The ASM Journals Committee Values the Contributions of Black Microbiologists.

Black lives matter. The ongoing problem of police brutality and the resulting deaths of George Floyd (1), Breonna Taylor (2), and many other Black people in the United States (3) has rightly shaken the country. Acts of racism should cause us to question the level to which we have personally participated in the systems of racial inequity that facilitate such acts. We all have an obligation to identify the ways that systemic racism functions in our society and in science. As scientists, we prefer to believe that we are driven by data and are immune to such detrimental behaviors. Yet, if we are honest, we know that this is not always true.