End Racial Discrimination

The people in the world that we live in are extremely diverse, in terms of the nationalities, religions, gender classifications and physical abilities. Social workers must have a clear understanding of the consequences of diversity and difference and the mechanisms of oppression and discrimination as they relate to human development. The range of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds that social workers will practice in is huge. Because of this, social workers must have an understanding of the values and attitudes of a multitude of different cultures as well as an understanding of their own attitudes and

Social workers are often on the forefront in the fight against any form of oppression as against the marginalized society. These demanding but oftentimes unappreciated efforts are often addressed through the conscious use of skills and knowledge of the problems being solved against. When such oppression is however committed against them within the organization where they work, the social worker seems to be mum about the situation, or their efforts perhaps are rendered inutile. North America social workers experience this form of oppression within the social service institution. For this reason, I examine the arguments why the social workers need to be aware of the existence of this unique form of oppression. In order to eliminate oppression in the social welfare workplace, the social workers, in their pursuit of social change, must have a competent understanding of the theory around racism and oppression.

The NASW Standards for Cultural Competence addresses the standard of empowerment and advocacy, which I find both reassuring and admirable, because, as a social worker becomes more culturally aware of their clients, they need to have the desire to ensure equality for all of them. From the text, social workers become specialists in understanding the effects of demeaning social policies against their clients, where they find the medium between aiding in producing positive change without imposing their own beliefs. Mastery of this standard requires the cohesion between a social worker and client to seek minimal changes in social policies to prove that advocacy imposes change before shifting towards revolutionizes social policies and laws.

This chapter focuses on anti-oppression and anti-discrimination practice. We will be looking at what is meant by these terms and the law which underpins them. We will explore the different ways people are affected by oppression and how to combat it. Evaluate society’s stereotypical images of groups of people in society and the principles of positive action and anti-oppression.

Almost everyone has heard the famous hymn, “Jesus Loves the Little Children,” but not all understand the true meaning when it says, “Red, and yellow, black, and white, they are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.” The moment sin entered into the world, perfection no longer existed. This loss of perfection changed the way humans viewed each other. It made one ethnicity view another ethnicity as inferior, and in doing so, created what people now know of as racism. For centuries, racism has been a part of society, shaping the way humans view each other, but with the aid of Young Women 's Christian Association (YWCA) - Stand Against Racism, racial discrimination and injustice can be eliminated.

Racial profiling is the act of using one’s ethnicity in suspecting them of committing, or attempting to a crime. Many law enforcement officers see the color of a person’s skin and automatically think they have criminal intentions. The problem here is that criminal intentions have no regards on the color of your skin. Anyone has the potential to commit a crime. Officers need to learn how to put their personal views aside, and focus on the task at hand when patrolling for criminal activity in a community. The first step in resolving this problem is identifying it and setting forth goals to reduce or even stop racial profiling within the organization.

One of the most challenging professions for African American males is social work. As a social worker, I have realized that I have to work under two domains. The first one is to work under the race identity and the second one is to work as a class identity. Although I am proud of being an African American, I usually feel sorry for myself being from unprivileged social class in the American society. The identity of being an African American male has affected my social work in many aspects. This is because it has made it impossible to carry out my professional duties because of negative perspectives and discrimination in the society. African American social workers are considered to be incompetent by the rest of the society hence making it impossible to delegate duties without any form of discrimination. This paper provides my own reflections as an African American male in the field of social work and how this identity has affected my practice in community work and advocacy duties.

What I would do to eradicate and abolish racism in America is to first have a live national press conference so everyone can receive the message and I would say that all racial slurs are prohibited regardless of race and there would be a fine for anyone heard using racial slurs. I would also put a program in place for a safe space to talk about racial slurs and what the communities think about people using them because usually people use racial slurs when they’re angry so releasing anger in a healthy way surrounded by peers would be a much better option by conveying feelings using bad words and or racial slurs. Even though there could be a public backlash which could cause more anger and violence, In my opinion I think that it would be the

Aristotle once said “The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.”

“Social workers must advocate against policy or practice interventions that create or reinforce the prejudice and discrimination towards gay men, lesbians, bisexual, and transgender persons and their families. Social workers are obligated to use nonjudgmental attitudes and to encourage nurturing practice environments for lesbians, gay men, bisexual, and transgender persons.”

Social workers should promote the general welfare of society, from local to global levels, and the development of people, their communities, and their environments. Social workers should advocate for living conditions conducive to the fulfillment of basic human needs and should promote social, economic, political, and cultural values and institutions that are compatible with the realization of social justice.

Improving the lives of individuals is the objective of the social work profession. There is six values within National Association of Social work Code of Ethics (NASW): Service, Social Justice, Dignity, and Self-worth of the person, Importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence. These values are for social workers and their work with the client(s). Regardless of one’s race, religious belief, sex or sexual orientation each value benefits all individuals. Social workers should always practice professional values. Clients suffer from when the social worker does not uphold values. Code of Ethics is established for all social workers to obey and follow them. In this this paper, I will discuss the how “Importance of Human Relationship” will be the easiest to uphold and how “Social Justice” will challenge me as a social worker working with future clients, community and organizations.

Civil rights activist Al Sharpton said, “We have come a long way from the days of slavery, but in 2014, discrimination and inequality still saturate our society in modern ways”. This quote rings true where equality in the workplace is concerned. In Toni Cade Bambara’s short story “The Lesson”, we see what social discrimination looks like through the eyes of children who are observing a wealthier part of town. In their eyes, they see and injustice and question why it is not being altered into something centered more on equality and equal opportunity. Toni Cade Bambara’s story “The Lesson” is written to make a point about racial discrimination in the workplace and social inequality.

Social workers promote social justice and social change with and on behalf of clients. “Clients” is used inclusively to refer to individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. Social workers are sensitive to cultural and ethnic diversity and strive to end discrimination, oppression, poverty, and other forms of social injustice. These activities may be in the form of direct practice, community organizing, supervision, consultation administration, advocacy, social and political action, policy development and application, education, research and evaluation. Social workers seek to enhance the capacity of people to address their own needs. They also seek to promote the

Social Work’s core philosophy and values are centered around social justice and social well-being. Oppression, injustice, discrimination, and violence are antithetical to the social work profession. Social Work believes in strength-based approaches and the person-in-environment perspective to cater the needs and welfare of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society at large. Generally, the target populations for social work are vulnerable, marginalized, and oppressed people; however, social workers provide services to people with a wide range of problems, such as poverty, addiction, mental illness, etc. to empower them to meet their own needs. Historically, the social work profession started its operation by providing neighborhood