Colleagues and friends,
Feeling the weight of this moment, we write to you today as the leadership team of the Association for Social Economics to comment on the recent assault on the US Capitol building.
It is time for clear talk.
This insurrection and act of terror inspired by the president and his enablers, along with the inadequate preparation and response, laid bare the vivid racism that defines US society. This racism is especially stark when juxtaposed with the public response to the legitimate outrage and Black Lives Matter protests of the unlawful shootings and killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Jacob Blake, Ahmaud Arbery, and more. It is even more stark when we consider that in 2013, a young black woman, Miriam Carey, was shot and killed by the Capitol police for merely making a U-turn at a checkpoint on the Capitol grounds.
We as economists and social scientists are well positioned to use our craft and talents to investigate the incentives and disincentives to weaponization of the police and whole security apparatus in the immoral devaluation of human beings on the basis of something as cursory as a social identity like race.
Moreover, we have an obligation to use our talents to craft policy and alternative structures that rightly use the institutions of government to reckon with our past and present, and plot pathways forward that ensure we all have our basic needs met and can live with dignity and economic security.
In solidarity with those who have suffered at the hands of the police, who have been persistently marginalized in our economies and societies, and those who deeply desire to commit to a society with economic inclusion for everyone,
Stephanie Seguino, President
Paul Makdissi, President-Elect
Darrick Hamilton, Vice President
Chris Jeffords, Executive Secretary
Christine Ngo, Treasurer
Veronika Dolar, Program Secretary
© 2023 Association for Social Economics
