The racial economy cannot be reformed; it must be reparated. This means redirecting funding to Black, Indigenous, and women-led labs and institutions. It means paying community partners as co-investigators, not "advisory board members." It means establishing trust funds for communities that have suffered research harms—from Tuskegee to Guatemala to the Havasupai Tribe. Reparations are not charity; they are the cost of decolonizing knowledge.
The "Democratic Future" portion of the title serves as a call to action. If science is a tool for understanding and shaping our world, then a truly democratic society requires a science that is accountable to all its citizens, not just a privileged few. To achieve this, the text suggests several shifts: The racial economy cannot be reformed; it must be reparated
This sounds like a deep dive into The Racial Economy of Science: Toward a Democratic Future , the seminal anthology edited by Sandra Harding Reparations are not charity; they are the cost
Moving away from "top-down" science toward models where communities have a say in the research that affects their lives. To achieve this, the text suggests several shifts: