By: Michael Dorff, MAA President @mdorff44 and Michael Pearson, MAA Executive Director

Over the last several days, we have watched with deep sadness the outpouring of grief and anger over the continuing injustice inflicted upon our fellow citizens. The expressions of pain felt by so many serve as a reminder of how important it is for the health of our nation, community, and discipline that we, as mathematicians and as educators, embrace the humanity of our colleagues and students, and make that a central part of our practice. The exclusion of minorities from sharing equally in the rights and privileges of citizenship, through legal and extralegal means, is thoroughly documented in our history. We should not stand silent while so many of our fellow citizens -- including our friends and colleagues -- suffer mistreatment and lack of equity in our society.

We affirm our commitment to work with others to be a part of the solution. Recent statements from partner organizations, including those from AMS, AWM, NAM, NCTM, and others remind us of how important it is to work collaboratively across and with diverse sectors of the math sciences community to enact systematic change.

We have much research available to help us learn about the ways in which our current educational systems fail minority students and maintain the status quo. There are already many in our community who advocate and share their expertise for more inclusive practices at all levels. 

In the coming months, the MAA will work to raise those voices to engage in deep conversations to help us all join together to be part of the solution, and not be complicit in serving as barriers to the full participation of our fellow citizens in the rich opportunities mathematics offers. In the manifesto for the MAA Instructional Practices Guide, our colleagues remind us that

Because access to success in mathematics is not distributed fairly, the opportunities that accompany success in mathematics are also not distributed fairly. We in the mathematical sciences community should not affirm this inequitable situation as an acceptable status quo. We owe it to our discipline, to ourselves, and to society to disseminate mathematical knowledge in ways that increase individuals’ access to the opportunities that come with mathematical understanding.

We ask that you join with us to reconcile our professional practices to align with our core values of community and inclusivity.

Read the full message from the MAA Committee on Minority Participation in Mathematics.

The Conference Board for the Mathematical Sciences has created a list of statements by member societies.