By Maegon Mattlock
The NASW-CA Social Action Social Justice Council hosted a timely discussion on the current state of race and class in the United States on October 24, 2014. This discussion, “A Conversation About Race and Class in the United States” coincided with the Council’s annual statewide meeting as well as the NASW-CA Annual Conference.
The meeting was well attended by a multi-racial group of participants. Social workers from different fields discussed how racism and class are connected and how these divisions disproportionally affect many of our poorer clients. Participants engaged in a lively discussion on how social workers can address this disparity within their work. Some social workers expressed the need to work within the political system to elect more people of color, while others pointed to capitalism as a larger systemic problem.
Participants discussed ideas for creating coalitions among social workers in different fields and between social workers and clients to confront issues of race and class. Social workers provided interesting discussions and examples on how they have been able to skillfully and tactfully address these issues with clients while maintaining appropriate clinical boundaries. Overall, the discussion provided a rich insight on the need for social workers to be aware of and address issues of race and class through their work.
The Social Action Social Justice Council hosts monthly meetings as well as an annual meeting at the NASW-CA Conference. All are welcome to attend. To find out more, please visit our Facebook at www.facebook.com/groups/SASJC/
