I WRITE this piece as an act of rebellion. This piece is a one woman protest and should be read as a display of activism. At the moment, this approach feels like the only tool available to me to demonstrate my utter disgust and embarrassment at being part of the way of life that is social work.
Let’s face it, social work means much more than the job title. Yes, we all embark upon our own unique journeys towards social work and thereafter. But essentially, we are here with the common goal for social justice. Aren’t we? But social justice for who? In this piece I will share a bit of the personal to contextualise my professional experience as a social worker. These experiences manifest into felt reality. It hurts. It wounds. And, it is real. Therefore, I speak unapologetically.
Other than being called a n*gger or a black b*stard by people who were in seriously desperate situations… racism just wasn’t really something I felt when I was knocking on doors.
Zoe Thomas
I qualified as a social worker in 2007. Since then I have worked as a social worker for local authority child protection teams. Along the way I did some work in social work higher education but always alongside my practice role. A few years ago, I began a part time fee waiver social work PhD. More recently, with a commitment to finishing my PhD I made the difficult decision to leave my beloved advanced practitioner social work job and after being interviewed by three white academics, I too ‘became’ an academic; a social work academic….or so I thought.
I describe myself as a working-class black woman with multiple ethnic identities. Racism didn’t feature in my practice role as a social worker as much as one might think. A few sly looks here and patronising statements there. A lazy racist stereotype here and a bit of casual ‘banter’ racism there. Of course, that was from the other professionals, including my social work colleagues. The ACTUAL racism, the racism that is visible and expected, and met with horror and disapproval, REAL racism, the racism of ‘service users’, well, it just wasn’t so prevalent. Other than being called a n*gger or a black b*stard by people who were in seriously desperate situations, where they were seriously and desperately clinging onto any scrap of power they could find, other than that, racism just wasn’t really something I felt when I was knocking on doors.
Racism is about unstoppable collective power, unquestioned entitled authority and privilege at the expense of others.
Zoe Thomas
After all, racism is not about the personal prejudice and discrimination of powerless individuals. Racism is hidden away and disguised. It’s not about a few bad apples. The whole tree is rotten. Racism is about unstoppable collective power, unquestioned entitled authority and privilege at the expense of others.
You can read the rest of this piece, and find out about the experiences of other non-white social workers by purchasing OUTLANDERS: Hidden Narratives from Social Workers of Colour here.
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Excellent read. Thank you so much for your openness, clarity and honesty.
Importantly your understanding of service users last cries and professions racism.
It’s truly abhorrent that people use racist language & behaviours in their everyday lives & don’t even understand that they are being racist. This is because it is so entrenched in the world we live in.
Many of these people would vehemently deny they were being racist.
It’s the subtleties of language & behaviour that are the most difficult to eradicate. A look here, an expression there can cause pain & anger. This, in turn, can have lasting effects on self esteem for those who are not seen as “equal” to the, generally, white people who use such language and behaviours.
And yet racism is endemic. How many people of Indian origin see themselves as superior to people of Pakistani origin. And I’ve known people of Pakistani descent be the same with regard to Eastern European s settling in Britain. Lativian friends who are scathing towards those from other EU countries.
We individuals need to be mindful of inbuilt prejudices and try to address them.
I include myself in this.