Doin’ The Work: Frontline Stories of Social Change
Society & Culture
Episode 37
Guests: Laura S. Abrams, MSW, PhD; Nicole Vazquez, MSW, MPP
Host: Shimon Cohen, LCSW
www.dointhework.com
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If you love what we discuss on the podcast, then you will love our courses! We focus on frameworks, knowledge, and skills to engage in anti-racist, anti-oppressive, justice-based liberatory practice. CEs are available. Check out https://dointhework.com/courses/ to learn more and register. We hope you will join us!
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In this episode, I talk with Dr. Laura Abrams and Nicole Vazquez about critical race theory (CRT) in social work. Shout out to my former student Gaby for suggesting I do a podcast episode explicitly about CRT in response to the anti-CRT executive order. Laura is the Chair and Professor of Social Welfare at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. Nicole is a critical race scholar, the former Field Director and Chair Designee in Cal State Dominguez Hills’ MSW program, and currently runs Vazquez Consulting. They discuss the history of CRT, honoring the scholars of legal studies who developed CRT, with the analysis that the law is not neutral, and has been used to oppress people of color and others from marginalized groups. Laura and Nicole provide an overview of some of the core tenets of CRT, using specific examples that connect to social work, and ways to implement them in practice. Some of the core tenets covered are: race is a social construct, racism is an ordinary everyday experience, myth of colorblindness, critique of liberalism and the myth of meritocracy, differential racialization, interest convergence, and counter-narratives. They talk about white supremacist culture and its impact on all of us, particularly how it works to strip communities of color from their collective and community-based cultures. We discuss CRT’s fit with social work’s social justice focus and how social work educators, students, and practitioners can implement CRT in their work and programs. We also talk about barriers to change and how to address them. I hope this conversation inspires you to action.
Laura
Twitter: @labramsucla
Instagram: prof.abrams
Nicole
Twitter: @vazquez_consult
Instagram: vazquezconsulting
Music credit:
"District Four" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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Liberation Health Model – Dawn Belkin Martinez, PhD, LICSW
Liberatory Lawyering to End the School-to-Prison Pipeline – Ashleigh Washington, JD & Ruth Cusick, JD
Constructing a White Nation: Social Work in the Americanization Movement – Yoosun Park, MSW, PhD
Paid Social Work Internships Part 2 FED UP – Beth Wagner, Claire Mancuso, Natalia Norzagaray & Parham Daghighi
Paid Social Work Internships Part 1 Payment 4 Placements – Matt Dargay, MSW & Arie Davey, LLMSW
Understanding Antisemitism and Racism – Kohenet Shoshana A Brown, LMSW & Autumn Leonard
Creating Culturally Safe Spaces for Indigenous Populations – Turquoise Skye Devereaux, MSW
Organizing to End the School-to-Prison Pipeline – Jewel Patterson, MS; Edgar Ibarria; Nicole Bates, JD
Race Doesn’t Exist Without Racism – Deadric Williams, PhD
Addressing Racism in Social Work Licensing #StopASWB – Charla Yearwood, LCSW; Cassandra Walker, LCSW, CCTP; Alan Dettlaff, PhD, MSW
Surviving Racism in Academia – Maxine Davis, MSW, MBA, PhD
Trans Rights and Justice in a Time of Anti-Trans Attacks – Daye Pope
Racial Equity in Psychiatry and Mental Health – Jessica Isom, MD, MPH
Stop Playing Diversity – Monica Cox, PhD
Abolish the Family Policing System (”Child Welfare”) – Joyce McMillan & Victoria, MSW
Exposing the Right-Wing & Corporate Takeover of Education & Democracy – Jasmine Banks
Stop Whitewashing Social Work History: Tell the Truth – Kelechi Wright, LCPC & Kortney Carr, LCSW
Decolonizing Mental Health & Supporting Indigenous Women – Tyra Wanatee-Flores, BSW
Taking Action on Social Determinants of Health – Armen Henderson, MD
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