Over the last several years, we’ve been bombarded with one example after another of Black Americans killed by out-of-control police propped up by seemingly boundless corruption. I’ll admit that I’ve sometimes been tempted to think that the problem is not about me, and that I can’t do anything about it. But ignoring the problem is a privilege that many people do not have. Black Americans and other BIPOC have to live with the reality of state-sponsored racism and violence every day. As a white American, it is wrong to say that I have no role in this moment. Many of the privileges I enjoy come at the expense of others, and the least (and I do mean least) I can do is use the platform I have to acknowledge it.
It’s impossible to be apolitical. Institutional racism runs too wide and too deep (take a look at the lack of diversity in geosciences, for example). Even the subjects of this blog—museums and dinosaurs—are never more than a few degrees of separation away from hideous examples of racism and colonialism.
Please do what you can. Donate to organizations that are working to bring about change. If people around you are wrong or misinformed, have the courage to tell them so.
Black lives matter.
EXTINCT MONSTERS 
Folks, I’m obviously not going to give a platform to your racist tirades. Please stop attempting to post them here.