Social Justice And Human Diversity

According to the Equality and Human Rights Commission First Triennial Review 2010 “The Equality Act 2010 complements and builds on the provisions of the Equality Act 2006, which itself strengthened several aspects of discrimination law and set out the roles and responsibilities of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.”

When working in a field of expertise the experts in that area need to know what defines that field. Social work, with its roots over a hundred years old, started out simply offering assistance to others, has grown and changed, and is currently reconnecting with its roots (Bisman, 2004). Bisman (2004) emphasizes the importance of being an advocate of justice and keeping the field focused on the “social” part of social work. This push to keep social work focused on the needs of others defines social work today. Social work focuses on providing aide to the needy and increasing awareness of those that are oppressed.

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.

Across the nation, millions of Americans of all races turn on the television or open a newspaper and are bombarded with images of well dressed, articulate, attractive black people advertising different products and representing respected companies. The population of black professionals in all arenas of work has risen to the point where seeing a black physician, attorney, or a college professor are becoming more a common sight. More and more black people are holding positions of respect and authority throughout America today, such as Barack Obama, Colin Powell, Condelezza Rice and many other prominent black executives. As a result of their apparent success, these black people are seen as role models for many Americans, despite their race.

Black males within American society struggle to be successful because of challenges arising from racism and oppression, lack of effective educational leadership, and adverse racial stereotypes. Toby S. Jenkins’, “Mr. Nigger: The Challenges of Educating Black Males Within American Society”, Bell Hooks’, “We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity”, and Tyrone C. Howard’s “Who Really Cares? The Disenfranchisement of African American Males in PreK-12 Schools: A Critical Race Theory Perspective” provide insight to understanding the challenges Black males face within American society and especially the educational system.

Due to the increase in racial and ethnic diversity in the United Sates there is a great need to provide counseling interventions that cater for social issues that are attributed to the racial and ethnic diversity. Presently, efforts are being made to implement social justice advocacy strategies and interventions into counseling practices. Thus, counselors are encouraged to be agents and advocates for social justice, oppression, and discrimination (Ratts & Hutchins, 2009). At the forefront of social justice counseling approaches, is the need to empower the oppressed or marginalized individual by confronting injustices and inequalities that affect the individual at the systemic level (Pedersen, Lonner, Draguns, Trimble, & Rio, 2015).

Many problems are facing African American males. Few people are knowledgeable of the disparity between African American males and females as it relates to incarceration, homicide, suicide, alcoholism, and many other ailments (p. 9).

The readings for this week were an interesting mix of journal articles and a New York Times magazine article. The New York Times article; “The Case of Marie and her Sons” is about a Puerto-Rican mother’s battle with the Connecticut Department of Children and Families (DCF) to regain custody of her five sons. The journal articles; “A Social Worker’s Reflections on Power, Privilege, and Oppression” by Michael Spence; “Pregnant With Possibility”, Merlinda Weinberg; and Racial Macroaggressions in Everyday Life”, Derald Wing Sue, et. al.; have illuminated some common issues that can occur during my career that will have a profound effect on the power and control the profession can have in the public sphere.

Social workers play a crucial role in many professional realms. With the focus on social workers in educational settings, I interviewed Erika Bougdanos who is a Dean of Students at Niles North High School, located in north suburban Skokie, Illinois. Bougdanos has been working at Niles North for over ten years as a Dean and holds her MSW degree and Type 75 certification (Illinois Administrative Certificate). Bougdanos mentioned that although the high school is highly ethnically diverse, the majority of the student population is White. While Bougdanos interacts with many students throughout her work week, she mentioned that the students she primarily sees in her office are those from low-income or minority backgrounds.

Over the last one hundred and thirty years African Americans have little by little-gained freedom for themselves as slaves and domestic servants. Now as a culture they are legally capable of obtaining jobs and positions in all areas of private and public organizations, (Hayes, A. F., & Preacher, K. J., 2010). This particular ethnic group are known to be instrumental in holding their cultures together through times of constant struggle. They have used rallies, protests, silent marches and received help from volunteer organizations to fight for rights as well as obtain justice in a racist and sexist society. This work explores the troubles African Americans face in Americas society today, through stereotypes and how gender roles as African Americans differ from each other as well as the American population.

I find that the concepts of diversity, inclusion and social justice to be important because they build on each other and have the power to change the world. When all of these aspects work together and are acknowledged then we are able to work toward changing social norms and creating aspects in society that are focused on equity, rather than equality. Of course, social justice should be the goal that we as individuals want to achieve in liberating areas of our that have limited and restrained others. I connect diversity and appreciating diversity with being the foundation to this equation of equality because individuals need to understand that there will be differences between people. I enjoy the statement on, “… Who is in the room?” because it starts to explain the variations in personal characteristics within a group of people. This is going to be part of my position as an RA within Resident Life because a floor’s residence are going to have wide range in their own diversities through their age, sexual orientation, journeys to get to college, race and ethnicity, etc. I am proud to have experienced the things I have and lived and go to high school in such a place like Aurora, CO to where I was able to live and embrace a diverse community. I came to define this diversity to be normal, but coming up to CSU and Fort Collins has shown me how much of Colorado does not have the same kind of standards. The next support beam to building this idea that works toward social would be

In order to deliver effective services it is necessary that professionals are able to work with culturally diverse populations successfully. Social workers must commit themselves to the profession’s enhancement and to their own professional growth in career long learning (National Association of Social Workers, 2010).

One of the major issues that still go on today is human dignity throughout diversity. People are being treated insignificantly due to cultural or social differences. This happens daily on a worldwide scale. This mistreatment occurs within many small to large establishments, from personal to political statuses. There are, however, human services organizations and programs put in place to combat and protect people’s quality of life. The resources that these organizations provide help bring positive change in the communities they serve.

In the anti oppressive social work practice, the social worker has to emphasize cultural competency and provide culturally responsive facilities to the clients and recognize diversity and differences as a strength to solve the cause of ethnic, race and other types of oppressions (Danso, 2009).

Several decades after the Civil Right Acts of 1964 were passed, we still hear the slogans of “Black lives matter” and “All lives matter.” According to the NASW Code of Ethics (1996), social workers should be “sensitive to cultural and ethnic diversity and strive to end discrimination, oppression, poverty, and other forms of social injustice” (p. 3). Social workers and the profession as a whole should address problems related to minority groups to make our society equitable, just, and responsive to social justice. As a measure of this ethical standard, the content of the major journal of NASW (National Association of Social Work), Social Work, should reflect studies conducted by researchers on minority groups and their problems, which this study intends to analyze. Additionally, Council on Social Work Education has required social work schools to maintain cultural diversity in students’ enrollment, hiring of faculty, and the development of curricula (Trolander, 1997), but how well this diversity is reflected in research studies is a matter of exploration, which this study has tried to address by doing the content analysis of the most prestigious social work journal, Social