Anti-Black racism is sustained by systems of discrimination that are pervasive accross our society, and academic spaces are no exception. Inspired by the recent #ShutDownSTEM movement and in response to the continued violence against Black people in the United States, the purpose of #ShutdownPL @ ICFP 2020 is to offer a safe space at ICFP 2020 in which to collaborate and take action against racism and systems of oppression in the programming languages community and beyond. We aim to continue the discussion at ICFP started by the statement on current events and, moreover, to enact positive change via concrete planning and action.

The main session will consist of a keynote talk by Joy Melody Woods (University of Texas at Austin), followed by an session run by Nikki Carrol from George Mason University on Getting Started with Anti-racist Action: An Introduction for Shutdown PL.