Hypocrisy Regarding Human Rights and Equality in Social Work

Karma-Jade Miller

Norfolk State University

Social Welfare Policies and Services, SWK- 207

Dr. Charles Birore

Due: October 15, 2023

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Introduction

“Love’s dark side is power; society, through social welfare, uses that power to control. Both help and

control are traditions of social work and social welfare, and through them we help to maintain society’s

structures of inequality.” (Day & Shiele, 2013. p.2) That one sentence puts emphasis on the fundamental

problem with the social welfare system and social work in practice, both in history and at this very

present moment. The inherent hypocrisy within the system. ASWV (American Social Work Values)

includes many interesting concepts. But one of the most fundamental is Human Rights. Human Rights

encompasses: the freedom to express to exercise openly and not be discriminated upon ones: race,

color, descent of national or ethnic origin. (Day & Shiele, 2013. p.19) Inequality is when one is

discriminated against based on one of more of those characteristics of an individual. Equality, or the

state in which people of different races and religions, men and women, are all treated fairly and

presented with the same opportunities on an equal field is an inherent Human Right, under an umbrella

of hypocrisy in social welfare and enacted through the positions social workers have.
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NASW-Illinois Chapter Full Statement Analysis on ASWB Test

It is disheartening but refreshing while there are states that have social welfare programs doing research

on themselves to find the source of the problem within the system. The sad part is realizing that they

are employing the problem. The social work profession is now based and guided by ethical principles.

There is the (National Association of Social Workers) Code of Ethics that is the umbrella Code of Ethics

for ALL social workers to follow, to make sure the people social workers are serving are fundamentally

protected. This may be the beginning of an explanation. “The National Association of social workers

supported separation and pointed out that: service, when offered within the context of eligibility

investigation, tends to become a condition for obtaining financial assistance. This undermines the

concept of assistance as a right and interferes with self-determination and seeking and accepting

service….” (Stern & Axinn, 2018. P.232) The licensing testing entity needs to be reproached for not

adhering to and practicing the ethical standards, which is displayed by its blatant practice of bias and

systemic racism in its testing customs and patterns. The Association of Social Worker’s Board (ASWB)

release of the test analysis establishes that racism continues and runs deeply through the roots of the

fabric of the social work profession. The test that is openly discriminatorily designed, perpetuates racial

and systemic injustice among marginalized populations such as members of the Black, Indigenous,

(BIPOC) community. The irony is not lost that these findings from the 2022 ASWB Exam Pass Rate

Analysis are in direct opposition to ASWB’s mission. (NASW-IL Full Statement on ASWB Test Analysis,

2022) It is direct opposition with NASW and ASWV. They responded in a fashion very similar to

something you would see out of a civil rights movement propaganda ‘separate but equal film’; Saying

“The ASWB commits to promoting and upholding justice. In doing so, the association will hold itself

accountable in denouncing racism, intolerance, exclusion, and other forms of discrimination and bias in

carrying out its mission.” They went on to put out their objectives in their “Strategic Framework 2022-

2023” plans to position themselves to be more inclusive, accessible, and responsive. It makes me

wonder what exactly they were doing. Eureka! They had a target audience, and they must be referring
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to everyone else. This line of thinking is like that of segregationists in the United States who, for

decades, kept schools segregated by influencing demographic data; the incessant use of skewed

demographic data has been used by the ASWB to prevent BIPOC, specifically African American social

workers from obtaining licensure. Just like Thurgood Marshall’s arguments in the Brown v. Education

cases put an end to the racist ‘logic’ of segregated schooling providing separate but equal education, so

too must the social the social work community end the racist practice of manipulating. (NASW-IL Full

Statement on ASWB Test Analysis, 2022) Skewing, and influencing data and testing that results in limiting

and/ or curtailing the licensing of BIPOC social workers. There was very little surprise among social

workers by the absence of inclusion and the exclusion of an actionable plan to rectify the inequities

stated within the ASWB report. The ASWB exam test analysis illustrates continual reinforcement of social

injustices in the practice of profiting off the backs of BIPOC community. The lowest pass rates were

among men, older test-takers, persons with English as a secondary language (that does not mean they

are not fluent), and Black test-takers. Social workers must pay the fees, making the ASWB money until

they can get a license.

This reason this article supports my argument:

I began here because if there is hypocrisy in equality, and for example, a completely qualified Black male

social worker is being oppressed by kept from receiving his license through a systemic process, that

uncovers a major part, not the only, but a serious factor in why black men needing services is not

receiving them. Culturally, because of many stigmas, it is difficult enough to ask for help, but being able

to talk to someone that looks like you and can empathize with would make all the difference in the

world. This is purposely being prevented. If the licensure test designed to keep people of color from

receiving their licenses in social work, while they are already practicing social workers, that is the

bedrock of hypocrisy of human rights and equality in social work.

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Critical Race Theory: Opportunities for Application in Social Work Practice and Policy

Racial disparities in the United States remain persistent and prevalent. Despite progress in reducing

overt racism and discrimination, secluded and institutional racism never stopped operating through

policies and patterns embedded within social structures, systems, and institutions that comprehensively

reflect and produce racial inequality. This is demonstrated by the racial disparities in child welfare

involvement, public assistance use, and mental health treatment access. Advancing racial equality

requires understanding and awareness of the relationship between race, racism, and power. Critical

race theory (CRT) provides a vital framework that social workers can use to decipher, analyze, and

change power dynamics that maintain institutional racism and establish racial inequality. The mission of

the CRT movement is to study and transform the relationship between race, racism, and power, and

contrary to the traditional civil rights movements, it questions the premise of the liberal order by

acknowledging the effects of race and racism on society, and challenging conventional social patterns

and normative standards that only reflect the White experience, offering insight into how the

relationship between race, racism, and power maintains and supports racial inequality. Despite the

mission statement and core values that align with social work, CRT has not been fully embraced by social

work educators, researchers, or practitioners. The social work profession strives for social justice and is

aware of the importance of understanding race and racism. Social workers who are trained in cultural

competence should be well positioned to address racism’s role is maintaining social problems that

disproportionately impact people of color. CRT is needed because there is a concern that some

educational approaches (e.g., multicultural perspective) do not address race comprehensively, which

inhibits panoramic understanding of ways in which power, privilege, history, and one’s own position

influence broader social structures and institutions. True social justice involves acknowledging racism

and shifting beyond moralizing information toward productive conversation and organizing, action led to

challenging, and ultimately changing, the status quo. This would require knowledge of structures and

systems that sustain racial inequality which limits opportunities for people of color as well as exposure to
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action-oriented strategies to challenge and dispel institutional racism. CRT scholars developed 5 central

doctrines used to categorize and analyze social structures, policies, and practice: racism as ordinary, the

critique of liberalism, Whiteness as ultimate property, interest convergence, and the unique voice of

color. CRT postulate that racism is so entrenched in this nation’s society that it is almost an odd,

unfamiliar face; unrecognizable, making it difficult to cure and address. The mainspring of CRT is the

declaration that racism, in the context of the usual way of regulating business in the United States, has

become normalized and is invariably perpetuated through social structures and institutions. Critical race

theorists maintain that hierarchal structures, operated by racists since their conception, govern political,

economic, and social domains; Whites are privileged while people of color are socially constructed as

“others.” Socially constructed racial categories that perpetuate stereotypes while completely

disregarding if not blatantly ignoring scientific fact are invented, manipulated and retired and convenient

for those in power. This is done with so much ease, one could visualize a giant child picking up and

moving around people as if people of color are inanimate objects with no voice, blood or bones. The

Liberalism worldview embraces the ideal of colorblindness, neutrality of the law, and incremental

change. CRT affirms that these formal conceptions only serve to remedy the most obvious forms of

discrimination. The colorblind or neutral approaches strive for equality, which assumes all citizens are

afforded or have access to the same

opportunities, as opposed to equity, which assumes there is an uneven playing field; then reason

inequality needs to be remedied in the first place. Liberal legal philosophy seeks to rectify inequality by

mandating the same treatment to all the applicable citizens, without consideration of race. Liberalism’s

incremental approach to change maintains White privilege by permitting gains, usually through small

changes that are acceptable to those in power, for people of color to arrive at a slow pace. Critical Race

theory asserts that aiming to ensure equality through neutrality in the law is insufficient and

disingenuous, liberalism fails to consider the persistence and permanence of racism and its impact on

opportunities, or lack thereof, for people of color, and provides justification for ignoring and disassemble
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race-based policies to address inequity. It is also the conjecture of CRT, that liberalism ignoring race fails

to eliminate the occurrence and persistence of racism and racist acts. American society is based on

property rights. CRT posits that Whiteness is the ultimate property value, leveraged to perpetuate

advantages and privileges among whites. The analysis of property rights supports this assertion. An

example would be, Rights of disposition allow for the transfer of property. CRT states that Whiteness can

be transferred by rewarding people of color for conforming to white social norms or even sanctioning

cultural practices that violate White norms. CRT maintains that Whiteness affords the absolute right to

exclude in that the quality and quantity of resources in communities vary with property values. Civil

rights gains within communities of color, particularly gains for African Americans, were only achieved

when converging with interests of Whites and should be interpretated with measured enthusiasm.

Those in power have little incentive to eradicate racism. Experiential knowledge gained from people of

color’s lived experiences and shared through counter storytelling, family history, narratives, biographies,

chronicles and parables are crucial, and its importance is emphasized by CRT. Recounting encounters of

racism and oppression, people of color relay and express experiences that Whites are unlikely to know or

understand, revealing the persistent and oppressive nature of normative dialogues, and analyze legal

remedies that have served elites. This is the Unique voice of color, which offers a direct contradiction to

the “othering” process, allowing people of color to critically reflect upon their place in a racist society

and giving a voice to other marginalized groups and their lived experiences. Racial disproportionality is

pervasive in the U.S child welfare system, with children of color comprising a greater number than in the

general population. African American children comprise of 15% of the general population of children yet

account for 38% of those in foster care. The average African American child is not at any greater risk for

abuse and neglect than the average White child, yet validation rates for African American children are

two times higher than that of white children. Research suggests that 94% of child welfare workers are

White. This impacts on how a child is evaluated and whether reported for removal. Temporary

Assistance for Needy Familied (TANF), replacing Aid to Families with Dependent Children in 1996, is the
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largest public welfare program providing direct cash assistance to supplement a family’s income monthly.

“In 1996, the average AFDC caseload nationally was about 12.5 million individuals. By March 1999, the

TANF caseload had fallen to 7.3 million recipients.” (Stern & Axinn, 2018. P.301) African Americans are

overrepresented on welfare rolls; they account for 12% of the nation’s population but make up 36% of

welfare recipients. This share is like that of whites (38%) but significantly higher than other racial

minority groups. Additionally, African Americans receiving welfare have worse outcomes when

compared to whites. African Americans rely on TANF longer than Whites and are more likely to return

after an initial spell on TANF. Welfare was also viewed as a “Black program” as the number of African

American receiving benefits increased. Blacks are more likely to be sanctioned and to receive heavier

sanctions for the same noncompliance with mandatory work requirements. CRT offers a powerful tool

for social workers administering public welfare programs. CRT encourages the social worker to examine

the role they and their agencies can play in both perpetuating and addressing racism. Racism exists in all

aspects of life, including agency operation and should be examined at the organizational level. The social

worker should ask themselves several questions about the racism experienced in their own agency,

specific numbers, and sanctions given to welfare recipients. Exploring this issue may lead social workers

to examine their own biases as well. Social workers can use this increased awareness to dialogue with

colleagues and advocate for change in agency policy and procedures around sanctions. African

Americans experiencing mental illness are significantly less likely to receive mental health treatment

than their White counterpart This is largely due to cultural factors and the stigma of mental disorders.

When they do access mental health treatment, they attend fewer sessions and are more likely to stop

treatment prematurely when compared to whites. Access to mental health leave African Americans

untreated or improperly treated. Some of this is due to Racial disparities, some to socioeconomic factors.

CRT suggests a framework of limiting treatment engagement and adherence. Use psychoeducation by

demonstrating awareness of and acknowledging the impact that racism has on mental health. This can

be a good starting point for dialogue.

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CRT Supporting My Argument

I found this article fascinating. This article supports my argument because the foundation is how racism

has always existed in social work, how it has always been a hypocrisy because it outlines the history of

the nation’s racists past, and how people try to pretend it is not there instead of confronting it and

finding a solution. No one is a fan of the past, but nothing will improve until we face it.

Eliminating Racism

Racism can be defined as, ‘a system of advantage based upon race.’ It is also recognized as the

subordination of individuals or groups based on a common characteristic and has been a central

component in the history and current collection of several factors of American life. These factors include

social, political cultural, and economic facets of America. It is important to be able to differentiate

individual acts of bigotry and prejudice from racism. Racism involves one group having the power to

carry out systematic discrimination through policies and practices created by institutions of the society.

With racists institutions in place my means of power, it becomes easier to shape the cultural beliefs and

values that support those racist policies and practices. When most people, White or people of color

hear the term ‘white supremacy’ they automatically associate it with titles of individuals/groups with

racist ideals. (e.g., ‘white supremacist’/ ‘white nationalist’, ‘racist skinhead’, and ‘neo-Nazi’ but the term

white supremacy is referring to a hierarchy of any sort that prioritizes Whites and Whiteness over all

others. (Teasley, et al., 2021. P.8) White supremacy can best be described and defined as ethnocentric

monoculturalism as an either an unconscious or conscious overvaluation of one’s own cultural beliefs

and practices, and simultaneous invalidation of other cultural worldviews. Ethnocentric monoculturalism

has five dangerous components: belief in your group’s superiority, belief in all other groups inferiority,

power of group to impose standards, groups manifestation in institutions, and the groups invisible veil.

Contending that white supremacy involves viewing ‘Whiteness’ as normative and ideal and surmises

that,
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Whiteness, White supremacy, and White privilege are three interlocking forces that disguise racism so it

may allow White people to oppress and harm persons of color while maintaining their individual and

collective advantage and innocence. If we are to overcome, or at least minimize the forces of racism, we

must make Whiteness visible. As long as Whiteness remains invisible and is equated with normality and

superiority, People of color will continue to suffer from its oppressive qualities. (Sue, 2006)

The history, development, and current state of social work are interrelated. White supremacy is not only

rampant in the foundation that sustains U.S history, but also the foundation of every facet of the social

welfare system, including education, research, and advocacy. Social work came to colonies, later known

as the United States and distributed social welfare on the belief of deservingness, with non-Whites

automatically written off as less deserving. Charity organization societies and settlement houses in the

19th century were segregated by race, were largely by and for White individuals. “The two great

movements of the period--the Charity Organization and the Settlement House Movements--differed on

their strategies but shared a great commitment to white Protestant values and the importance of

nongovernmental organization taking the lead in social welfare.” (Stern & Axinn, 2018. p.84)

Social workers pursue social change, particularly with and on behalf of vulnerable and oppressed

individuals and groups of people. Social workers social change efforts are focused primarily on issues of

poverty, unemployment, discrimination, and other forms of social injustice. These activities seek to

promote sensitivity to and knowledge about oppression and cultural and ethnic diversity. Social workers

strive to ensure access to needed information, services, and resources; equality of opportunity; and

meaningful participation and decision making for all people. -Social Justice Value (NASW, 2019)

The majority of social workers historically and continue to identify as white, whereas the majority of the

populations they serve, typically identify as Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and other People of Color. Social

work has historically and still today has sustained as well as been complicit in the practices and patterns

that embody the inequality and human rights violations of racism and oppression that it is ethically
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obliged to stand against. A recent study was conducted in 2017, suggesting that social work’s services

and organizations continue to perpetuate ethnocentric monoculturalism. Many prominent organizations

were established with and still have predominately White leadership and membership. To expose a few

by name are the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare, the Council on Social Work

Education (CSWE), the National Association of Deans and Directors (NADD), and the Society for Social

Work and Research. (Walter et al. 2017) Disproportionate representation in leadership ensures that the

voices and experiences of people of color are not heard and that the profession continues white

supremacy culture. Social workers are obligated to promote social justice and racial equity through

antiracism practice, research, policies, education, and helping provide equal access to opportunities.

This commitment should begin with a focus on and critical analysis of the profession. Many researchers

have come to the same conclusion that social work would require a transformation; that of theory,

status, educational models, and professional goals, in which most social workers are unwilling or unable

to engage. (Teasley, et al., p.10) Racial Equity in Social work starts with accurate information. During Jim

Crow, Black educators were not allowed to teach white children, leading to generations thinking that

Whites were more equipped and intelligent, and that is not true.

How Eliminating Racism Supports My Thesis

My thesis of hypocrisy of human rights and equality is strongly supported by this article It begins with

the history of social work and how white supremacists not only framed the nation, but social work and

welfare. It goes on with supporting figures and calls out the nam es of organizations that remain almost

all white from conception to the present. It completely acknowledges that the profession is racist and

under the umbrella of white supremacy, continuing to oppress the very people the mission statement,

core values, and Code of Ethics vows to protect.

Hypocrisy in human rights and equality in social work is rampant throughout the system. As shocking as

it is when you stop and listen to yourself say it out loud, having to experience this firsthand is inhumane.
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As my first article titled NASW-Illinois Chapter Full Statement on ASWB Test Analysis, the National

Association of Social Workers uncovered that the testing practices by the American Social Work Board

were extremely racist, purposely preventing many Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color from

obtaining their license. My second article also supports my thesis. Critical Race Theory: Opportunities for

Application in Social Work Practice and Policy acknowledges the historic and present racism in social

work and suggests that only when facing and educating the truth about race, can we move truly work

together. In Eliminate Racism, white supremacy and racism are the focus of this article. It goes from the

conception of social work and its racist roots, to where we are today, how far we have come, and how

not much has changed. Systemic Racism is cancer. And we need more surgeons willing to expose it and

cut it out.
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References

Day & Shiele, (2013) A New History of Social Welfare. pg.2,18

Kolivooski, Weaver & Constance-Huggins, (2014) Critical Race Theory: Opportunities for Application in

Social Work Practice and Policy. Center for Family Services, pg 269-276

https://www.centerffs.org/sites/default/files/Kolivoski%20et%20al%20-%20Critical%20Racism

%20Theory%20%281%29.pdf

(2022) NASW-Illinois Chapter Full Statement Analysis on ASWB Test. NASW-Illinois Chapter Diversity,

Equity, and Inclusion Committee (NASW-IL DEIC) https://www.naswil.org/post/nasw-il-full-statement-on-

aswb-test-analysis

Stern & Axinn, (2018) Social Welfare: A History of the American Response to Need, 9th Ed., pg.84, 232,

301

Teaseley, Mccarter, Woo, et al., (2021) Eliminate Racism. Grand Challenges for Social Work Initiative,

No.26 https://grandchallengesforsocialwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Eliminate-Racism-

Concept-Paper.pdf

Worker, N. A., (2019)

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