Something that stuck out to me in the first module was the role of helping professions, like social work and medicine, in the facilitation of racism. I am a case manager who works primarily with children of color, and worked in a school of the same demographic prior to my current role. I think it is crucial for helping professionals to be aware of the racism that is rooted in our fields. It is not uncommon for professions like social work to gain a savior complex or reputation, but that is harmful as well. I think we need to evaluate not only our own bias and privilege, but also how the very fabric of our professions are woven by a racist society.
I agree. We need to be aware of the role of our profession in the abuse, exploitation, and oppression of people of color so that when we encounter mistrust we acknowledge it as just, reasonable, rational. So that we localize the problem where it is, in the systems in which we work, not in the people we serve. They are just responding to historical racial trauma.
The problem of racism I find so difficult to conceptualize solutions for. In my own family, I hold the descenting opinion that racism is still vibrant and strong today, whereas my family feels I am "blowing things out of proportion." It is overwhelming to me because I feel that I can only control myself and that my role can only be to educate and encourage others to examine themselves to challenge their own biases. Then ultimately their actions. But I am so thankful that this material exists so that the historical and contemporary execution of racism can be clearly communicated.
I'm non-LatinX and work with Latino immigrants. I'm fluent in Spanish, and well educated and informed on Latin American language, culture, and values. Agencies and institutions generally operate from the perspective of the dominant culture (white, middle class), and programs, policies, etc., flow from that worldview. This type of training helps to uncover the inherent biases that exist in our systems, and hopefully we can advocate for change that makes services more user-friendly and ultimately more helpful to those from different language groups, ethnicities, races, etc.
I agree about the inherent bias in professions. Clients are often labeled as "non-compliant" or resistant, parents as unwilling or unable to help the kids with schoolwork, immigrants as unable to assimilate. "They" are labeled as the problem. If we take some time to understand race, ethnicity, history, migration story, cultural values, etc., we might be able design better, more effective approaches to working with people of diverse backgrounds (i.e. "non-white").
I've been wrestling with this a lot lately. I'm a white teacher working in a school with many black and brown children. I worry about how my implicit and unexamined biases have done damage to my students. Also, lately I've been very, very aware of our deep-rooted assumptions that white cultural norms are the "correct" ones, the "moral" ones. However, awareness alone isn't enough to prevent doing harm.
Yes! This is something I think about all the time as well, as a white person working in public health. I'm sitting contemplating the border baths video, among the list of the terrible dehumanizing campaigns that are done in the name of "public health" likely with a "you're welcome" kind of attitude among some... It's crucial to be aware of white savior complexes and how dangerous they can be to everyone, white folks included.