Building a field worth belonging to: Empathy, courage, honesty and accountability in physics.

Opportunities to exist and thrive in physics are not distributed fairly. Most research and programs designed to address inequity focus on specific groups who have been denied fair access. While important, this work has not created the fair and compassionate culture the physics community so overwhelmingly desires. Cultural transformation requires shifting the focus from fixing those denied access to addressing the structures and behaviors of those historically and intentionally over included. In this talk, I explore themes of empathy, courage, honesty, and accountability in building a just and thriving field. I draw on my own work interviewing physicists who hold over-included identities as well as reflections from current events.