Racism In Social Work

“ According to the National Association of Social Workers Web site, racism is “the ideology or practice through demonstrated power or perceived superiority of one group over others by reasons of race, color, ethnicity, or cultural heritage....” The definition further goes on to note that “racism is manifested at the individual, group, and institutional level.” (Blank, 2013) Despite how much time has passed by, racism continues to be a huge issue today. We see it every day, some have even been confronted by racial discrimination, or racial slurs even. We see how the system could be for example: how blacks continue to get more severe punishments or blacks have higher the chance to get criminally sentenced than whites. According to the article

By “acknowledging and recognizing, confronting, and addressing pervasive racism within social work practice at the individual, agency, and institutional level, and promote culturally competent social work interventions and research methodologies in the areas of social justice, well-being, and cost-benefit outcomes.” (Blank, 2013)
The NASW supports cultural competence, which means people of different culture, class, background, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, religion, physical, and mental abilities, and anything among those areas are protected in a way because racism or any type of discrimination is not tolerated at any level whatsoever. One thing for sure is we do have to recruit a more diverse group of professionals. They need more of a diverse population according to a study done. Even though the group of minorities seem to be increasing, “such as Asian Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and African Americans, whiteness still conveys an ideology of privilege and power,” (Blank,

(Kivel 1995) some "examples of institutional racism over the history of this country: exclusions from unions, organizations, social clubs, seniority systems (last hired, first fired), income differentials, predatory lending practices, inferior municipal services, admissions based on test scores, differential education based on preconceived potential or ability, monoculture school curricula. In each of these situations, people of color experience disadvantages that flow from one generation to another in reference to income, decision making, health status, knowledge and skill development, and quality of life. The greater loss is to the country as a whole of the talents and perspectives of a significant proportion of the population". (NASW,