b'diversity, equity,accessibility and inclusionat SCMALily Foster, Associate Director of Museum Administrationis, to promote excellence in scholarshipwe must get to the point where diversity, equity, accessibility and inclusion are consistently at the heart of what we do.It has been a summer of horrific and repeated anti-Black violence and failed justice. We are seeinga new level of public acknowledgement that themurders of unarmed Black people continue ourcountrys long and brutal history of anti-Blacknessand systemic racism.At SCMA, a museum with a predominantly white staff, we have been confronting the fact that the systems of white privilege that are ingrained in our society and that give rise to such abhorrent acts also express themselves in the preference given to white identities, experiences and narratives at cultural institutions such as ours and in the field of art history. As many have pointed out, this acknowledgement of white supremacy culture is overdue and comes at the cost of, and thanks to the insistence of, staff who are Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) at SCMA and other museums.With this sharpened acknowledgement ofthe histories of colonialism and exploitation in art museums, possibilities have opened up. As one starting point, we are publicly naming white suprem-AS I WRITE THISin September 2020, we are on theacy culture at SCMA. With crucial support from the brink of an election and embroiled in the intertwinedSmith College Office for Equity and Inclusion, we will crises of the pandemic, climate change and systemicsoon begin a diversity assessment of the museum led racism. One of the questions that most preoccupiesby an outside consultant. This will involve inclusive me now is this: How do we sustain and expand theleadership training for all of the museum department deepened commitment to diversity, equity, accessibilityheads. We are eight weeks into a 10-week anti-racism and inclusion (DEAI) that has taken shape at SCMAreading group in which all staff are participating, and and many other art museums in the context of thesewe plan to continue these readings and to expand our crises? all-staff anti-racism trainings going forward. Members It is clear that this is an existential question. In or- of the Museum Visiting Committee are also meeting der to continue to serve our communities at Smith andto discuss these materials, which have rangedthe making of a museumin western Massachusetts, and in order to contribute tofrom Wendy S. Walters writing on the history and more truthful, nuanced and multivocal scholarshipthatoften-buried presence of slavery in New England to 14'