A call for antiracist action and accountability in the US nuclear community

As part of the ensuing national racial reckoning, institutions within the US nuclear community have issued statements condemning systemic racism. The nuclear community must go beyond acknowledgement alone if it genuinely aims to dismantle long-standing structural inequalities.
A 1945 photo of the “Calutron Girls” of the Y-12 Nuclear Security Complex at Oak Ridge, Tennessee includes only one Black employee, despite the instrumental role of Black women at the facility. The image has been altered to bring focus to her A 1945 photo of the “Calutron Girls” of the Y-12 Nuclear Security Complex at Oak Ridge, Tennessee includes only one Black employee, despite the instrumental role of Black women at the facility. The image has been altered to bring focus to her.

The recent depraved killings of George FloydBreonna TaylorAhmaud Arbery, and Rayshard Brooks ignited widespread protests across the United States, representing a renewed outrage at centuries of white supremacy, colonialism, and state-sanctioned oppression of and brutality against Black people. While not new, this sweeping public outcry and swelling national movement has catapulted conversations about systemic racism into mainstream awareness with an exceptional sense of urgency.

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