Growing a Community: The Inaugural #Blackbotanistsweek Recap and Looking Forward (2021)

“For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” – Nelson Mandela (2002) May 2020 saw the start of social media campaigns to highlight Black people in scientific and natural spaces. Black Birders Week was the inaugural social media effort, though not the first social media campaign to highlight the achievements of Black people in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) (e.g., #BlackandSTEM founded by Dr. Stephani Page – Zax, 2014; #VanguardSTEM founded by Dr. Jedidah Isler – Montgomery, 2018). Black Birders Week was put together by 16 members in direct response to the Central Park incident where a White woman tried to weaponize her privilege by falsely calling the police on a Black male birder who asked her to leash her dog, which are the park rules (National Audubon Society, 2020). This incident, coupled with institutional racial injustices, the continued brutal murdering of Black people by White people and the police (Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd; #BlackLivesMatter Movement), and the disproportionally high death tolls of Black and Indigenous peoples due to the COVID-19 pandemic and systemic health inequalities (Black/African American: 3.7× higher hospitalizations and 2.8× higher deaths when compared to White, Non-Hispanic patients; American Indians/Alaska Native: 4.0× higher hospitalizations and 2.6× higher deaths; CDC, 2020; data from the United States only) led to a movement to highlight Black people in science, math, engineering, arts and technology (STEAM). This ongoing movement, with weeks such as #BlackBirdersWeek, #BlackBotanistsWeek, and #BlackinNationalParksWeek, among many others, continues to highlight Black people in spaces that they have always been in, but are often not recognized as much as their White peers. It is not uncommon that Black scientists are hypervisible as representative symbols of diversity, but overlooked or invisible as full professional participants in STEAM spaces (Settles & al., 2019; Montgomery, 2020). This turbulent backdrop, along with the positive interactions with members and participants of #BlackBirdersWeek, sparked the commencement of #BlackBotanistsWeek. Dr. Tanisha M. Williams put out the first tweet on 8 June 2020 to gauge interest in coordinating such a week (Fig. 1). The response was overwhelmingly positive, with over 900 likes and 400 retweets (Fig. 1). Dr. Williams and 11 committee members organized the first #BlackBotanistsWeek, 6–11 July 2020 (website: https://blackbotanistsweek.weebly.com/). The committee's goal was, and still is, to promote, encourage, create a safe place for, and connect with more Black people who love plants. Black Botanists Week, like Black Birders Week, took their respective weeks to highlight Black people in these spaces inside and out of academia. This approach, along with the Black Botanists Week committee members’ broadening the definition of who is a botanist, to include anyone who loves plants, whether that be a plant ecologist, house plant enthusiast, hiker, or artist, really allowed for a diverse group of people to participate, engage, and be amplified. The 12 Black Botanists Week committee members are diverse themselves, ranging from graduate students to professors, from teachers to conservationists (Fig. 2), enabling the integration of experiences from different careers and career stages. The committee is also geographically diverse, made up of members from the U.S., the U.K., and South Africa. An important goal of Black Botanists Week was to reach the global community of Black botanists. As was the organizing committee, those participating represented a diverse community of Black botanists, much like the diversity of plants we study, tend, and love. Within the first weeks of organizing the committee members received support from over 40 organizations, including the Linnean Society, Botanical Society of America, American Society of Plant Taxonomists, Plant Love Stories, Canadian Botanical Association, academic institutions and botanical gardens from around the world. There was also a lot of individual support by persons that may or may not have been affiliated with an institution, but who were excited to learn more about Black botanists and amplify the messaging throughout the week. By the end of the first day, the Black Botanists Week hashtag had been used and/or liked by over 40,000 people. At the end of the week, the top 50 tweeters alone interacted with over 223,000 people from across the world (Fig. 3). Each day was themed to encourage Black people to share why they love plants, their favorite plants, what work they do surrounding plants, and to remember Black botanists that paved the way (Fig. 4). The week saw its highest participation during the #BlackBotanicalLegacy, #PlantInteractions, and #BlackPlantLove days. As such, the strong engagement on the first day of Black Botanists Week was vital in revealing the #BlackBotanicalLegacy that has often gone unrecognized in history and that is largely absent from classroom instruction. Research shows that students benefit from a multicultural education (Zaldana, 2010) and same race models (Syed, 2011). By bringing these stories to the forefront, members highlighted numerous examples of Black contributions to the botany field that can be incorporated in course curricula. The week also touched upon two topics that provided a safe place for Black botanists to discuss what it is like #BotanizingWhileBlack and share why #DiverseCommunitiesAreStrongCommunities. Black botanists shared unfortunately familiar stories of being followed or harassed while doing work with plants in the field or enjoying nature. Despite these everyday attacks on Black people's lives, there were also many good stories of field work triumphs, hiking adventures, nature retreats, and new house plant additions. The participating Black botanists ranged from the very young, including pre-school gardeners and burgeoning botanists, to the mature. The week also boosted the visibility of the 12 Black Botanists Week committee members. During and following the week, the committee members have been highlighted in many different ways. News sources from the U.S., Canada and South Africa also covered this inaugural campaign. There were stories published in USA Today (Mallenbaum, 2020), WNYC (Floyd, 2020), Cape Talk (Wiener, 2020), eNCA (Gordon, 2020), Science Rendezvous (Du, 2020), and Discover Magazine (Betz, 2020). The committee members continue to uplift and highlight Black botanists through speaking engagements, podcast interviews, and outreach. As the committee reflects on our journey to this point, we want to continue to help the botanical community work towards embracing diversity, inclusion, equity, justice and becoming antiracist. To do the work and be an antiracist, individuals and institutions must actively choose to examine race and racism, historical disparities, personal biases, and take actions that align with the commitment to end racial inequalities (Kendi, 2019; Flicker & Klein, 2020; Gupta & Wallace, 2020; SABER, 2020; Smithsonian, 2020). We strongly encourage individuals and organizations to commit to the following antiracist actions: (1) A journey of truth and unlearning the propaganda you have been taught to keep the system of oppression in place. We are asking everyone to dig deep and learn about the true history of your country and the world. Examine how continued compliance (or negligence) of citizens and the passing of laws have systematically disadvantaged Black people around the world. (2) Listen to Black people about their lived experiences. Examine why it is so hard to hear and empathize with someone else's truth. (3) Identify racial inequalities and disparities. These should be identified in every aspect of one's life (healthcare, education, income, etc.). Examine how these inequalities and disparities harm Black people. (4) Identify the racist and/or biased ideas (implicit or not) you, your organization, etc. hold. Examine how these ideas came to be, what is wrong about these ideas, and work on ways to actively change racist views and/or biases. (5) Support the people, organizations and legislation that are actively doing antiracist work. There are many local, national, and global civic organizations working towards racial equity and social justice. There are also ways in your daily life one can actively work towards being antiracist and counteracting persistent biases and inequalities. This is a lifelong commitment we all must make to see a world where there is equality for all. Black Botanists Week will be an annual event to celebrate, uplift and support Black botanists from around the world. In collaboration with Holden Forest and Gardens, we are currently running a lecture series entitled “Growing Black Roots: The Black Botanical Legacy” to amplify the experiences, contributions, and innovation of Black botanists. The series was co-organized by our very own committee member Maya L. Allen from University of New Mexico in collaboration with Dr. Juliana Medeiros from the Holden Forest and Gardens. The lecture series is running from October 2020 to September 2021, learn more here: https://holdenarb.org/visit/events-lectures/scientist-lecture/ (Fig. 5). To keep up to date on what we are doing subscribe to our newsletter (https://mailchi.mp/90ef467e6001/black-botanists-week-has-a-newsletter) and follow us on twitter (@BlkBotanistsWk). We thank Emily Rollinson from East Stroudsburg University, and Elizabeth Munch and Daniel Chitwood of Michigan State University for providing assistance with procuring Twitter data using R and Python for the #BlackBotanistsWeek hashtag. Work by Beronda L. Montgomery on outreach, broadening participation and equitable mentoring is supported by the National Science Foundation (grant no. MCB-1515002) and the Michigan State University Foundation.