Educating Researchers on Oppressive Systems in Scientific Research

We are pushing to introduce a course on the influence of power and oppression on scientific research. The aim is to make this required subject matter for students pursuing a Ph.D. in statistics at Colorado State University.

Letter from Birmingham Jail

By Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., 16 April, 1963

First, I must confess that over the last few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Council-er or the Ku Klux Klanner,

but the white moderate who is more devoted to “order” than to justice;

who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice;

who constantly says “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can’t agree with your methods of direct action;”

who paternalistically feels he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom;

who lives by the myth of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a “more convenient season.”

Shallow understanding from people of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.