Racism and oppression prominently figures in the duties and responsibilities of a social worker. I am no exception. This stems from the Code of Ethics that requires social workers to challenge social injustices, primarily on issues such as discrimination. Also, there is the obligation that social work should be sensitive to issues of racial oppression. As an African black woman who has been in the United States for a significant period, I know what it is like to feel discriminated on the basis of my color. In addition, the experiences I have had as a social worker have expanded my comprehension of racism and oppression. I have learned that there is nothing that can shield a person from being racially discriminated against and oppressed in this country especially if they are of African descent.
When I started attending classes for my master’s, what I noticed in the classroom was that my experience largely mirrored my encounter in corporate America. I am one of the few African black women, who attend class consistently. It is close to a decade when, as a social worker, I have heard of black women whose stories, although different, revolve around the same issues of racism and oppression. A lot of black women told me that while at their workplaces, they code-switched. At its core, code-switching is embracing the dominant culture at the workplace and switching to a more authentic one when around black friends and family. Particularly, I recall one woman telling me how for a long time she had strained in her career for having to report to a white boss. According to her being black meant that her performance was judged and closely monitored among other things such as self-confidence.
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For the last four weeks, the videos and films I have watched, observations I have made, and books I have read, I have been wondering what exactly is racism. To many of us, racism reflects important biological differences of people in different parts of the world. Furthermore, racism is associated with the natural observable physical differences between people. Reflecting on this conception I realize that there is a misunderstanding of what racism is all about. Racism falls under the social category as opposed to the biological one. While racial classifications apply biological traits, those traits, nevertheless are defined by social conventions and not biology (Hardimon, 2019). Racism is thus constructed through the lenses of American history and cultural differences. In the United States, however, racism has been viewed through the biological standpoint. Non-whites, particularly African Americans have been racially discriminated and also oppressed.
The reality is that even after abolition of the institution of slavery, racism and oppression of ethnic minority groups in the U.S. is evident even in the 21 st century. Not even the civil rights movement, the subsequent erosion of cultural and economic supports of racial domination, and dismantling of legal segregation has been able to completely do away with racial discrimination and oppression of black people (Tourse et al, 2018). If anything, social transformation of racial inequality has stagnated. When I recall the stories I have heard from my clients, occupational distributions of today are similar to those of the 50s.
Black women experience both racial discrimination and oppression when it comes to jobs and wages. This reflects an intersectionality reality of our lives as black women. Having worked in various non-profit organizations as a social worker, I realized that there are a variety of jobs that could be done by black women at all levels. Yet many of us continue to confront the same misperceptions about our work that have been at the center of racism for decades. In my line of duty as well as classroom, I have always felt the unfair anticipations, unique challenges, and biased assumptions of where as a black woman I have to fit in.
One of the narratives I have frequently heard African women lament about is the de-emphasis at their workplace that suggest that their caregiving roles should be secondary to the work they are getting paid for. In other words African women’s rights to raise their children and look after their families is not as important. Based on a documentary of American history that I have watched in the recent past, I came to the conclusion that this narrative dates back to the era of slavery. Back, then black women were sexually abused and forced to produce free labor without the rights to look after their children (Dietrich, 2019). In the modern times, black women disproportionately work in labor and care giving jobs, where they are oppressed through low wages and little or no consideration given for their own family obligations. As black women, we have extensively faced occupational segregation in the 21 st century. This means that black women are concentrated in low paying jobs.
Perhaps another pervasive form of racism occurs in the context of daily interactions. Besides the classroom, through mundane micro-interactions in the streets and stores I have felt subjected to racial discrimination. At one point I recall being monitored at a store in a white neighborhood. My client shared a similar story where she also had to be frisked even after paying for items she had bought. The store employees were concerned about shoplifting than they were with white customers. These concerns arise from racism and oppression. Since black people in general are in poorly paying jobs they cannot afford even the basic items in stores. Such notions are a revelation that racism and oppression has taken other forms in the modern day. For me, the biggest story this year was the numerous accounts of 911 calls made on blacks for doing everyday things such as barbecuing, swimming, enjoying coffee at Starbucks, and any other normal activity. Doing these things while black made the white people feel threatened, to the extent that they can call police on innocent Africans.
Being a social work worker has put me at a position to understand that black women’s work is vital for the success of communities, families and the economy of the U.S. at large. Yet racism and oppression has continuously exposed us to challenges that have become barriers that have consistently undermined our ability to thrive. To fight racism and end the oppression of black women and black people in general, Americans should be unified and avoid the division based on racial constructs.
In conclusion, racism and oppression is an everyday issue facing ethnic minority groups in the United States. Out of personal and professional experience, racism has resulted in oppression of black people basically in all aspects of our lives. For instance, even on mundane interactions at the classroom, workplace, and even on streets and in the stores I have felt the effects of racism. Having lived in the U.S. for a significant period, I know what it means to be black and I have learned to live with the fact that as long as I am black, very little will shield me from racism and being oppressed. Social work has prepared me on how to deal with clients from diverse cultures as well as be in a position to understand how challenges posed by racism and oppression for the black community.
References
Dietrich, D. (2019). For America to Rise It’s a Matter of Black Lives/And We Gonna Free Them, So We Can Free Us . Pacific Coast Philology , 54(2), 220-251.
Hardimon, M. O. (2019). Four ways of thinking about race. The Harvard Review of Philosophy , 26 , 103-113.
Tourse, R. W., Hamilton-Mason, J., & Wewiorski, N. J. (2018). Deconstruction of Racism. Systemic Racism in the United States (pp. 129-147). Springer, Cham.
