and mitigating health misinformation.
One of the featured speakers was Dr. Monica Wang, the Associate Director of Narrative at the Center for Antiracist Research. Dr. Wang is also an Associate Professor of Community Health Sciences at the BU School of Public Health and an Adjunct Associate Professor of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
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Photo credit: Chris Montgomery
Inaugural Affiliates Program Networking Event
The Center for Antiracist Research hosted our Inaugural Affiliates Program Networking Event on Wednesday, January 19th. Together, scholars from ranging fields and research methodologies collaboratively envisioned concrete plans for the Affiliates Program. Center colleagues and scholars had the opportunity to initiate relationship-building and explore strategies for future collaborations and interdisciplinary engagement.
Around 80 Affiliates and staff joined the virtual networking session. In his opening remarks, Center Founder & Director Dr. Ibram X. Kendi highlighted the importance of creating spaces for antiracist scholars to convene and co-create. He also noted the critical need of interdisciplinary scholarship to advance the work of dismantling racism.
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If you are interested in becoming a Center Affiliate, apply here (upcoming application period March 1 – April 1).
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DAC Fellowship Program Q&A Sessions
The new Designing Antiracism Curricula (DAC) Fellowship Program, sponsored by the Center, BU Diversity & Inclusion (BU D&I), and the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL), held two Q&A sessions in February. The event recordings are available upon request. This program will bring together an initial cohort of Boston University educators in AY 22-23 to focus on the development of antiracism undergraduate and graduate courses.
Applications are due March 14, 2022. All Boston University faculty are encouraged to apply.
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Meet Our Team
The BU Center for Antiracist Research plans to effect real change upon the lingering problem of racial inequity and injustice. Each month, we will highlight a member of our team. For February, we'd like to introduce you to Dr. Elaine Nsoesie, Assistant Director of Research.
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Join Our Team
We are growing! If you are passionate about antiracism and dedicated to our mission, we want to work with you! Check out some of our open roles below:
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Photo credit: Nathan Dumlao
Donors who give to the Center are the very foundation of our work to educate, empower, and bring about an antiracist society. Please support us in this essential mission!
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