Monday, December 8, 2014

Blog 11 - Multicultural Social Work Examining Oppression and Valuing Diversity



In the last blog, I wanted to speak about my new experience in a new environment and new people.  Dr. Gerstenblatt gave me personally a great tool to start this endeavor and this career.  I was given the opportunity to look at the same subject from different lenses and advocate for my ideas with new materials and tools.  I learned how to seek knowledge in believing in the power of ideas to change attitudes and lives and ultimately the world.  By learning to listen to the most inspired thinkers, I started being a curious person that want to engage with similar ideas and others.
In addition to the reading material, I learned many new things by reading the blogs and observations of my colleagues.  Each week, I used to apply without meaning to, some of the material discussed in class.  I felt powerful and able to defend my actions by advocating to others by the knowledge I have. 
Finally, the story telling project was so different.  It is amazing to see how can an event lived by someone shapes his life totally different than someone else.  I felt so weak compared to the powerful journey lived by different people.  I felt empowered by the strength they had to overcome the injustice they lived caused by society, family or self.  There is injustice in America and in the whole world.  I am going to embrace this power given by Dr. Gerstenblatt, the knowledge and the tools we earned to try to stop and make a DIFFERENCE.  I want to slow this speedy life and stop to help others because everyone matters and every action can make a difference.  I will not be ashamed to hide my tears if injustice happened for others and it hurts – like Michael Brown and Eric Garner.  I want to be able to join the National March in Washington DC, this Saturday December 13 announced by Al Sharpton.  This is what I learned through the eyes of a Social Worker



Blog 10 - Killing Innocent People



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htYC4l1Dqnw


Does Islam really allow the killing of innocent people?  This is one misunderstanding that keeps rising up against Islam.   Islam does not in anyway allow for the killing of any innocent soul. 
The Qur’an assures Christians and Jews of paradise if they believe and do good works, and commends Christians as the best friends of Muslims. Dangerous falsehoods are being promulgated to the American public. The Quran does not preach violence against Christians.
Quran 5:69 says (Arberry): “Surely they that believe, and those of Jewry, and the Christians, and those Sabeaans, whoso believes in God and the Last Day, and works righteousness–their wage waits them with their Lord, and no fear shall be on them, neither shall they sorrow.”

In other words, the Quran promises Christians and Jews along with Muslims that if they have faith and works, they need have no fear in the afterlife. It is not saying that non-Muslims go to hell– quite the opposite.

These criminals that are deforming the wisdom and harmony of Islam by declaring wrong interpretation of the Quran.  Some of these militants killing innocents are Muslims that committed a grave sin, because killing in Islam is forbidden.  These groups are not only killing Americans but also killing other Muslims for speaking different language.  They are raping women and children and burning people alive in the name of Islam. 

Islam is portrayed as a religion of “terror” and “killing”, yet this is just one of the most widely held misconceptions about Islam. Allaah Almighty states unambiguously in the Quran (what means): "Nor take life -- which Allaah has made sacred -- except for just cause. And if anyone is slain wrongfully, we have given his heir authority (to demand retaliation or to forgive): but let him not exceed bounds in the matter of taking life, for he is helped (by the Law)."[Quran 17:33]

This is another kind of violence in the world where legal systems are broken allowing them to hide behind powerful words of Islam to justify their crimes.  Until when we are going to keep the fear of injustice of minorities in the world against people from different color, race, language or country?





How can we fight violence happening without being THUGs ourselves?  We ordinary people can make a difference.   We can fight violence by opening our heart.  We can bring to an end the bloodiest century that humanity has ever known.



Reference:



Blog 9 - Police Brutality

Is Police Brutality Color-Blind?

Is police brutality the abuse of authority by the unwarranted infliction of excessive force by law enforcement personal during the performance of duty? Why an abuser is left unpunished? Is it because the victim is Black and the abuser is White?

“We have a problem” as the famous Apollo astronauts said.  Along with the tragic events in Ferguson, and the Missouri police shooting death of Michael Brown,  Eric Garner in New York after a choke-hold was put on him by police is both a tragedy and an outrage. In the New York case, based on publicly available tapes of the killing, the policeman applying the choke-hold should have at least been charged by the grand jury with the use of excessive force.

The police brutality toward Michael Brown and Eric Gardner is a blatant reminder that in the eyes of the law, black lives are worth a lot less in this country than whites and that black men are still seen as needing to be controlled and killed if necessary.

Black women lost child after child to a system that considered their offspring disposable property. Black wives, partners and moms screamed, moaned, and grieved as they lost their children, husband and soul mates.

Sometimes they fought, sometimes they tried to run away, and often the fragile family that was still intact consoled them.

As a society should we stop expending emotion over something that seems that it will never ever change?  Even if it is a blind hope. In the hope that this injustice doesn't happen again.

In situations like Ferguson, where there is a heavily black population policed by a mostly white police department, there should be major outreach to recruit, hire and train black policemen and women. This should happen in countless communities throughout America where there is a racial disparity between the local population and the local police.
We should expand the use of small cameras on the uniforms of police, which might have prevented death or led to justice in the Ferguson case, but would have done no good in the New York case where the tape was seen by the grand jury and the nation.

Most members of the police force perform honorable work under dangerous conditions to 
serve their communities well. But there are bad apples, there are mistakes occasionally made and there is a problem when so many black citizens are killed by police in ways similar to the cases in Ferguson, New York and countless other communities.  We should all be part of the change as Americans, citizens and especially Social Workers to be the voice that prevail justice in the Justice System.  We can all make a change and know that the video below is irrational.  

References:

Sunday, November 2, 2014

Blog8 Consequences Of Discrimination










People speak of “American” as if it means “white” and “minority” as if it means “black”.  Many other immigrants, refugees are coming to America to settle down and find a safe place to live at.  Many of these refugees are judged by the way they look and especially Muslim women.   The same refugees cannot belong to either groups and are facing discrimination in their daily encounter with the society in USA.



 Muslim women are haunted by the image that they reflect, oppression.  Some cultures, women are forced by the men of the family to have the veil on.  Some other cultures, women chose to have the veil or the hijab as sign of worship or modesty. In both incidences, women are treated as if they don’t have a voice not only in their cultures but even in this new civilized culture.























One of my personal encounter last week with discrimination happened with a fully veiled woman.  This discrimination occurred during a home visit accompanying 2 case managers working with this family.  The woman was promised gifts for her kids that they will be delivered before Christmas.  This program is funded by a non-profit organization to help refugees and people in need.  Suddenly, one of the case managers started showing a wide range of offensive behavior, even threatening and disturbing behavior.  As a human being, I felt that the behavior was unfair treatment which is totally based on the appearance of the woman. The Muslim woman was forced to talk about her trauma in detail in front of her daughter who wears the veil too.  The case worker stood there enjoying the grief and pain that the 2 Arab Muslim women were having while reliving their trauma.  It was frightening experience to hear all the details of suffering and torture that they had to go through before coming to America.
I don’t think traumatizing this woman and having her go through the physical and emotional consequences of the discrimination is a fair price for the donated gifts.  I had to step out of my role as an interpreter and I had to be the advocate for this family.  I know that each person has to represent herself/himself but now I have to be the voice of this woman, even though I look different but I still am an Arab American Muslim woman.  There is no doubt that this woman was discriminated against by a professional worker that abused her authority.She also thought that I am different and I will not react.  I reported the incident with the help of the other case manager and investigation was made.  The result was to reassign the person only to work with a different family… One discrimination at a time… 
Muslim women, like all people in the United States, have the right to practice their religion. They also have the right to be treated equally and the right not to be discriminated against or harassed because of their religion, their gender, or perceptions about their nationality or ethnicity.
Because of their visibility, Muslim women who wear hijab face particular exposure to discrimination and have increasingly been targets for harassment in the aftermath of September 11. While it is difficult to obtain accurate statistics about discriminatory incidents, reported instances of discrimination appear to be on the rise.
Civil rights complaints filed with one Muslim advocacy group rose from 366 in 2000 to 2,467 in 2006, an increase of 674%.  One expert has found that Muslim women who wear headscarves are more likely than those who do not to face discrimination: 69% of women who wore hijab reported at least one incident of discrimination compared to 29% of women who did not wear hijab.

In my opinion, discrimination primarily stems from lack of understanding of a particular culture or group. If there is more awareness, not just about Arab Americans, but about different cultures in general, then we can prosper and become an even stronger nation.



References:
Rothenberg, P.S, Race, Class, And Gender in The United States


Monday, October 27, 2014

Blog 7 Health Care Injustice in US

Health Care Injustice










  The more I read, the more eye opening opportunities I have.  Most of the time it is a status quo of a society built on race and gender discrimination where people of color are suffering in all aspects of life including health care.  Those people are living in a very hard situation that contributing to less fortunate conditions with education, employment, housing and also health care.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                             "Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane." -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
 
 African Americans have higher death rates than whites from cancer (1/4 higher), heart disease (1/3 higher), diabetes (twice as high), homicide (more than 5 times as high), and AIDS (more than 8 times as high).  The infant mortality rate for the African Americans was, in 2002-2003, over twice as high as for whites.  In all, the lower you are in a social hierarchy, the worse your health and the shorter your life is likely to be.


Many factors contribute to racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic health disparities, including inadequate access to care, poor quality of care, community features (such as poverty and violence) and personal behaviors. These factors are often associated with underserved racial and ethnic minority groups, individuals who have experienced economic obstacles, those with disabilities and individuals living within medically underserved communities.  Consequently, individuals living in both urban and rural areas may experience health disparities.
Despite ongoing efforts to reduce health disparities in the United States, racial and ethnic disparities in both health and health care persist. Even when income, health insurance and access to care are accounted for, disparities remain.  Low performance on a range of health indicators—such as infant mortality, life expectancy, prevalence of chronic disease, and insurance coverage—reveal differences between racial and ethnic minority populations and their white counterparts.

Jennifer Ng’andu, deputy director of the Health Policy Project at the National Council of La Raza in Washington, speaks even more pointedly: “If we look at communities of color, we see that many racial and ethnic groups live in unsafe environments, there is poor housing and there is loss of productivity because of illness.
“Essentially, every time a person of color goes to the doctor, 30 percent of their bill is due to health disparities so they end up paying more in the doctor’s office because over time they receive health care that is not appropriate or effective,” she says. “They become needlessly sicker and are more likely to die prematurely, so they end up paying more medical expenses.”
Health experts and civic leaders say financial strains are adversely manifested in varying ways in communities and have a huge impact on children, often involving academic performance.
“There are direct biological consequences in that a child who does not have good access to health services will experience developmental setbacks because they are sick or their parents are sick,” Ng’andu says. “It makes it harder for them to achieve in school and can have serious consequences on their future. We have to invest in children early, their health early, their education, making sure they have healthy communities to grow in.”

Ng’andu agrees. “When kids are hungry, when they are exposed to serious nerve stress and environmental stresses,” she says, “it affects them and their ability to learn and perform well academically. Investment in their health is very important to their future success and achievement and also their ability to work and contribute to their communities.”
Hernandez-Cancio says disparities in infant mortality rates also take a toll on minority families. While the 2010 rate for whites was 5.63 per 1,000 live births, it was 13.31 per 1,000 live births for African-Americans, 9.22 for American Indians or Alaska Natives and 7.71 for Puerto Ricans, according to the CDC.
“The infant mortality rate is considered a very basic measure of how a country’s health care system is working, and it is an indication of other symptoms,” she says. “We rank 41st globally. As an advanced, wealthy nation, we are not doing well.”
With the quotation said by Martin Luther King, Jr, hasn't the prejudice that prevailed in those far off times been eliminated in today's more equitable society? Or do health disparities persist in less obvious but no 
less worrying ways -- and not just for African-Americans?

Studies emphatically conclude that such disparities do persist.
U.S. News and World Report released its latest issue announcing the best hospitals in the nation on Tuesday. People put a lot of stock in these rankings, and equality of treatment should be considered as a factor in what makes a hospital excellent.
“Unequal Treatment”, published by the Institute of Medicine in 2002, spelled out exactly how Latinos, African-Americans, Native-Americans, Asian-Americans, and Pacific Islanders receive care that's inferior to that enjoyed by mainstream Americans. The IOM report triggered other studies that demonstrated the (often unconscious) prejudice that prevails in treating women, the elderly, the LGBT community, the obese --13 groups in all -- a large percentage of the health care consuming public.
Here are a few shocking examples: Women with symptoms of heart disease often are not transported by emergency medical services to health facilities as rapidly as men. Women and blacks with heart attack symptoms are not given cardiac catheterizations and other appropriate clinical tests at the same rate as white men. Latinos and African-Americans do not receive the same pain medication for long bone fractures as do their fellow citizens.

According to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.” 
Dr. King is telling us that if we want to be leaders, we need to lead—that is, we need to develop ideas and convince others of their merit. A leader doesn’t figure out where everyone is going and then jump to the front of the line. A leader chooses a destination, convinces others of the merits of taking the trip, shows them how they can get there, and then leads them on the journey.  Let’s allow the leader in ourselves to be awakened.  Our nation’s health depends on it.
























References:


Monday, October 20, 2014

Blog 6 Harassment in law enforcement workplace



Since the 19th century, women in America have worked in law enforcement. Surprised? Women were mostly relegated to clerical roles or jobs as dispatchers until the women's lib movement of the 1970s, when popular television shows suddenly dramatized the new breed of women cops and detectives. Civil rights and affirmative action laws paved the way for women to assume law enforcement jobs traditionally held by men. Today, women walk the beat, but not without challenges.

Originally called "matrons" when they were first hired by the New York City police department before the turn of the 20th century, female officers really didn't achieve full recognition for a very long time. In the mid-1970s, despite the popularity of television shows like Cagney and Lacy and Charlie's Angels, women only made up 2 percent of the total police work force.

In 1985, Penny Harrington was appointed the first female police chief in the nation, serving in Portland, Oregon. Today, women hold an estimated 12 percent of all law enforcement jobs.
Discrimination against women must be viewed as interlocking process involving the attitude and actions of individuals and the organizations and social structure that guide individual behavior.  Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination that violates state and federal law. Sexual harassment decreases organizational productivity and significantly impacts the health of a work environment. In law enforcement, where officers must work long hours and conduct dangerous job tasks, sexual harassment lowers job satisfaction and negatively impacts mission, safety, and results. In spite of these negative consequences, a variety of surveys and studies have demonstrated high levels of sexual harassment in police departments around the world:
·       A survey study among serving policewomen from 35 countries revealed that 77% experienced sexual harassment from colleagues
·       In a study involving a large Midwestern police department, every woman interviewed was subjected to verbal harassment
·       In a 2008 survey, more than half of female officers had experienced sexual harassment in police departments in Australia, Great Britain, and US
The irony is that this discrimination is still ruling our society until today. Women officers, being minorities, are faced by hostile and a discriminatory environment.  Women officers might be retaliated against by supervisors and colleagues on the team because of reporting the harassment.  This happened in Westbrook Maine after 5 years of work in the same place where inequality between males and women is dominant.

T

The findings demonstrate that workplace discrimination is a reality for thousands of workers every year even women officers in law enforcement. The effects on the community can be both mentally and physically devastating. Police officers are generally charged with the protection of the general public, and the maintenance of public order to create a safe and secure environment for all.  If in a specific police location where women officers are being harassed by men officers, what other form of injustice is happening to the public?

References:

Race, Class, And Gender In The United States - Rothenberg