Dear AeroAstro Community,

First and foremost, following the horrific murders in Georgia, I want to echo the message in President Reif’s recent email sent in solidarity with and support of the members of our community who are of Asian descent: we would not be MIT without you.

Since our recent Diversity, Innovation, & Inclusion Town Hall, I have been reflecting on what we have accomplished so far and all of the work we still have yet to do. In particular, it was sobering to hear about the prevalence of microaggressions impacting the lives of our own AeroAstro community members. Microaggressions are the “everyday slights, indignities, insults, and put-downs that marginalized group members experience in their day-to-day encounters with well-intentioned individuals who are unaware that they are perpetrating or engaging in an offensive or demeaning behavior towards a target individual” (Prof. Derald Wing Sue, Columbia University). In the sidebar of this roundup, we share resources recommended by Denise Phillips, our Diversity Officer, that elaborate on this pervasive problem.

Bias and discrimination are complex, systemic problems. All of us, as informed or well-meaning as we may be, have biased ideas and behaviors ingrained in us that we must take stock of to reflect upon and relearn. In order to make meaningful progress to change this system and support a diverse and inclusive environment in alignment with our values, we must draw a hard line between intention and impact. And while we cannot fix a problem we don’t know about, I would like to acknowledge the significant burden it places on the victim of the microaggression to formally report an incident or to initiate a confrontation. If you are made aware that you delivered a microaggression, I ask that you humble yourself to the learning process, to sit with your discomfort, and above all things, to listen — do not defend your comment as a misunderstanding or a joke, because this only deepens the hurt. To reiterate, we cannot regard intention with the same weight as impact.

We must be a community that uplifts each other through intentional reflection, compassionate dialogue, and meaningful recognition of each other’s contributions to the Department. To that end, as a specific action that you can take, I encourage you to nominate your colleagues for the Wings Award, The Spirit of XVI Award, The Vickie Kerrebrock Award, and The Upstander Award. For further information on the award descriptions, nomination process, and past winners, please visit the Awards and Recognition Program page on the AeroAstro website. Please submit your nominations by 5 p.m. EST on April 14, 2021.