Monday, December 15, 2014
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 WorkerBlog 10 - Killing Innocent People
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
Monday, October 6, 2014
BLOG 5 - Illegal Aliens And The Making Of America
Under federal
law, any non-U.S. citizen is an alien. Aliens who have entered the United
States without permission, or who have violated the terms of their admission,
are identified under the law as illegal aliens. That is a fact, not an issue
for debate.
With over 11
million immigrants in the United States illegally (as of 2012), the issue of
illegal immigration continues to divide Americans.
Some people say that illegal immigration benefits the US economy through additional tax revenue, expansion of the low-cost labor pool, and increased money in circulation. They contend that immigrants bring good values, have motivations consistent with the American dream, perform jobs that Americans won’t take, and that opposition to immigration stems from racism.
Opponents of illegal immigration say that people who break the law by crossing the US border without proper documentation or by overstaying their visas should be deported and not rewarded with a path to citizenship and access to social services. They argue that people in the country illegally are criminals and social and economic burdens to law-abiding, tax-paying Americans.
Some people say that illegal immigration benefits the US economy through additional tax revenue, expansion of the low-cost labor pool, and increased money in circulation. They contend that immigrants bring good values, have motivations consistent with the American dream, perform jobs that Americans won’t take, and that opposition to immigration stems from racism.
Opponents of illegal immigration say that people who break the law by crossing the US border without proper documentation or by overstaying their visas should be deported and not rewarded with a path to citizenship and access to social services. They argue that people in the country illegally are criminals and social and economic burdens to law-abiding, tax-paying Americans.
Aliens do not enjoy all the privileges of
citizenship, but outside of the immigration domain, and in civil society
generally, they have the same rights as citizens to equal protection under the
Fourteenth Amendment. Legal and political theorists also dispute the
implications of the Constitution’s protection of aliens. While some cite it as evidence of the
nation’s inclusive traditions, others worry that the extension of so many
rights to aliens diminishes the value of citizenship. With this dispute evolve the dilemma of
deportation of alien parent of an American born baby.
When nursing mothers are torn from their babies, when
children come home from school to find their parents missing ... when all this
is happening, the system just isn't working and we need to change it.
- U.S. President
Barack Obama
A question thousands of
other families are wrestling with as a record number of deportations means
record numbers of American children being left without a parent. And it comes
despite President Barack Obama's promise that his administration would focus on
removing only criminals, not breaking up families even if a parent is here
illegally.
Nearly 45,000 such
parents were removed in the first six months of this year, according to
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Behind the statistics
are the stories: a crying baby taken from her mother's arms and handed to
social workers as the mother is handcuffed and taken away, her parental rights
terminated by a U.S. judge; teenage children watching as parents are dragged
from the family home; immigrant parents disappearing into a maze-like detention
system where they are routinely locked up hundreds of miles from their homes,
separated from their families for months and denied contact with the welfare
agencies deciding their children's' fate.
At least 5,100 U.S.
citizen children in 22 states live in foster care, according to an estimate by
the Applied Research Center, a New York-based advocacy organization, which
first reported on such cases last year.
And an unknown number of
those children are being put up for adoption against the wishes of their
parents, who, once deported, are often helpless to fight when a U.S. judge
decides that their children are better off here.
Unfortunately, everyone seems to agree that the current system is
broken, but people don't seem to understand that it breaks families too.
Reference:
Paula Rothenberg – Race, Class, and Gender
in the United States.
Monday, September 29, 2014
BLOG 4 - White Priviliges
The White
Privileges
In reading, "A People's History of the
United States" by Howard Zinn and "The Case for Reparations" by
Ta-Nehisi Coates, I find myself surprised
to see how much this privilege had
shaped our lives and history. Actually,
I despise the term "white privilege," because I see it as a way for
white liberals to impose the psychological hegemony of white supremacy upon
African-American people, under the guise of the former pretending to demean
themselves. “White Privilege is the other side of racism. Unless we
name it, we are in danger of wallowing in guilt or moral outrage with no idea
of how to move beyond them. It is often easier to deplore racism and its
effects than to take responsibility for the privileges some of us receive as a
result of it… once we understand how white privilege operates, we can begin
addressing it on an individual and institutional basis.” ~Paula Rothenberg
Privilege exists when one group has something of value that is denied to others simply because of the groups they belong to, rather than because of anything they’ve done or failed to do. Access to privilege doesn’t determine one’s outcomes.
Privilege exists when one group has something of value that is denied to others simply because of the groups they belong to, rather than because of anything they’ve done or failed to do. Access to privilege doesn’t determine one’s outcomes.
White Privilege refers to the unearned benefits that someone
enjoys simply by having “white” skin.
This is not about being guilty, but rather, being responsible. The privilege is the expense of people of color
but white people cannot maintain this system of privilege without losing a part
of their own humanity. “White people are smarter
than people of color,” or “White people make better teachers.” White Privilege
and Racism can manifest in terms of individual behavior through hate crimes, or
in institutional behavior through employment discrimination. Racism might
manifest in individual language through the use of slurs, or in institutional
policy through a school’s selection of Eurocentric textbooks.
White skin privilege is
not something that white people necessarily do, create or enjoy on purpose.
Unlike the more overt individual and institutional manifestations of racism
described above, white skin privilege is a transparent preference for whiteness
that saturates our society. White skin privilege serves several functions.
First, it provides white people with “perks” that we do not earn and that
people of color do not enjoy. Second, it creates real advantages for us. White
people are immune to a lot of challenges. Finally, white privilege shapes the
world in which we live — the way that we navigate and interact with one another
and with the world.
Below is 17
Deplorable examples of the impact of the “White Privilege” on society even
today. The results are chilling.
Think about Jonathan
Ferrell, Amadou Diallo,
even Oscar
Grant. It isn’t a
coincidence that hundreds of incidents like these have been happening for
years.
2. Thankfully, you’ll
never have to know what it feels like to see your teenage son’s death being
mocked.
Yes, that is someone
dressed as Trayvon Martin. Yes, you’re looking at someone in blackface. In 2014.
3. Because of white privilege, you’ll never
have to inform your children of the harsh realities of systemic racism.
Via quickmeme.com
4. White privilege means you can be articulate and well-spoken without people being “surprised.”
5. Because of white privilege, you’ll never know what it’s like to have the following statistic looming over your head.
According to
this report
, one-third of
black men will go to prison at least once in their lifetime.
6. You can wear and act
however you’d like without being labeled a thug, low life, gangster, etc.
Everyone wants to “act
black,” but no one truly wants to be black.
7. White privilege allows you to speak on
any particular subject without being the sole representative for your entire
race.
White privilege allows
you to believe that all people of color think alike and share similar views.
8. White privilege means no one questions
why you got that really great job; it’s assumed you were just highly qualified.
Also, it means that
you got into that prestigious university based on merit, not because a certain
quota had to be filled.
9. White privilege means
not having to worry about your hair, skin color, or cultural accessories as the
reason you didn’t get a job.
People of color must
assimilate every.single.day. It’s hard to break free of the ways of the
dominant hegemony and forge your own path.
10. White privilege means
you don’t have to worry about being monitored in a store just because the hue
of your skin is a bit darker than most.
People of color are
seen as leery and untrustworthy.
11. Having white
privilege means people will never label you a terrorist.
12. White privilege means not being affected
by negative stereotypes that have been perpetuated and ingrained so much into
American society that people believe them to be fact.
Black men are angry,
primitive beasts with insatiable sexual appetites.
13. White privilege means
you never have to explain why cultural appropriation is a bad thing.
14. White privilege means not having to
worry about being stopped and frisked.
15. If you benefit from
white privilege, you’ll never be told to “get over slavery.”
Ironic, isn’t it?
16. White privilege means
that you’re never just your own person.
Via bet.com
For example, Nicki
Minaj is often referred to as the “black Lady Gaga.” I guess black people can’t
be quirky or eccentric.
17. Benefitting from white privilege means
you can walk the Earth unaware of your color.
Via blogger.com
People of color don’t
have such a luxury.
References:
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